CPUs, laptops.. what does it all mean?

slash000

I used to be really into following the latest CPU and GPU tech. Then some things happened and I lost track of all of this many years ago. Next thing I know, it's impossible to find good websites that benchmark and compare CPU tech. It's hard for me to understand.




Here's my problem:


I'm looking at 3 laptops at three prices, with different sets of specs:


Laptop A:
Intel® Celeron® 550 (2.0GHz, 533Mhz, 1M L2 Cache)


Laptop B
Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T2390 (1.86GHz/533Mhz FSB/1MB cache)


Laptop C
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5750 (2.00GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)



All of the rest of the specs are identical - same amount and speed of RAM, same HDDs, same video, NICs, and screens. The only difference is the CPUs.


So can someone please help me out, and explain the differences between these processors?

I know that "Ghz speed" does not translate directly to performance; different architectures can result in better/worse performance depending on the CPU.

But here I am. I can't find any useful websites on this matter. How much worse is a Celeron 550 than a "Pentium Dual Core" if the latter has lesser Ghz, and 2 cores?

How much better is the "Core 2 Duo" with 2 ghz, but two cores, and presumably different architecture?



What are the differences between these CPUs? Is there any place to go that explains any of this? And preferably shows performance differences? Benchmarks? Anything? The places I used to go have failed me. I wish I just had some benchmark results for each CPU to look at and compare. But I can't find any. I can't even find any info on these CPUs explaining the advantages/disadvantages of them in detail. Is a Celeron complete shit? If so, how significantly gimped is it? How much of a difference does having a Core 2 Duo have, over a "Pentium Dual Core"?



Thank you everyone.

Dixon

Man I actually did benchmarking of my own with that celeron exactly, a t2500 and a t5500.
What are you looking at doing with the laptop?

For starters there is quite a bit of a jump in performance. The 3dmark06 benchmarks gave the celeron 550 a score less then half of the t5500. With the t2500 about 100 points less which is pretty good.

Also the core 2 duo has 64-bit architecture so if you want to use any apps that are 64-bit the Celeron won't do. The cache is also super helpful, that like the repetitive task memory so if your doing tasks that are similiar over and over its quicker for a longer period of time. You also have to take into account that a higher clocked and basically more powerful processor will consume more power so it's good to look at the TDP of each unit. I can't remember those figures but I believe you can pull them right off the Intel site

BubbaT

One thing is that the Celeron M does not have Intel's Speedstep technology, which allows the CPU to be downclocked when idle, lowering power consumption and increasing battery life. Depending on your usage, you could easily end up with a shorter battery life on the weaker Celeron simply because the Celeron is running full-bore all the time.

The Celeron E, which is a dual-core CPU, does have Speedstep.

finalflight89

The Core 2 Duo will be the fastest, followed by the Pentium Dual Core, then followed by the Celeron. Core 2 Duo's are the most recent Intel dual core chips, the Pentium Dual Core is a bit older, and a Celeron is a Celeron. It really depends on what you plan on doing with the laptop.

Frem

I have found notebookcheck completely invaluable for comparing laptop video cards and processors. The individual laptop reviews on there are fairly through and extremely nice if you want to find out something about a specific model. Just browsing for a model with specific specs and price, not so much.

slash000

Wow, thanks a ton for the info guys. That all pretty much answers the question, and points me in the right direction. I've just been out of the loop with CPU hardware tech in recent years and it's just hard to jump back into it.

I guess the important differences were the ones you guys pointed out - the fact that Dixon pretty much was able to find the benchmark differences himself, and everyone pointing out the battery life/speedstep and power consumption / battery life considerations, as well as the cache differences, and the 64-bit compatibility.


Thanks for the info. Those key differences are what I needed to know to make a decision.

Pat McRotch

Also remember that consumer notebook batteries are more of a convenience and are not really meant to be relied upon... As apposed to business notebooks and batteries. Some of the people I talk to do not seem to realize that and wonder why their battery does not last as long as it did a year ago.

BubbaT

Frem wrote: »

I have found notebookcheck completely invaluable for comparing laptop video cards and processors. The individual laptop reviews on there are fairly through and extremely nice if you want to find out something about a specific model. Just browsing for a model with specific specs and price, not so much.

I'm pretty wary of their benchmarks, actually. They just take a bunch of scores done by completely different setups and mush them all together. It's especially egregious on their mobile GPU charts, where they don't even separate out different revisions of the same chipset - eg, 8600M GT w/ 256MB DDR2 vs 256MB DDR3 vs 512MB DDR2 vs 512MB DDR3. Scores for all 4 of those cards (with varying CPUs and RAM sizes/speeds as well) are thrown into the same pile and then "averaged."

Frem

Well, yes. But it does give you a general idea of how things perform, and you can see the specs and model numbers of the individual systems.

Of course, I mainly used it to compare the tier 4 video cards, so multiple card revisions weren't that wasn't much of an issue. ;-)

1ddqd

Buy Laptop C - the Core2Duo is faster than the Pentium Dual Core due to three things:
Clock speed
FSB
Cache

Assuming the memory is 667mhz also, you'll see the best performance from this one.