amd vs intel

[Art Of Betrayal]

Its not a poll because i am looking at buying a laptop and was wondering what you would all recommend either intel or amd and why, thanks in advance.

[Sabretooth]

I normally like AMD's policy of cheap prices and big performance, but Intel is currently a whole generation ahead of AMD, so I'll suck up to Intel's ass.

[JoeDoe 2.0]

Has to be Intel.

[Astrotoy7]

one for the tech forum methinks

 

posting ""<insert manufacturer> is better"" is a really great way to respond and best inform the original poster of some really important details to consider when making such a costly purchase decision !! [/disgust heaped upon sarcasm]

 

* * *

 

OP:

 

1. What type of nbs(notebooks) are you looking at - performance/gaming, business, student/low end, multimedia ??

 

This is *really* the most important question because CPU brand really isn't the pivotal factor in making a purchase decision.

 

Some innocent googling will dredge up different things. Those ever misinformative boffins at TomsHardware like posting reviews comparing old Turions vs newer c2 based processors BUT on markedly differently configured systems.

 

Most notebooks have BIOS locks on them to prevent you from fiddling with its config in any way. As a result a notebook that is *built and released* with gaming in mind, will peform better than notebook *built and released* as a student nb, even though they may have an indentical grade mobile CPU in there... !!

 

It *really* is a case of comparing the laptops overall specs rather than just the CPU specs. Things like FSB frequency, RAM grade, discrete vs embedded GPU is going to skew performance benchmarks wildly. In fact, performance benchmarks for nbs really need to be read carefully because unlike desktop benchies, they are NOT built identically. ie. desktop benching allows the setting off all other components as unchanged controls, the only variance being the actual bit of hardware tested.

 

This is really difficult, if not impossible to do in a notebook comparison.

 

So a decision, is made on overall performance, not just GPU/CPU etc.

 

This is a sensible way to go about it:

1. Pick your price range

2. Pick your OS.

3. Pick your highest end functionality. ie. what do you want it to be good at. gaming, multimedia, high intensity processing, all of the above ?? You really need to be specific...what games - what apps - do you want to be DirectX10 ready ?? Do you want to connect to a Tv and use it as a media centre pc etc ??

 

At the end of the day, with all the choices you make, you can end up with similarly performing, similarly spec'd notebooks, which can have either/or an AMD chip in it.

 

An an example: Alienware makes some pretty fantastic notebooks. Performance-wise they are stunning and they look amazing. Unfortunately they are also priced spectacularly. If I was ever to consider getting a laptop *now* that would game hard - it would be the one of Alienware SLI enabled laptops...either that or simply wait for the next generation of laptops that will be sporting G80 mobile processors, which will consume less power than an SLI m-GPU but cost more

 

See the quick grab I did from alienwares' site: (Vista's snip tool is awesome!)

As you can see, Alienware has some quite handsomely specd nbs, sporting both types of processors.... that should be the best indication for you that CPU choice shouldnt be the pivotal factor in deciding what you want, but overall functionality and COST

 

 

good luck on your decison

 

Let us know on what you decide or would like some more details tech-wise

 

Dont forget, ibooks etc are always an option and can run windows on it as well nowdays

 

mtfbwya

[Sabretooth]

Way to go, lord Astro. You just freaked the little bugger out.

[Astrotoy7]

Way to go, lord Astro. You just freaked the little bugger out.

 

Would you expect a less detailed reply from the Dean and Top Male Supermodel of the Tech Forum

 

merely saying "<X> is better" is as useful as saying "let a monkey choose for you"

 

I have a mission against said monkeys

 

mtfbwya

[Art Of Betrayal]

the laptop i am thinking about getting is going to be used for maybe a few movies 1 or 2 games and just something i can take with me where ever i go

 

 

 

Case ( Battalion 101 CZ-7 15.4" WXGA 1280x800 Widescreen TFT Notebook w/Li-ion battery, Universal AC Power Adapter )

 

Processor ( [New !!!] Intel® Core 2 Duo Mobile T7500 Dual-Core Processor (2x 2.2GHz/4MB Cache/800FSB) )

 

Memory ( 2048MB(1024MB X2) DDR2-667 PC5300 [Notebook Memory] Corsair Value or Major Brand )

 

Video Card ( Mobility 256MB (up to 1GB Turbo-Cache Memory) NVIDIA® Geforce® Go 8400M-G PCI-Express 3D Video )

 

Hard Drive ( 80 GB 7200rpm Serial-ATA-150 Super Slim Notebook Hard Drive )

 

CD-RW/DVD-RW Drive ( 8x Dual Format DVD±R/±RW + 16x CD-R/RW Combo Drive [CZ-7] )

 

Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )

 

Network Card ( Build-in 10/100/1000 Network LAN [Notebook] )

 

USB 2.0 Accessories ( Build-in 4x USB 2.0 Ports [Notebook] )

 

Flash Media Reader/Writer ( Build-in 4-in-1 Media Card Reader/Writer [Notebook] )

 

Operation System ( Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) 32-Bit )

 

Additional Software ( Microsoft Works 8.0 (make the most of your home PC) )

 

IEEE-1394 Fire Wire Card ( Build-in 1x IEEE-1394 Firewire Port [Notebook] )

 

Video Camera ( Build-in Digital Web Video Camera )

 

Internal Wireless Network Adapter ( [upgrade] INTEL Wireless-N WiFi Link 4965AGN(802.11a/b/g/Draft N, 11/54/300 Mbps) PCI-E Mini Card )

 

 

this will run me 1200, i looked at alienware but they are abit over my budget

[John Galt]

I just built a new system with a Core 2 Duo, and I really like the performance.

 

Granted, I don't really have much experience with AMD, but the Intel chip was easier to install than the last AMD I worked with.

[Astrotoy7]

the laptop i am thinking about getting is going to be used for maybe a few movies 1 or 2 games and just something i can take with me where ever i go

 

this will run me 1200

 

unless the 2 games are crysis and bioshock...if that's all you want to do, you could get away with half that price...easy

 

mtfbwya

[Q]

The current rule of thumb is that you would have to get a Turion (AMD) that runs at about 20-25% higher clock speed to match the performance of Core 2 Duo (Intel). Just keep this in mind when you buy and get whichever one is the better deal.

[Astrotoy7]

The current rule of thumb is that you would have to get a Turion (AMD) that runs at about 20-25% higher clock speed to match the performance of Core 2 Duo (Intel). Just keep this in mind when you buy and get whichever one is the better deal.

 

Cmon Q. I'd expect a bit more detail than that from you !

 

Thanks to Intel's marketing strategy in the 90s, so many people are still focused on clockspeed.. the 'megahertz myth' has long been proven to eb exactly that and CPUs are essentially much faster than an average user will ever need it to be.

 

Funnily enough - this point hit home yesterday when I was looking at a friends PIII 667 and seeing how well XP ran on it !!

 

There are only a select slice of people that will benefit from anything over x2 2.2Ghz, and they sure are not characteristic of the average user. And this is for desktop CPUS....

 

*Serious Overclockers - not 'I want to make my 4 yo CPU run faster' OCers

*High end gamers playing at 1080p and above

*High end graphical/Hi def Video editing/animation apps users... anyone here work for ILM or Pixar ??

 

"Performance", especially in a notebook is a complex thing to break down. Its like looking at how well a team performs as opposed to a few key players

In fact anyone that is into the aforementioned things stays quite far away from laptops to power that key functionality.

 

Despite being an AMD fan(for personal reasons), all that is relevant is to give someone as much detailed info as they need to make a well informed purchase decision. These things are expensive !!

 

Laptops are too compact to ever dissipate heat effectively, expensive, and limited in hardware and driver support. Once you get a laptop, apart from a RAM upgrade, you are pretty much locked into those specs.

 

Saying "Intels 1.8GHz = AMDs 2.2Ghz" means what for most users in a practical sense ? Not much.

 

It's really the type of glib statement a slick salesmen at an electronics store would try on a unsuspecting customer. shifty !

 

Pair either of them with a decent GPU, 2gb RAM and youre going to have a nicely specd laptop. There is plenty out there about Turions using less power in a low power state, which is important for laptop users who actually are mobile. They do apparently use more in a high power state, but no one sensible would run high power functions on battery for that long, on either platform

 

AoB mentioned never stated he was after a gaming or high end NB... "Intel or AMD" shouldnt be a huge consideration for most people buying a notebook. Its moreso price, what GPU, and how much for that RAM upgrade !!

 

mtfbwya