Laptop noob - a little help if you please

[rumblesushi]

Hi, I need a laptop quite urgently for work, I'm wondering if you could help me.

I haven't kept up to date with CPU technology and I've never had a laptop, I've been researching on tomshardware/mobilityguru/anandtech etc but haven't found a benchmark test that includes the Sempron 64 3400+ and the Core Duo T2250, or even a common opponent.

I'll be using it for mainly Adobe Creative Suite, working in print sizes, and Flash MX/8, but nothing 3D and no games, so graphics card is not that important important. Although maybe some old N64 games or something, but not modern PC games.

Could you tell me which processor is better out of the 2? (Sempron 64 3400+ and the Core Duo T2250)

The 2 laptops I'm looking at getting are here... they both seem like good deals...
(it's a Spanish site, but the specs are all listed the same)

http/www.optize.es/servlet/ACER_ASPIRE_7003WSMI_-_SEMPRON_64_3400+__304366_optize.html

http/www.optize.es/servlet/TOSHIBA_SATELLITE_A110-179_-_CORE_DUO_T2_305168_optize.html


I'm just not sure which one to get, the Acer has a larger screen, and the Toshiba is a bit lighter with allegedly longer battery life. They both have a gig of RAM, which I need, and 80gb HD etc. They both have integrated graphics but the toshiba has the Intel® 945GM Express and the Acer has the NVIDIA® GeForce Go 6100. Would there be much different between them?

Thanks a lot,
JR

 

[killernotebooks]

Core Duo. That made a long story short, it is about 2 years newer technology and 2 cores vs. a single core.

 

[rumblesushi]

Thanks a lot for the reply killer.

There is one other laptop I'm looking at, the Asus K6KM here

http/www.optize.es/servlet/ASUS_A6KM-Q012H_-_TECNOLOGIA_MOVIL_TURIO_278381_optize.html

It has a Turion 64 MT-32. Would you also rate the Core Duo above this one?

Right now it's a toss up between those 2. The advantage of this Asus is it has a dedicated graphics card - NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 which from the looks of it is a hell of a lot better than the toshiba's Intel 945 GM.

So one more question I'd like to ask is - would this better graphics chip only provide a noticable performance increase with 3D apps/games or would I also notice better performance working with large scale 2D vector and bitmap files?

If the standalone graphics chip would give better performance for the stuff I work with I'll probably go for that, if not I'll go for the toshiba with Core Duo.

Cheers,
Joe

 

[killernotebooks]

Yes, if you have a little more in your budget, this would be the best way to go from that same company:
Core 2 Duo, 1 GB, 120 Gb HD.

It has the Radeon Express 22 128 MB which is probably the best "integrated" graphics solution you can get. Check my mobil GPU comparison chart and see the 7300 card is a pooch anyway.

The Gpu is going to give you more than just games, it also contributes to rendering web pages, photoshop, system graphics, but if you aren't going to be gaming the 200 or 7300 should be enough. That said, FOR gaming, the GPU will give you a NOTICABLE improvement in games AND your large scale images you asked about.

Your budget doesn't lend itself to going to crazy on the GPU which is why I recommended the C2D with the 1 Gig and 120 Gig HD. It has the best of everything in your pricerange.

 

[rumblesushi]

Thanks again man. Do you have any benchmarks showing the difference between the Turion 64 and the Core Duo?

Is the Samsung's Radeon comparable to the 7300 or better/worse?

And one last thing - Samsung Laptops - do you feel they're as good build quality and reliable as Toshiba/Asus/Acer laptops?

Cheers,
Joe

 

[killernotebooks]

The ATi 200 and nVidia 7300 are about the same, the nVidia has the edge on it, but not by much, these are low end cards.

Toshiba and Acer are not generally considered really good builds at those levels. That said, I do not have experience with Samsung, that was the only thing on that site close to your price range so it was volunteered.

Here is a Turion MT-40 2.2 Ghz vs. a T2500 2.0 Ghz Core Duo, but remember that Samsung has the Core 2 Duo which is a generation newer than the core duo. The Eliminator has the Turion and the Wakizachi has the Core Duo in this graph.

That said, I think you can draw your own conclusion from the way the Core Duo literally smashes the Turion. Both of these systems have an x1600 ATi card, 7,200 rpm hard drives and 2 gigs of RAM. This graph is not to be interpreted as anywhere near the performance of the scores you will get with a nVidia 7300 or ATI M200 GPU, 1 gig of RAM and a 5,400 rpm hard drive. This is for comparision of the 2 CPU's in the relative same system only.

 

[rumblesushi]

Hey Killer you've been a great help.

I have but one more request to ask.

I live in Spain, so I naturally started looking at laptops on that Spanish site. Computers and parts here are generally cheaper than the UK, however I think in the US they may be even cheaper.

Could you recommend me a laptop around the $1000 - $1200 dollar mark (similar price to the ones I posted) that has a Core Duo, 1gig of RAM, and a dedicated graphics chip? I can then try and find it on ebay and hope they ship to Europe.

Thanks a lot,
Joe

 

[killernotebooks]

I don't know if NewEgg ships oversead, but:

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834147275

Of course DELL with a 20% off $999 coupon would be tough to beat.

This offer is not available on any other desktop system, and can not be combinable with other dollars off, percentage off or mail-in rebate offers. Online coupons not valid on the XPS series notebooks. Only one coupon may be applied per cart at checkout.
Dell Home Coupon: GP1RCD5BMM9?0S - Expires: 11/16/2006

For what you are doing, did you ever consider a MAC?
Refurbished MAC store

 

[rumblesushi]

That looks like a truly excellent deal, however even as a non gamer I'm a little put off by the shared mem graphics card.

Unless I can find a better deal in the US, I think it's a toss up between these 2. The first one works out at about $1000 and the second about £1200.

Asus A6km

http/www.optize.es/servlet/ASUS_A6KM-Q012H_-_TECNOLOGIA_MOVIL_TURIO_278381_optize.html

Asus A6Jc


http/www.optize.es/servlet/ASUS_A6JC-Q101H_-_CORE_DUO_T2300E___1.66_298123_optize.html


The samsung you posted looks good, however it has shared graphics, and I can't find any info on the battery.

Out of the 2 Asus I posted there are 3 differences - a Turion 64 MT-32 Vs a Core Duo T2300, 333 vs 667 mhz RAM, and 64 megs of VRAM vs 256 megs respectively.

Both have an 8 cell battery.

I have looked at benchmarks of both chips, and the performance difference between the Turion and the T2300 doesn't seem that great, but the T2300 is obviously a lot better at multitasking. And performance between these 2 would probably be more significant compared to the fair play benchmarks I saw, as the RAM is twice as fast and has more vram.

So with those 3 advantages, it seems worth the extra 100 quid, or 200 dollars.

One thing I wanted to ask you, that I haven't been able to decipher for sure, is - both having the same 8 cell battery and same screen - would the Core Duo 1.66 chip have better battery life than the Turion MT-32 1.8ghz chip?

Cheers,
Joe