Laptop Question
 

I'm currently looking around for a laptop to buy and i've noticed that the maximum CPU speed i can find is around 2.2Ghz, why is this? I remember laptops about a year ago offering 3.2 GHz chip speeds, so why can't I see any powerful notebooks for sale anymore?

A year ago a 3.2 GHz CPU in a notebook? I really doubt it.

Dell Inspiron 5150
Review: http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Dell_In...2.html?tag=nav

Release date: 6/11/03

Compare that to the laptops available today

The reason, and just a guess at that, is that they reduced the speed of laptop processors so they aren't as power greedy. With the advent of mobile processors, it's clear that companies are putting battery life right up there with specs like speed, RAM, and hard drive capacity.

However, with some laptops now carrying dual core processors, they don't need to be up past 3.0 Ghz to be useful. Having multiple cores allows for more multitasking which is good for gamers and the average user without making battery life a joke. Check websites or anywhere, dual core processing is gaining support for being better now and in the future than a single core.

Hmm, I have no experience with duel core processors. Would a duel core 2Ghz processor be the equivilent of a 4GHz processor?

Not exactly. AMD, counting bias aside, says that their Athlon 64 bit 3100+ (2.1 Ghz) cpu can do as much and sometimes more than a Pentium IV 3.2Ghz cpu. I've been trying to find a website that compares the speeds side by side, but had no luck. A dual core processor that is rated at 2.4 Ghz or better should be just as good as the best Pentium IV out there.

So if you're looking for a laptop with power and good battery life, I'd recommend one with Intel's dual core centrino processor. It has the advantages of dual core technology plus the power saving design that the centrino line is known for.

Hmm, ok.

Given the choice between the Intel duel core Centrino processor and the AMD Turion 64 Processor which one would be better for gaming?

Either one should do fine so long as you get one of the higher end models, probably 1.9Ghz or higher. Although if you're looking for a desktop reaplacement laptop, I would opt for a standard Athlon 64 bit processor since they're currently more powerful than either the centrino or turion series.

I wouldn't go for the 64-bit part though, since to really use it, you'll need Windows XP 64-bit Edition (which you'll most likely not get) and not all drivers will work on the 64-bit version of Windows XP. A dual-core 32-bit CPU-notebook would be a bit cheaper and the most you'll most likely use out of it.

There's a lot more to life than clockspeed. As a matter of fact, clockspeed doesn't mean CRAP.

The "2.2Ghz" processors you see nowadays are MUCH more powerful than the "3.2Ghz" processors you saw a year ago. Heck, my 2.2Ghz Athlon XP is as powerful as the 3.2Ghz CPUs you saw a year ago, and it's far behind the newer CPUs. No, a dual 2Ghz CPU is not the 'equivalent' of a 4Ghz CPU.

Thanks for all the input guys, I'm taking a software engineering degree in September and I want a laptop that will allow me to play CS:S (among other things) across campus >_>

Do any of you have any reccomendations of any models that I should take a look at?

Well, that depends on your budget, and what you plan on doing with it specifically.

High gigahertz chips a few years ago would have been a desktop chip inserted into a laptop -> power hungry, high heat content, and short battery life. :)

the actual reason you were seeing speeds of 3.2ghz last year and now you see 2.2 is that the processors intel is using in general have changed. the 3.2ghz chips are regular pentium 4s, and the 2.2ghz chips are the pentium-m "centrino" chips. the pentium-m is a lot more power efficient and is more like the athlon 64 performance-wise. a 2.2ghz pentium-m performs much like a 3-ghz p4 (unless you're doing encoding, that is-- a p4 will nearly always win with raw power tests).

the new lower-ghz processors aren't necessarily "much more powerful," heck, they're about the same or maybe slightly more powerful, but per-watt performance is much better and the performance at the same clock speed would be quite a lot better due to efficiency.

A Pentium 4 with Hyperthreading. Not exactly what you want in a laptop, especially when a Intel Core Duo will work far better, with less power drain and heat generation.

So basicly what you're saying is a 2.2Ghz Pentium Core Duo will be as fast as regular 3Ghz Pentium 4?

Probably faster, in some situations, yes.

Yo, Ascendancy, any price range in particular, or is this a "money no object" thing?

Pretty much a Money no object thing, but i'm not paying over the odds for an Alienware Laptop if that's what you were going to suggest :P

A buddy at work order a custom-made laptop from Dell yesterday for about $1500 after all the goodies. He got:

Intel Core Duo processor
1GB RAM
80GB Hard Drive
Dual Layer Burner
15.4" Widescreen
X1400 256mb ATI graphpics card (wow)

Dell has a pretty good reputation when it comes to laptops.

I, of course, recommend the new MacBook Pro, but then... I would. ;)

Are you planning on doing any gaming with it? And what's your prefered size?

No, not at all.

I'm looking forward to a new laptop and already had one spec'd out at AGear. It's a Asus Z70Va with a 1.86Ghz Centrino (sadly, it's not the duo core):

$1689, with no OS installed (because it's not necessary :) )

Is asus making the new macbook ??? if so then it will be a good build

Just to end all discussion about 3.2GHZ processors in laptops, yes, they exist. In particular, the Dell lines.

I'm using a Dell 9100 right now, 3.2GHZ P4 HT Processor in it. Has shit battery life, but its great for most other tasks. Of course, its a beast of a computer and is completely useless if you plan on moving much at all.