Making Sense Of Processors For Laptops

[webgyrl]

Can someone help me in understanding what processor is best for a laptop?

 

Basically I don't care what I have as long as I can use Adobe, Macromedia and Microsoft software products.

 

I don't understand the difference between M and Celeron and P4? Is there a difference?

 

What is the cheapest option?

 

I want to connect to the net using dialup or cable.

 

Does it matter which processor I have?

 

I know Centrino is only for wireless internet access. But the rest... lawdy it's confusing.

 

What would you reccomend? I mainly run Office (Word, Excel, Publisher, Outlook), Dreamweaver MX, Fireworks MX, Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe InDesign CS and QuarkXpress 6.

 

I'd like to run XP Home as the OS.

 

Also, anyone know where I can get a laptop with 512MB RAM, 1.2Ghz or higher speed, CDRW, USB ports, Office 2000 or higher and Windows XP for under $1000? Been checking eBay, but eBay freaks me out these days... so many scams.

 

Thanks for the help... as always!

 

Nat

[Madmanmcp]

Lets see, basically I would say the processor doesn't matter, a laptop is a laptop. You get one for its portability. The higher the price, the faster and more options will be available.

 

as I can use Adobe, Macromedia and Microsoft software products.

 

You will be able to do this on most any laptop you get.

 

 

I don't understand the difference between M and Celeron and P4? Is there a difference?

 

Yes there is, but they all will do what you want so the difference doesn't matter.

 

What is the cheapest option?

 

There are other points that determine which laptop is cheapest, how much RAM, disk space, CD-RW or DVD , CPU speed, all these will drive a price up or down. The processor is just another small part of the total package.

 

 

I want to connect to the net using dialup or cable.

 

Most laptops come with both internal modems and ethernet ports. If they don't they have a PCMCIA port and you can purchase a card for what you need.

 

I know Centrino is only for wireless internet access.

 

No, it doesn't mean "only for wireless" it means it "supports" wireless internally. For instance some laptops come with a little switch and you can turn wireless off and use an ethernet cable instead.

 

 

What would you reccomend?

 

Whatever meets the price you want to pay, the higher you make this the better the laptop you will get.

 

I'd like to run XP Home as the OS.

 

Most already have XP loaded.

 

Office 2000 or higher

 

Office is not usually pre-loaded on new computers and you may have to purchase this. The "Teachers" edition is going for about $129.

 

What I would recommend is you take a day or two and go Laptop hunting and bring a notepad and pen or pencil. Find your computer stores and visit each one and take notes on what they have and the price. Try Best Buys, Office Depot, Circuit City or whatever stores are in your area. DO NOT buy the first one you like, spend a little time and visit the stores and collect the info and take it home to review it.

 

Find the one with the right price with most of the options you want and then go and get it. Good luck.

[btrfld]

As BoB says any of the processors will do what you need, but I would look for an M - specially designed for Mobile machines and it runs cooler. I have a Pentium M in my laptop and the machine definitely generates less heat than my old one.

[TCH-Andy]

Hi Nat,

 

I think MadmanMCP just about covered it all as usual

 

To me part of the difference comes to how you will use the laptop. I am nearly always sat at a desk somewhere, and I don't mind lugging a bit of extra weight, and battery life is not a major consideration for me - hence I have a laptop with a P4 and plenty of power.

 

If you want one with better battery life, lightweight because you want to use it on battery power a lot of the time, then I would look for the mobile (M) processor.

 

Overal, as suggested, go out and have a look at all the specs, have a look at all the things you want (weight, connectivity, battery life, speed....) to find the right one for your requirements.

[TCH-Bruce]

and just to add to all the good things that have already been said. Check out TechBargains.com before making your purchase. I have seen some really inexpensive nice laptop deals there the last coupld of days. Including some from Dell, Toshiba, HP and others.

[webgyrl]

Bob- thanks for that incredibly helpful breakdown and answer to my questions. Makes everything very clear to me now. I was just worried that these programs wouldn't work with anything but a Pentium 4. But knowing that the processor doesn't matter that much helps me tremendously and opens a lot more options up.

 

Are Athlon processors good in laptops?

 

Thanks also to Bruce, Andy and Jim for your insight.

 

I'd ideally like it to be a mid-weight system with about 2-3 hours of battery life. I will still mostly use it at desks... hotel ones. LOL

 

I found overstock.com to have some pretty good prices on refurbished systems.

 

I think I will stay away from eBay for now. Too many scams. That place sure has changed since it's inception.

 

Thanks again guys!

 

Nat

[TCH-Bruce]

I have a Dell Inspiron 5160 and the battery life is excellent in it, over 3hrs.

Edited December 30, 2004 by TCH-Bruce

[webgyrl]

Bruce, Cool... will check around for that model.

 

What is this I am reading about a docking station? What is that? Do all laptops come with a power source for if you just want to plug it in to a regular outlet?

 

Also does anyone know if those voltage converter kits you use for converting hair dryers etc overseas work for laptops or do I need to look into something specific?

 

Thanks,

Nat

[boxturt]

The Dell laptop power supplies (100 - 240V) will work in the USA or overseas however you will need the adapter to plug it into the wall. (Circuit City, Best Buy, etc)

[Nicholas Naime]

Consider this, or this.

[Prel]

To make upgrade in laptop is more difficult than in desktop at least here in my country, and considering everything that you desire to use I would buy a Pentium 4 with 512 mb ram.

Some marks that taste Toshiba, Compaq and Dell

[borfast]

I tend to disagree a bit regarding the processor, because it makes a huge difference if you can use your laptop unplugged for just 1-2 hours or 5 hours.

 

As Bob said, Centrino doesn't just mean "wireless internet". Centrino is actually a set of technologies from Intel, including a wireless networking chip, a graphics processing chip (graphics card) and the Pentium M CPU.

 

The big advantage of the Pentium M is that it consumes much less power than any other mobile processor and thus it heats much less and the laptop battery lasts much longer - my laptop battery has reached beyond 5 hours, once. It's so good that Intel is pushing it to the desktop market

 

So here's what I think you should consider:

 

1 - Are you going to work with the laptop always (or most of the time) plugged to the electrical grid? If so, buy an Athlon 64 (or Pentium 4, but I recommend the Athlon) for more power. If you need to work with your laptop a lot without any external electrical power, then go for the Centrino/Pentium M for extended battery life.

 

2 - Are you going to do graphics intensive work, like photo editing (I mean BIG photos), 3D rendering, video processing, etc? If so, get at least 512 MB of RAM (I'd probably say 1 GB). You should also probably get a graphics card with dedicated video memory, not the slow shared memory (shared memory video cards use the computer's RAM for video memory, which is very slow for graphics).

 

3 - How much disk space will you need? Well, actually, I recommend you get the biggest hard drive you can, since hard disk space is always precious Of course you're the one who knows how much you need and based on that you should decide how big you need the HDD to be.

 

 

Hope that helps

Edited December 31, 2004 by TCH-Raul

[TCH-Bruce]

What is this I am reading about a docking station? What is that? Do all laptops come with a power source for if you just want to plug it in to a regular outlet?

A docking station is a piece of hardware that sits on your desk at home with all your peripherals plugged into and has a single connection to the laptop. Makes for easy connect/disconnect when you take the laptop on the road.