Laptop chip and video sub-system comparison

[Loose rivets]

EDIT Oh gorsh...I'm not shouting, I just can't drive this :mad::mad::mad: software:(


Hi, One is on friend’s laptop so must be quick. very hurried and muddled I'm afraid.

I spent time in some Essex stores yesterday looking at laptops. I had intended buying one in Texas cos of the price, but ran out of time. When I got home, I was astounded to find that prices here had come down so much. I was looking at HP 6000 series, dual core ? 2 Gig / 180 Gig for under 400 quids.

There really isn’t much difference between the prices when you take local tax into account in the US.

So, I had to get quick briefings on the modern chips.
The higher-end chip in the Fugitsu was countered by the better video sub-system in the HP. Getting the best of both worlds doubled the price.
Is the new Intel chip that manages the power that worth having? The reasoning behind this question is that one lad in S****e’s tried to go back to XP and found that it objected to his new machine. Was this due to the Vista/Hardware interaction? I’m going to give Vista a go, but would like the option of XP if it gets too tedious to carry on with Vista.

I can see that this could be a nasty trap to fall into.

Anyway, the AMD 64 x 2 thingie on the HP seemed to function well, and they offered Works bundled. This will tide me over till I get my Word Perfect back.

The thing is that I want to scan hundreds of photos while I’m home. This will no doubt be the most demanding load on the system.

Will the Nvidia small dedicated video memory be okay for Photoshop tasks. The bulk of the work being done by shared memory it seems.

AMD v Intel info would be appreciated. No time for search as my host requries her table:*

[Guest 112233]

Hello - re your question about Chip speed vis a vis on board graphics and mother board performance - there's is not an easy answer to this one - If you are going to store, view and manipulate photos, the number crunching performance of the processor and the amount of avalable RAM on the PC are limiting factors - On a portable PC with on board graphics; the video card may share some of the available RAM and if you are using/going to use, Windows VISTA there are apparently some performance issues with the 915 chip set, commonly found on less expensive portables - I cannot advertise but I suggest that you search for the on line review sections for the popular PC Mags. For the record I'm using a 2 YO Win XP portable PC with a GE Go 6800 Graphics card ( with 256 MB Video RAM) and 3 GB of Sys Ram, with an old P4 Pentium 3.4 Mhz Processor ,Intel 915 Chipset and two 80 GB disks - you will get as good, if not better now, for about £500 - . I find that its all I need - Good luck in Searching :hmm:

[Guest 112233]

PS Intel V AMD - Yes Its a advantage to buy a chip that manages its power requirements - Batt life on my box = a UPS -30 Mins only. Don't forget if the chipset is brand new allow time for any bugs/unplanned features to be ironed out, no matter which Operating Sys that you use.

[matt_hooks]

I've read differing views on dual core processors. They SEEM to offer good speeds, but if the software isn't written for multi threading then often a faster single core will give better results.

As for the balance of sys ram and video ram, if the most intensive stuff you will be doing is photoshopping (and there's photoshopping and photoshopping, depends if you'll be doing heavy stuff like rendering or just a little touching up) then I would suggest the higher video ram would pay off, as it doesn't require the passing of data along the FSB between RAM and the vid card, can save processor cycles too.

[Loose rivets]

I'm on another mate's computer, have found out that there is a Compac that has V-ram and 2 gigs and a 180 gig disc on the Intel dual core. £399


I've yet to see the build quality. This is why I am biased towards HP, their mouldings are very robust...well, they seem to be.

Have just been told of a company that supplies at cut price and with XP if you want it.... Am off to see the guy this PM.

[hellsbrink]

I thought Compaq and HP were one and the same (soon to be taken over by Acer).....

[Saab Dastard]

HP did indeed buy Compaq about 7 or 8 years ago.

However, I believe that they maintained the Compaq name for some product lines - mainly or only in the home PC and laptop area, I think.

Why do you think that Acer has either the desire or the money to acquire HP?

It was only about 9 months ago that they acquired Gateway (who also acquired Packard Bell), so they are busily digesting that lot!

They are still only 3rd in the world PC manufacturers table - after Dell and the number 1: HP.

SD

[Loose rivets]

Hello again...I'm on a pal's computer again. I got a Fugitsu...don't really know why. Having been briefed on this chip ant that, the only one that has a Duo 2 with the intel Centrino board -- at anything like the price of the 400 aiming point. £29 seemed a small increase to get the Centrino plus the duo 2

This, the young man said, was above both the AMDs and much above the ordiary duo. At about this point, a fuse in my brain blew, and I said givvuz that one.

Seems quick, but have not got a signal to the net yet.

Does anyone not agree about the power of the chip? I've got 14 days to take it back, so will apreciate any coments


Will post a funny story on JB about finding a link belonging to a cat.

[hellsbrink]

Ack

Got me HP's and PB's mixed up!

There been other shenanigans with claims and counterclaims regarding HP and Acer's patents, so that probably where I cunfoozed meself (although some rumours seem to have been pulled from a couple of sites)