RE: [OT] New laptop - AMD or Intel

["Paul Gordon" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Keith,

All IMHO of course, but I believe that the Intel CPU's have the edge right
=
now in various ways. The Core Duo's are pretty good in terms of heat
dissip=
ation, performance per Watt, & power consumption. Their raw performance
is =
pretty good too.

I'd say 2GB is the *minimum* to run Vista (Spit!) acceptably. But going
abo=
ve it usually involves a compromise...

With only 2 slots, you typically would want to keep to modules of the same
=
size so you can use memory interleaving, which supposedly improves RAM
perf=
ormance, doing so obviously precludes some of the arrangements you
mentione=
d, (i.e. 2+1). Clearly this only leaves you the choice of 1+1 or 2+2, the
l=
atter of which will involve "wasting" some memory, since a 32-bit
version o=
f the OS will not be able to utilise all of it. Typically, I see anywhere
f=
rom 3.2GB - 3.7GB RAM Available to a 32-bit machine, depending on what
moth=
erboard features are installed/enabled & what additional cards are
installe=
d etc.... - anything that loads it's own BIOS (RAID controllers, on-board
G=
raphics etc. etc. all use up a portion of the maximum 4GB address space
tha=
t a 32-but CPU can address)

Even so, with RAM being as cheap as it is today, I'd go for 2+2 option, as
=
it still gives more available memory to the OS, even after some has been
"w=
asted", plus it's available to be used later if you upgrade to a
64-bit ver=
sion of the OS, - and let's face it, we're all going to sooner or later...
=
(although perhaps not in the lifetime of this laptop)

All the above applies equally to windows & Mac I believe (most versions
of =
the MAC OS are still 32 bit aren't they??) and the memory thing will apply
=
to all 32-bit CPU's regardless of who they come from...

HTH

Paul G.

PS, if budget permits, I'd recommend after getting whatever laptop you
even=
tually choose, to also get an Eee PC, as they are damn good IMH (I plan to
=
get one very soon). I'd even go so far as to say it might be worth making
y=
our main laptop choice with the =A3220 foe the EeePC in mind, - and
perhaps=
deliberately arrange to make a =A3200-odd saving on whatever you buy...

:-)



-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of K=
eith Doxey
Sent: 20 March 2008 10:02
To: UKHA Group
Subject: [ukha_d] [OT] New laptop - AMD or Intel

Hi All,

Looking to finally buy a new laptop but am sooooo confused by all the
diferent processor options.

Most seem to be offering Intel Processors but I cant figure out which are
which. I am guessing that generally the higher the number the better the
processor but some machine I saw today had higher processor numbers but
lower clock speeds. Would the higher porocessor still be faster ?

Where does AMD fit into the jigsaw. They must be able to run Vista
otherwis=
e
the laptop manufacturers wouldn't be using them but are there any downsides
to chosing AMD ?

Until I started using Dell machines, all my PCs were either Cyrix or AMD
based.

Also wondering about RAM. Is 2Gb sufficient to run Vista proplery or should
I bite the bullet and go for 4Gb from the outset. Looking at the current
Dell offerings they have 2 memory slots and the options available are 1+1,
2+1 or 2+2 so upgrading memory later would be much more expensive due to
having to lose the existing memory. It also says that best performance is
with matched memory modules but would 2+1 still give a significant increase
in performance over 1+1 or should I only consider 1+1 and 2+2Gb ?

Hopefully someone cant steer me in the right direction as the the machine
will need to serve me faithfully for the next 2 or 3 years. Have been quite
mpressed by my existing Dell laptop which will be 3 years old next month
an=
d
is now just too slow for the stuff I am doing.

Thanks in advance

Keith



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