Dumb question about processors

[Alan]

I'm looking to buy a new notebook. The one I have now says it's Intel R 3.06 GHZ. The one I am looking at buying is Intel® Pentium® M Processor 760 (2 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB) .

Which processor is faster? I am guessing the new processors are faster, but the GHz is less.

 

[Ryanwb]

First off, you don't want a faster processor for your laptop, if you need to run complex processes, get a desktop. A laptop is meant to be a mobile unit to do e-mail, write up some documents, etc. Faster processor = faster battery draining


I am probably dead wrong here, but this is how I understand it...

The P4 model laptops are faster in processing speed but they have like a 2 hour battery life. The Pentium M's (and Centrino) are slower in total speed but are more efficient and can have battery lifes of 6-8 hours. Bottom line: They are designed to use all the hardware components to maximum efficiency where as the P4's are not.

Again this is how it was explained to me

 

[Ryanwb]

Okay I called a co-worker...

He said that in the true core speed, the P4's are faster, but when you are running on battery power the Centrino and Pentium M's actually run faster because they are more efficient with using battery.

He said your 3.06 is actually running at like a 1 ghz processor on battery power. Then he started going on about thermal something and I lost him at that point

 

[bratwurst]

Ryan's pretty much right on - only thing I would add is that a Pentium M is the processor - the centrino is actually the combination of a pentium M and an intel wifi card that is internal. So the Centrino is basically the mobile platform, and not just the proc.

I had both Pentium 4 and Pentium M laptops at my last job. The P4's were used basically as "desktop replacement" type laptops. But they sucked if you had to travel because they were bulkier and heavier, and the batteries drained quicker.

 

[CardFan67]

Ryan,

I agree more with your first post... I have a P4 3.06 laptop and I notice no difference in speed when running on DC only but I do have very little battery life... Luckily I use it primarily in my my car so I have true over wattage AC current available... As my battery dies it starts off telling me 99% and that I have 2 hrs 57 minutes of DC time left... in like 15 minutes it tells me I am at 55% with 1 hr 15 minutes left... no drop in performance however... With my other co workers who do the same mobile work that I do but using the Pentium M's they see slower processing (much longer application launch times) but much longer battery life span - 5 to 6 hours...

I would not realize the advantage because I am never out of my car for more than 30 minutes... Not to mention there are a number of other reasons that I would seek out a power source... Monitor brightness, ability to multitask, wireless network power (I have got all of the freebie hotspots pinned down), and so on...

 

[bratwurst]

Oh - and the machine will probably use whats called "intel speed-step" technology iirc off the top of my head. Basically, if you are on battery it will reduce the clockspeed to conserve battery power. So its possible that if you are running on battery, the processor unless told otherwise will reduce way down to 600 Mhz or so. Thats why it can last so much longer without draining.

This however, can wreak havoc on some games. When they install, they see the proc runs at a certain speed, then when the game runs, the processor has changed speed and doesn't run smoothly or runs way too fast. It isn't an issue with newer games, but it is something to be mindful of. Not that most people are using laptops to play games, but hey its a fun way to waste away a 5 hour plane flight if you don't have a good book handy.

 

[CardFan67]

Not that most people are using laptops to play games, but hey its a fun way to waste away a 5 hour plane flight if you don't have a good book handy.

you know that is the first good reason I have heard for the notebook / laptop gaming arguement... Prior I have never understood it, most games are fairly demanding and I have a monster Desktop for that with wicked video and killer speakers and an awesome monitor... I went to some laptop reviews on Cnet and most of them have some guys complaining about how they suck as gaming machines... Play if you will on a laptop but don't bitch, buy the freaking desktop for those games... Jeez how many laptops do you see set up at those computer gaming places (obviously I don't go because I don't even know what they are called - but I have seen a few)...

 

[bratwurst]

Thats basically the only time I play games on a laptop - Civ 3 makes a cross country flight go quick.

But I haven't done that in a while, lately I have been reading books. Its a pain to take the laptop out, its kinda cramped, etc. I took my laptop though when riding amtrak between DC and NYC last summer and it was great!

 

[Alan]

Thanks, guys. I am trying to figure out what to do. It seems like for the same price, I can get a much better desktop. But a laptop is so convienent though... tough one.

 

[bratwurst]

Thanks, guys. I am trying to figure out what to do. It seems like for the same price, I can get a much better desktop. But a laptop is so convienent though... tough one.

whats the most important use of the machine for you? Do you play games? Do you sit at your desk a lot or do you think you would rather be mobile with the computer, say sit at a coffeeshop or out on campus somewhere? (you're still in college right?)

 

[Alan]

whats the most important use of the machine for you? Do you play games? Do you sit at your desk a lot or do you think you would rather be mobile with the computer, say sit at a coffeeshop or out on campus somewhere? (you're still in college right?)

I need the capability for games and typical computer stuff. I graduate in 31 days (who's counting? ) so the mobility probably won't be a huge deal.

I am checking out some of Dell's desktops. For about the same price, which would work better (run faster)?

3.40 Ghz, 4 GB RAM
or
3.60 Ghz, 2 GM RAM

 

[bratwurst]

the higher RAM would be better - and make sure that it is running at a high bus speed, and if it is DDR, you'll want to get two sticks of the same size instead of one stick.

If you want to play the latest games, make sure you get a decent video card, and don't get a machine that shares system memory as video memory.

EDIT - although I doubt you would get a 4GB stick of RAM, but what do I know?

I don't think you need 4 GB of RAM unless you're gonna be doing some mad crazy database and video crunching...

 

[bankybruce]

First off, you don't want a faster processor for your laptop, if you need to run complex processes, get a desktop. A laptop is meant to be a mobile unit to do e-mail, write up some documents, etc. Faster processor = faster battery draining


I am probably dead wrong here, but this is how I understand it...

The P4 model laptops are faster in processing speed but they have like a 2 hour battery life. The Pentium M's (and Centrino) are slower in total speed but are more efficient and can have battery lifes of 6-8 hours. Bottom line: They are designed to use all the hardware components to maximum efficiency where as the P4's are not.

Again this is how it was explained to me

So if I could turn my 486 DX into a laptop is would last like 30 years on the lattery

 

[CardFan67]

Okay I called a co-worker...

He said that in the true core speed, the P4's are faster, but when you are running on battery power the Centrino and Pentium M's actually run faster because they are more efficient with using battery.

He said your 3.06 is actually running at like a 1 ghz processor on battery power. Then he started going on about thermal something and I lost him at that point

I just heard this computer help show on the radio and it was all about the laptop notebook processors... The way it was explained is that the Pentium M's are tru P4's but they run at slower clock speed and also adjust to even slower clock speeds when running on batteries, in tests the benchmarks on single programs were equivilant to the Standard P4's but were noticably slower when multitasking... The battery life is nearly 5 times longer with the M series processors.

The Centrino benchmarked much slower than the M Series and the P4's with the savings in battery life coming from the way the processor manages power to other built in peripherals, ie network connections, etc... In the reporters opinion he believes the Centrino name was a catch phrase designed to cause interest and additional sales...

The overall opinion was that the M series processors have proven to be very effective and are even supposed to eventually make their way to the desktop as well... Perhaps not as it is today but by using the lower clock speeds... So eventually we should be seeing larger (not in size) processers running with a smaller multiplier...

So I heard...