Centrino/P4M VS. P4

[keto]

I'm very generally kicking around the idea of getting a laptop. I have just started, and have lots of reading to do before (or even if) I pull the trigger. Primary intended usage would be as a "home away from home" computer, meaning surfing/correspondence and as a gaming rig. I know that if I do make this leap, I'll be getting one with an ATI 9600 Mobility vid unit and 512 MB RAM minimum. As well, I know to get a 7200 RPM HD - battery life is going to be a negligible concern, mostly it'll be plugged in when in use.

That said, I know relatively little about Intel's mobile or Centrino tech. Heck, I'm not even sure of the terminology. So, I'm looking for some feedback from users and maybe some linkage to usefull knowledge on the subject. Better yet, if it's a particular machine, is it available in Canada?

Specific questions I have at the moment:

-how do the Centrinos (or mobiles) compare to the P4C desktops? I don't mean the definition of Centrino, that I can find easily enough and I *think* it has something to do with networking tech, I'm more talking SPEED. What P4C would a 1.5 Centrino compare to in general usage benchmarks? How much faster is a 1.6 or 1.7 than a 1.5?
-what chipsets are out there? which ones are good? I've seen current laptops advertised with both PC2100 and PC2700, are their fsb's still running 133 or 166?
-what other information should I be concerned with?
-what's the difference between XVGA (I think, I'm talking display here) and its variants? Is it supported resolutions?

All of the above has concentrated on Intel, don't start thinking I'm biased against AMD - I just know more about AMD mobile and am trying to fill in the gaps. I saw the E-Machines A64 laptop through BestBuy announcement on [H] today and was very intrigued - but when I stopped in at my local BestBuy, I was informed that the Canadian stores are related in name only and do not share inventory or even a website with the American version. Having said that, there are E-Machines retailers in Canada so I'll be keeping my eyes open and trying to find out if that machine is exclusive to BestBuy. Though I'd have a pretty big mental hurdle to jump before I could make myself buy an E-Machine.

Thanks in advance. :cheers:

[Geeky1]

If battery life isn't a major concern, get a P4. There are no good AMD notebooks still, unfortunately. Voodo has an Athlon 64 thing, but it's only got 64MB of video ram and a Via chipset... :(

www.powernotebooks.com

[primesuspect]

The Pentium-M (the processor that is used in the Centrino bundle: Centrino is a combination of Processor, Chipset, and low-power wireless) is a fantastic machine. It is more akin to a P3-Tualatin than a P4, but with a huge cache (1mb) and extremely low power consumption, it is a high performance chip. I've seen benchmarks and many discussions that show that the PM is actually slightly faster than a P4. It's certainly faster clock-for-clock. The P4-M (P4 Mobile) is a total hog - done in typical intel fashion. But the PM seems like something that AMD would have come up with; elegant, perfect for the situation, and cost effective.

I think it's Intel's best CPU.

[DanG]

Why no love for the acer ferrari?
http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/images/icon_fr3000_pic06.gif

XP2500, 512mb, 60gb, 15" tft, 802.11g, 128MB radeon 9200, and a lot of ferrari red paint.

http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/fr3000.htm

[Leonardo]

Prime, I'm inclined to agree with you. The more I use this Gateway Centrino, the more I like it. (Especially, since I just cut Folding steps time in half.)

[edcentric]

the M is directly derived from the P3T and it will blow a P4 into the weeds. There are some notebooks using the M, but not Centrino. They don't use the Intel network chips.
There are a bunch of choices out there, but right now not the big names.

[Geeky1]

Dan: Radeon 9200 *gag*

Ed: The Pentium M will blow a P4 up to 2.4-2.6GHz into the weeds. The clockspeed advantage the P4 has is significant enough >2.8GHz+ that the pentium m can't keep up.

I repeat: check out sager's notebooks if you want a desktop replacement. If you want something with a bit more mobility, get a Pentium-M thing. ECS has a nice one, I believe.

[edcentric]

The last test of a Voodoo 460 that I saw had a M1.6 outrunning a 2.8 P4.
The Voodoo is great (they sell in Canada) but real expensive. High resolution (1400x1050) screen and all.
If I was doing it again I would splurge.
Yes, the ECS is a nice machine. I think that HP is introducing a X1200 also.

[qparadox]

Pfft 1400x1050, that's nothing. My WUXGA is 1920x1200 :D. The P-M is a great proccessor. Clock for clock its up to 20% faster than the AXP which is in huge part due to the huge 1 MB cache. Even for general purpose its a great processor and the increased battery life is always nice. Whenever the power goes out here (about once a month) my laptop battery lasts long enough to watch 3, sometimes 4 episodes of Band of Brothers.

As for screens the naming convention simply refers to resolution. All are typically 60 Hz refresh frequency.

XGA 1024x768
SXGA 1200x960
SXGA+ 1400x1050
UXGA 1600x1200

Then there's various "wide" models (like mine) which vary in aspect ratio from manufacturer to manufacturer. Generally they have them so the vertical pixel count is the same as the above scheme and then stick a W in front.

I personally don't find 1920x1200 on a 15.4" screen to be too small, but others who have tried to use my computer complain. If you're going to be playing games, playing at the native resolution is best so sometimes lower res might be better. However, if you're doing work with multiple windows / programs open then the widescreen is a huge boon. Most programs are designed to look best at either 800x600 or 1024x768 so 1920x1200 gives you enough real-estate to get two programs at normal size on one screen. When programming it can also be really helpful when you write those really bad really long lines ;).

You can get some great notebooks from Dell for cheap if you watch for deals (the small business site / home site sometimes have different prices so check both, you don't need an actual business to buy from the small business site). I checked out power-notebooks for a long time before I bought mine, but it seemed to just be a pain to get it across the border. Of course the CDN $ is so high now that it may make a lot more sense now. When I was looking it was 1.6 cdn to $1 US, $1.33 to $1 is a heck of a lot better lookin :D.

[mmonnin]

Yeah the centrinos smoke the P4s. Its more like a P3 which can stand its ground verses Athlons. Not very hot either. Make sure to get the full centrino package tho with the CPU, chipset, and wireless.

[qparadox]

While the chipset is important, the intel wireless is only standard quality. Intel also has yet to add 'g' support to their centrino line. While 802.11g's actual throughput is only typically double that of 802.11b (not 5 as you'd expect), its still nice to have. But for 99.9% of purposes 'b' is fine ... remember how long we went with only 10baseT ? :D.

[muddocktor]

At work offshore, the main Operator I work for has Dell lappys they send to every job. Most of the newer ones are P4 2.2 or 2.4 machines with 512 ram but they job I went on in December has a brand new Lattitude using a Pentium M 1.5 with 512 ram and it seemed much more responsive than the P4 lappys. I know that this isn't a real test on the difference between the 2, but I'm telling you that it seemed that the P3M machine was a lot nicer and more snappy in the way it runs. I had noticed the same thing with the P4 lappys and my old P3 1.0 laptop; my P3 actually seemed to be able to repond fater than the newer and much faster P4 laptops I worked with too.