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Computer CPU ?


cmh_sprint

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I'm getting ready to buy a new laptop and have narrowed it down to 1 with an Intel i5 -430m (2.26 GHz) processor and 1 with a AMD Phenom II Triple-Core N870 (2.3 GHz) processor. The both look comparable on paper and benchmark tests. I'm looking for any real world insight. The price difference is less than $20 for machines that are otherwise identical.

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I5 is 4 cores, AMD is 3 cores.

Real world: you won't notice any difference, assuming both machines have the same amount of RAM and comparable hard drives.

Thanks. Both have 6G RAM and 640G HD's.

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Take this as friendly advice, but you're encroaching Ford/Chevy territory here. Some of us being Intel guys, others being AMD. 2.26 vs. 2.3 is splitting hairs really. I'd be just as interested in the FBS rating for the mobo for each proc. A wicked fast proc is wasted if it's gotta run through a tight little bus. Personally, I can speak well of the intel i5 here as it's what I have in my work laptop and it runs very well. I don't do much in the way of graphics, but I do a good bit in the way of VMs and multiple RDP sessions and have yet to encounter any issues with it.

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Take this as friendly advice, but you're encroaching Ford/Chevy territory here. Some of us being Intel guys, others being AMD. 2.26 vs. 2.3 is splitting hairs really. I'd be just as interested in the FBS rating for the mobo for each proc. A wicked fast proc is wasted if it's gotta run through a tight little bus. Personally, I can speak well of the intel i5 here as it's what I have in my work laptop and it runs very well. I don't do much in the way of graphics, but I do a good bit in the way of VMs and multiple RDP sessions and have yet to encounter any issues with it.

I thought about that after I posted. Purchase made, thanks for the input from those that responded. I went with the Intel over AMD, too concerned about the heat output from the AMD.

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With laptops I worry more about who made the thing than the CPU inside it. Most mfg. make a good product these days, but some are known to hold up better, and just run better even with the exact same specs. They all seems to put some bloatware on them, and some are worse than others with that as well.

I'm a pretty big fan of Toshiba, and have a laptop that's over 2 years old, has seen heavy use, been in a dusty dirty environment quite a bit, it was a refurb., and has been very reliable. I did load a clean copy of Windows 7 on it, and upgrade the hard drive and RAM a year ago, and replaced the battery with a cheap ebay unit this year, but I've still spent less than $1000 on it including purchase price.

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^^ +1

There are some comapnies good at making laptops, and some that IMHO are very bad at making them. HP/Compaq for example...I do more side work jobs on HPs than all others combined. Lots of dead mobos and shit HDs. They have all the nice, shiny fit and finish, and have crap under the hood. On the other side, Lenovos look blah and drab, but the ones I have been around (and supported for 4 years) run like champs. At my current job we have Dell, which I haven't been a huge fan of since buying one of my own years back. However the Latitudes that we have been buying seem very reliable, and don't seem to be built as chintsy as the one I had several years ago.

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I thought about that after I posted. Purchase made, thanks for the input from those that responded. I went with the Intel over AMD, too concerned about the heat output from the AMD.

Soooo... What'd you end up getting?

Linky?

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AMD > Intel :D

I'd agree with that, especially when building custom PC towers. Been an AMD user for over ten years and I run nothing but those on my personal machines. They're cheaper, run just as fast (if not faster), and are easy to overclock (if you really had to). It comes in quite handy when you're editing and rendering HD video. :)

Still unsure about AMD laptops, though. Has heat dissipation on those chips improved? I figure if it's gotten good enough to throw in a laptop then it's probably okay.

With laptops I worry more about who made the thing than the CPU inside it. Most mfg. make a good product these days, but some are known to hold up better, and just run better even with the exact same specs. They all seems to put some bloatware on them, and some are worse than others with that as well.

I'm a pretty big fan of Toshiba, and have a laptop that's over 2 years old, has seen heavy use, been in a dusty dirty environment quite a bit, it was a refurb., and has been very reliable. I did load a clean copy of Windows 7 on it, and upgrade the hard drive and RAM a year ago, and replaced the battery with a cheap ebay unit this year, but I've still spent less than $1000 on it including purchase price.

I love my Toshibas. My current Toshiba is a netbook that I'm running Linux Mint on and it's flawless...great for those campouts at Barnes and Noble or Panera Bread. Last one I owned before that was a Portege that I bought used on eBay in high school and was my main traveling laptop halfway through college. All it needed was a quick RAM upgrade and a wireless card to keep up with the times. You realize very quickly that if you're just doing office work, e-mail, etc. having an overkill machine isn't necessary at all. :D

Edited by the_silverfox
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Soooo... What'd you end up getting?

Linky?

I bought an HP dv7 (NIB) off of ebay

i5 - 430m 2.26GHz

6G RAM

640G HD

17.3 screen

Blue-ray

switchable graphics

$690 shipped

HP may have a quentionable rep but this one had pretty good reviews based on my research and was in the ball park for price. If I had FU money then I would have went the Apple route.

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