Pentium 4 vs Celeron

[manavo11]

I was considering getting a laptop, but the prices are quite high So, since I see that celerons are quite a bit cheaper, I started wondering what the difference between P4 and celeron are? Is celeron that bad? Is it OK? Any thoughts?

Thanks

[visualAd]

A Celeron is a stripped down version of a Pentium. They tend to be slower, made from lower grade materials and are not as efficient as Pentium processors.

That doesn't mean they are no good. For the average computer user, (i.e. e-mails, word processing and Internet) a Celeron is more than adequate. You should also look into the Athlon XP processors, they are a lot cheaper than Pentium processors and performance wise; the difference is negligagble.

[manavo11]

Thanks I'll keep looking at prices then

[Ideas Man]

Forget all that stuff, because you said it was for a laptop, look at the Centrinos or the Pentium-Ms, mainly the newer type with the 1MB cache.

[manavo11]

Originally posted by Ideas Man
Forget all that stuff, because you said it was for a laptop, look at the Centrinos or the Pentium-Ms, mainly the newer type with the 1MB cache.

But price is still an issue... Aren't they quite expensive for what you get? Or not?

[Ideas Man]

Depends, they are the best for the job. Last the longest on battery and very good performance wise. If you get just the processor, it's pretty good.

[manavo11]

Originally posted by Ideas Man
If you get just the processor, it's pretty good.

What do you mean?

[Ideas Man]

Centrino is the package of the Pentium-M processor, the chipset and the Intel 802.11b/g wireless card. If you buy a computer that is advertised as Centrino, that's what you get, if it just says Pentium-M, then that's the processor out of the package, some people will mark it down if they drop out the wireless or include another one.

[manavo11]

I had no idea Thanks

[plenderj]

Originally posted by visualAd
A Celeron is a stripped down version of a Pentium. They tend to be slower, made from lower grade materials and are not as efficient as Pentium processors.

Erm...
A Celeron is a Pentium 4 with less cache, lower clock speed and lower FSB speed. Its not made from lower grade materials - both P4s and Celerons have a P4 core.

[visualAd]

Originally posted by plenderj
Erm...
A Celeron is a Pentium 4 with less cache, lower clock speed and lower FSB speed. Its not made from lower grade materials - both P4s and Celerons have a P4 core.

Well sorry for given the wrong info there. I was told that by one of my tutors last year. Have it written in my notes.

[manavo11]

Originally posted by plenderj
Erm...
A Celeron is a Pentium 4 with less cache, lower clock speed and lower FSB speed. Its not made from lower grade materials - both P4s and Celerons have a P4 core.

Well, then they can't be all that bad, right?

[Ideas Man]

Originally posted by visualAd


Well sorry for given the wrong info there. I was told that by one of my tutors last year. Have it written in my notes.

Well then don't go back to them, plenderj is right. They also don't have Hyper-Threading, nor do the Pentium-Ms.

They are not too bad, but when you get into gaming, digital video editing, they really take a pinch, the cache helps a lot. Office work they are good.

[visualAd]

Originally posted by manavo11
Well, then they can't be all that bad, right?

Of course not - I don't think there is anythng wrong with Celeron's. They work and do the job they were built for.

[Ideas Man]

Originally posted by plenderj
Erm...
A Celeron is a Pentium 4 with less cache, lower clock speed and lower FSB speed. Its not made from lower grade materials - both P4s and Celerons have a P4 core.

Hence why you can buy a P4 board, and a celeron, and when your budget improves, put a P4 in it, they use the same socket and chipset.

[manavo11]

Good to have that clear then. Thanks

[ice_531]

What do you plan to use the laptop for?

If you plan to be a hardcore gamer on a laptop lol then reconsider.. but for general use you should be fine with celeron processor.

for desktops ... my pc with pentium 4 does show better performance then the one wit intel-celeron lol but i dont know how much difference laptops would be.


ice

[manavo11]

It would be mostly programming and internet... Hardly at all games...

[plenderj]

You'll find applications will compile faster on a fully fledged Pentium 4 CPU - but - in terms of bang for your buck, if you're on a budged, go for the Celeron.

My laptop that I still use today for Programming & Internet, and even some games is a Pentium-III 650MHz. So methinks you'll be fine whichever way you go

[manavo11]

Originally posted by plenderj
You'll find applications will compile faster on a fully fledged Pentium 4 CPU - but - in terms of bang for your buck, if you're on a budged, go for the Celeron.

My laptop that I still use today for Programming & Internet, and even some games is a Pentium-III 650MHz. So methinks you'll be fine whichever way you go

Great. Thanks

[Ideas Man]

But if you are an on-the-go type person, who wants just that little bit more life, I'd go with the Pentium-M one, i got one and it's beautiful, especially battery life, 4+ hours.

[manavo11]

How much is the average battery life for other processors? 2-3 hours I think?

[Ideas Man]

Something like that, most probably about 1-3 or something.

[manavo11]

Now that makes them more interesting... I'm off to see prices, again

[System_Error]

I have a Dell inspiron 600m laptop with a pentium M processor at 1.4GHZ and it has excellent performance. The battery life is usually about 4 -5 hours. If i were you I would definatly go with a Pentium M processor.

[dglienna]

I have a HP Pavillon with a P4, and it's nice. One think to be aware of about battery life is that if you are playing a DVD, then you'll be lucky to see the flick before the battery dies. If you are using a wireless connection to surf, you will get a lot more out of it. Same with burning CD's. That kills battery life quickly.
Mine is usually plugged in.
I was really shocked the first time I did a DVD on batteries

[Ideas Man]

I can watch about 1-2 DVDs on my Centrino, depending on the length, about 4-5 hours battery life, very good.

[dglienna]

mine has really good sound quality, and pretty darn loud also.
[likes loud stereo fx]

[manavo11]

Looks like Centrino are a good buy after all

[Ideas Man]

Can't go wrong with them, they really are excellent.

[manavo11]

Now all I have to do is find a good (affordable) one

[TomGibbons]

My Latitude D505 has a 1.4 Centrino. Performance is pretty good. I use it for programming, games like Civilization 3/Stronghold Crusader. DVDs. Battery life is about 4-5 hours. Little less if I'm using something like a game for the whole time of course.

[manavo11]

Originally posted by TomGibbons
My Latitude D505 has a 1.4 Centrino. Performance is pretty good. I use it for programming, games like Civilization 3/Stronghold Crusader. DVDs. Battery life is about 4-5 hours. Little less if I'm using something like a game for the whole time of course.

Latitude, is that Dell?

[TomGibbons]

Originally posted by manavo11
Latitude, is that Dell?

Yep