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[Wellington]

I'm doing research for a laptop purchase in the near future and I stumbled onto an interesting spec sheet for a certain notebook. It listed a Pentium M processor with 64K of L1 cache and 2 MB of L2 Cache. What the fuck? Did a quick spread in order to see how it stacks up to other processors.

(chip - max clock speed [at the moment] - L1 cache - L2 cache)
Pentium M - 2.0 GHz - 64K - 1MB/2MB
Athlon XP Mobile - 2 GHz - 128K - 512K
Athlon XP+ (Barton) - 2.2 GHz - 128K - 512K
Athlon 64 - 2.4 GHz - 128K - 512K/1MB
Pentium 4 - 3.4 GHz - 20/28K - 512K/1MB
Mobile Athlon 64 - 2 GHz - 128K - 512K/1MB
Athlon MP - 2.13(probably off on this one) - 128K - 256/512K

Interesting. Even moreso is:
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.html?i=1800&p=13

Those are Pentium Ms with 1 MB of L2 cache.

This is pretty interesting. I couldn't find any benches for the 2.0 GHz, 2MB L2 cache chip, but I imagine it kicks the shit out of most of the current desktop processors. Anyone know where I can find benchmarks across a wide variety of mbile processors, possibly including the PowerBook and iBook processors? I'm interested as to whether or not the fact that they are RISC chips actually make a difference.

I must say though I am pretty goddamned impress with the Pentium M chips, what the hell is Intel Israel smoking to get all of this cool shit?

I think I am off of getting an Apple laptop with this new info. My criteria for it is simple (in order of priority): 1: Ultraportable, 2: Looks cool, 3: Can run KAG, 4: SHould be within $1500. My company gets a discount with Dell, combined with their online deals I'd get at least 25% off. I am looking at the 300m the most now.

 

[nitewulf]

Ms are centrino i believe, specifically designed for wi fi networking in mind. they are faster, but last i checked were also quite expensive.

 

[maharg]

I have a Dell Inspiron 600m from about a year ago and it rocks. More important than the actual speed of the system, it doesn't lag like most laptops seem to (because of poor speed stepping). I consider that its best benefit.

 

[EviLore]

Ms are centrino i believe, specifically designed for wi fi networking in mind. they are faster, but last i checked were also quite expensive

"Centrino" is just a marketing name. Laptop manufacturers are allowed to use the name (and therefore benefit from Intel's marketing dollars) if they include a Pentium M chip, 802.11, and an intel mobo from a specific range.

 

[CaptainABAB]

The fact that the Pentium M will be the basis for all intel notebook AND desktop cpus down the road should tell you everything you need to know.

http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1080609358.html

Sources are now saying that Intel is going to move away from its high-clockspeed, high-heat NetBurst architecture and derivations thereof in favor of Banias/Pentium M-like architectures. In short, Intel's Israeli office not only hit one out of the park with Pentium M, but it looks like the bases were loaded, too. Intel will be bringing their desktop and notebook designs together (again) under the Pentium M-derived line by 2007. Code-named Merom, the line will aim for low power consumption, higher instructions per clock, and will shy away from the aggressive "crank up the MHz, Scotty!" tactics that made the P4 such a climber, but such a burner. How appropriate it is, then, that the Pentium 4's Icarus flight will result in a new mythography where the new product codenames are almost all ancient Israelite archaeological sites.

"The Pentium M in most regards is very competitive with the Pentium 4 while running at dramatically lower clock speeds," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight 64. "Power consumption and heat dissipation is almost as large an issue on desktops as it used to be in mobile."

http://arstechnica.com/cpu/004/prescott-future/prescott-1.html

 

[Wellington]

The fact that the Pentium M will be the basis for all intel notebook AND desktop cpus down the road should tell you everything you need to know.

http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1080609358.html

Sources are now saying that Intel is going to move away from its high-clockspeed, high-heat NetBurst architecture and derivations thereof in favor of Banias/Pentium M-like architectures. In short, Intel's Israeli office not only hit one out of the park with Pentium M, but it looks like the bases were loaded, too. Intel will be bringing their desktop and notebook designs together (again) under the Pentium M-derived line by 2007. Code-named Merom, the line will aim for low power consumption, higher instructions per clock, and will shy away from the aggressive "crank up the MHz, Scotty!" tactics that made the P4 such a climber, but such a burner. How appropriate it is, then, that the Pentium 4's Icarus flight will result in a new mythography where the new product codenames are almost all ancient Israelite archaeological sites.

"The Pentium M in most regards is very competitive with the Pentium 4 while running at dramatically lower clock speeds," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst at Insight 64. "Power consumption and heat dissipation is almost as large an issue on desktops as it used to be in mobile."

http://arstechnica.com/cpu/004/prescott-future/prescott-1.html

Wow, I am glad to hear that. Instead of just making shit faster I am glad intel will finally go for a smarter design. I mean I like the way AMD has been doing it over these passed few years, changing other pieces of the chip which are just as important as the pure clockspeed.

Would I be right in saying that a Pentium M 2.0GHz with the 2MB L2 Cache is comparable to a P4 3.2 GHz?

 

[Diablos]

Yeah... the Prescott core is fuggin' HOT

 

[CaptainABAB]

Would I be right in saying that a Pentium M 2.0GHz with the 2MB L2 Cache is comparable to a P4 3.2 GHz?

It's very close. Check out these benchmarks.

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/print_content.asp?id=dothan20

"At its peak clock speed of 2.0 GHz, the Pentium-M 755 processor is putting up performance numbers which would be comparable to a 2.8 or 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 processor. All this while consuming roughly 1/4th to 1/5th the power levels of Intel’s high-end desktop processors, and creating such little heat that these chips can often be cooled with passive methods (although when used with small notebook coolers, fans will be necessary). Of course, Intel’s top of the line Pentium 4 / Prescott chips still have major advantages over the Pentium-M, not only in clock speed, but their ability to use a faster front side bus and a higher speed memory interface, along with their support of Hyper-Threading technology, which the Pentium-M does not have. "

 

[golem]

pentium m's are based on p3's.. what's old is new again.. damn intel and their p4 mhz marketing gimmick chip

 

[fart]

the ultraportable market is pretty small. for the most part, your options are

dell 300x/300m (samsung rebrand) 2.9lbs 2'20 battery life, 1.2ghz LV
ibm X40 2.7lbs with 2'30 battery, 1.0ghz ULV, 3.2lbs with 5-6hr battery 1.2ghz LV <-- i have one of these
ibm x31 3.2lbs with 4 hour battery, 1.3-1.7ghz pM
toshiba portege m200 convertible tablet pc, good for presentations, overkill ow
toshiba portege r100 1.0ghz ULV 2.4lb with 2 hr batt, ULTRA thin (smallest on the market afaik)
sony tr3 10" widescreen, internal dvd drive 4-6 hr batt choice of pM
panasonic toughbook W1 internal dvd, ? batt, choice of pM iirc

all of them have internal wireless (awesome), except for the sony and panasonic they're all around the size of a piece of paper, and about as thick as a 100pg notebook. i'm incredibly happy with my 1ghz X40, but if i'd had the money i would have gone with the toshi r100 (SO SMALL) which is around 1800 (the sony is also 1800-2500, the dell and ibms will run you ~1500 at the cheapest to 1800 or so at the top end). i don't know how expensive the toughbook is.

thing to look for are: good input devices because the space is so small (the ibms win hands down here)
size and weight obviously
battery life
do you need internal cd/dvd?
etc.

happy shopping!

 

[Wellington]

Just before you posted this I saw that the 300ms did not have the internal combo drive. That sux. As ultraportable as I would like for the thing to be, convenience would ultimately be a bigger factor than 2 pounds off the weight of the thing. Got a dell magazine in the mail comparing the 300 and 600ms and they aren't that different. ;(

The one downside is that dells are fucking ugly, as are thinkpads.

Does anyone have any information on the G4 based laptops? Still wondering if RISC makes a difference... though if Pentium Ms are comparable with high end P4s then G4s really don't have a shot.

 

[SKluck]

2 pounds and a half inch

Dells aren't that bad looking. They typically have the most/best accessories for their laptops. On Toshiba laptops, tough luck getting something as cool as the Dell mediabase. Sony is shit. IMO your real choice is between Apple, IBM and Dell.

The 300m is 1 inch thick and 3 pounds. If you get the mediabase which basically snaps onto the bottom and gives you a cdrom and more ports, that takes it up to 1.5" and 2 more pounds. Basically it becomes a typical laptop.

Most of the slim laptops don't have included optical drives. The Toshibas don't, you are stuck with external drives. IBM and Dell have snap on docks.

 

[nitewulf]

The one downside is that dells are fucking ugly, as are thinkpads.

*scratches head*

That's the one i have, 2.4 GHz Inspiron 5100. definitely not an ultraportable though, it's a desktop replacement.

 

[mint]

Toshiba Protege is sweet looking.