dicky ticker

hi folks

will be getting a laptop soon for general home use and powerpoint presentations

i have been advised to try and get a P4 processor rather than a pentium M or Centrino.

i'm not a techy so wont be going wireless/blutooth.

any help advice would be greatly appreciated

cheers

Iain Young

I've no idea why you've been advised that.

P4 processors in laptops run quite hot, are noisy (fans), and they drain the batteries at an alarmingly fast rate.

I've just bought a Dell XPS Gen 2 laptop (with a 2.1ghz Centrino chip), and it is significantly faster than my old Alienware laptop (which had a 3ghz P4 processor). I certainly wouldn't go back to a P4 processor in a laptop after having one for a year...

dicky ticker

thanks iain

my last laptop was a dell and my next one probably will be.

a dell salesman advised my dad to get a P4 as well. now theyve stopped doin P4 in laptops. Hmmm! a sales pitch i thinks

cheers

TopBanana

Another vote for Centinos here

BlkKnight

Centrino here, very impressed with my mum's new tecra.

The centrino has double the on-board cache to it (in laymans terms) "works smarter" rather than relying on clockspeed - thus runs cooler (requires less cooling) and uses less power (as it runs slower)

Bk

class_A

Centrino is simply a marketing name for a motherboard, chipset and WiFi adaptor. Pentium-M is the actual processor and yes you want it rather than a P4 or P4-M

Beastie

iTrader: (2)

Centrino here too. Much faster than my P4 laptop of superior chip frequency.

Iain Young

The only disadvantage of them is that the centrino processors don't support hyperthreading. However there are very few apps that actually use it, so for most people it's not an issue...

lightning101

If its just sitting on a desk at home, why would you want and overpriced centrino ?

Just get an athon 64 or P4 - why would you care how quick the battery goes down if 95% of its life its plugged into the mains socket, and the built in wireless chips are ****e for distance.

Buy one with an aerial.


Centrinos have their place, and its for people on the move, train journeys, multiple office sites, sales etc.

Iain Young

Heat (they need good ventilation), noise (all those fans get very annoying after a while), plus those times when you do want to use it on battery...

The built in wireless in my Dell has a much better range than my (dlink) wireless pcmcia card. Perhaps you have just been unlucky (or perhaps my Dell is just very well made)...

Well, I can play doom3 in 1600x1200 resolution, at full detail and still get somewhere around 60fps on my centrino powered laptop. Half life 2 also runs extremely well on it (at similar resolutions, detail etc), so I think that it can be used for a bit more than just mobile stuff.

The ghz rating of the chip isn't actually really the most important thing, but instead the components surrounding it. You can have the best processor in the world, but if you've got a naff gfx card, or low cache memory etc, then it will not perform.

darlodge

Pentium M for me

Dazza

damatrix

i gotta vote centrino... if its just going to be sitting on a desk indoors then get p4.. but if u plan on using a laptop for what its made for i.e. mobile! then get centrino.. battery lasts longer, generally lighter and not so noisey. Plus u get the wifi bluetooth coolness all built in

may centrino can do everything my p4 desktop can do no problems... if ur seriously only going to be using it for powerpoint stuff.. why even bother getting a p4

dicky ticker

thanks all

i always buy the best newest i can afford as they soon go out of date.

P-M centrino for me.

now what colour case wuld you recomend.lol.

cheers