I'm trying to help a friend buy a laptop to replace his PC. The short version of his PC specs is 256 RAM, Athlon 2600 XP and Geforce 4 440 MX integrated. So far, here is how I've been currently assessing everything.
CPU:
Pentium 4.
I read the Pentium 4's are actually desktop CPUs. Primary complaint I read is that they run HOT. Hot as in you feel your fingers getting hot my typing on the keypad. Apparently it's great if you live in some place cold, free finger warmer. Obviously, this is a power hungry CPU.
Pentium-M
I heard they are great. The trade off in performance is worth it, the longer battery life and doesn't generate as much heat. The decrease in performance to what I read is not that big even though its an older architecture compared to the P4 and Athlon 64's which require a completely new architecture. Even though these CPU's are at the lower end of performance some what, I don't understand why laptops with these processor are usually 200 USD more.
Athlon64
The Athlon64 3200 is the one I've been eyeing. It's not as fast as the P4 however some sites claim that they are about even. (What one lacks, the other excels.) They aren't as power hungry nor do they heat up as much as the P4 however they do heat up noticeably and are still power hungry albeit, not as much as the P4.
Since this will be his primary computer, I figured the Athlon 64 3200 would do best. It's not brute force as the P4 and not as light as the Pentium-M but I figure it will be a better performer then his current PC by a considerable margin (I hope). Hopefully all his DVD burning, Microsoft office, digital camera photo managing etc. will be taken care of for an at least 2 and a half years. He wants some gaming on the side, (like coming over to my place so we can play UT2004 or what not.) This leads me to the graphics chip.
So far, the one I'm looking at is an X600 with 128 mb. Hopefully that will last him and so far this is the better option I've seen. This laptop needs to be at 1200 to 12300 USD at maximum. I don't think a 9800 PRO at 400 dollars is an option.
Anyways those are my current thoughts. Am I going along the right path so far? How would any of you think different or justify what I've thought of so far?
The goal here is to have a laptop to help get my friend through 2 and half years. And unfortunately laptops are unfamiliar to me. I had a really hard time finding CPU comparisons.
Feel free to contribute. (please..)
CPU:
Pentium 4.
I read the Pentium 4's are actually desktop CPUs. Primary complaint I read is that they run HOT. Hot as in you feel your fingers getting hot my typing on the keypad. Apparently it's great if you live in some place cold, free finger warmer. Obviously, this is a power hungry CPU.
Pentium-M
I heard they are great. The trade off in performance is worth it, the longer battery life and doesn't generate as much heat. The decrease in performance to what I read is not that big even though its an older architecture compared to the P4 and Athlon 64's which require a completely new architecture. Even though these CPU's are at the lower end of performance some what, I don't understand why laptops with these processor are usually 200 USD more.
Athlon64
The Athlon64 3200 is the one I've been eyeing. It's not as fast as the P4 however some sites claim that they are about even. (What one lacks, the other excels.) They aren't as power hungry nor do they heat up as much as the P4 however they do heat up noticeably and are still power hungry albeit, not as much as the P4.
Since this will be his primary computer, I figured the Athlon 64 3200 would do best. It's not brute force as the P4 and not as light as the Pentium-M but I figure it will be a better performer then his current PC by a considerable margin (I hope). Hopefully all his DVD burning, Microsoft office, digital camera photo managing etc. will be taken care of for an at least 2 and a half years. He wants some gaming on the side, (like coming over to my place so we can play UT2004 or what not.) This leads me to the graphics chip.
So far, the one I'm looking at is an X600 with 128 mb. Hopefully that will last him and so far this is the better option I've seen. This laptop needs to be at 1200 to 12300 USD at maximum. I don't think a 9800 PRO at 400 dollars is an option.
Anyways those are my current thoughts. Am I going along the right path so far? How would any of you think different or justify what I've thought of so far?
The goal here is to have a laptop to help get my friend through 2 and half years. And unfortunately laptops are unfamiliar to me. I had a really hard time finding CPU comparisons.
Feel free to contribute. (please..)
