Pentium 4 or Centrino?

I'm still hunting for a laptop... I see that some are P4 and some are Centrino.
What's the difference? Which one is better?

 

Centrino for me...

related topic..
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=39345

 

Hi,
I have centrino laptop and I choose it over a pentium 4 as I do not heaps of processing power but I have been told that centrinos are equal to certain pentium 4's as they use a new type of threading which does not bottleneck unlike a pentium 4 processor:
Pentium 4:
* Heavier
* Heavy Duty Processing More Power
* Less Battery Time
Centrino:
* Lighter
* Works best with most applications
* Longer Battery Time
* Built in wireless capability so still keeps your add-on card slot free

Drew.

 

I use Centrinos for all my office computers. I have one gaming system which has a P4 although I never have the time to use it.

If I was going for a Laptop I would go with the Centrino

 

P4 = Desktop replacement.
Centrino = Portability

It really depends if you are really going to travel and use it. (essentials: spare battery, built in wifi, centrino) Or you just want to move it from your sofa to your desk (P4, more power, less battery, better + bigger screens)

 

Do you mean Celeron? I don't mean to nitpick, I jsut think there is some confusion in this thread. Centrino is Intel's wireless chipset that allows a laptop to connect to wireless networks without an additional card. Celeron is Intel's low power consumption processors that are frequenyl used in laptops.

Regardless, I would be careful if you get a Pentium 4 for 2 main reasons. If they don't effect you, then you should go for one for the performance.

1) Heat. Pentium 4's run a lot hotter than celerons, and some laptops have the strange design of putting the fan vents on the bottom, so if you have the laptop on a table or desk, it can't efficiently ventilate the processor, and it will run hot. This can also come into play if you keep it on your lap, you will definitely notice the warmth.

2) Battery life. If you will be keeping your laptop plugged in all the time, its not a big deal, but despite what they might advertise, a P4 gets about 1-2 hours of battery life before you get warnings telling you to save your files and plug in the laptop.

My girlfriend bought a P4 Toshiba because in the store she thought battery life wasn't that big a deal compared to performance, but in hind sight i think she would have preferred to not have one.

Might I suggest a compromise? I have a compaq laptop with an AMD Athlon 64. It doesn't run any where near as hot as my girlfriends pentium 4, and it gets about twice the battery life (3-4 hours) and its very good in terms of performance. I was always an intel guy before I got this laptop, but I think the Athlon 64 is a great choice.

just my 2 cents

 

I highly recommend the AMD Athlon. Intel is overrated and you're paying through the nose for a name. AMD chips are superior, imho, based on the independent reports I've read and the tests I've done on my own. AMD just kicks intel's chip set!

 

DON'T BUY A CELERON!!!!

They use less power only cause they aren't actually doing anything! A 2 ghz celeron would compare to a 1 ghz P4 for performance.

 

i, too, just recently bought a compaq presario with an athlon XP-M chip in it, and it smokes. I'm very pleased with it - and it does seem to be faster than my friends similar centrino laptop - but i do think he gets better battery life. Not sure how many cells he has though - but still i get a consistent, respectable 3 hours of hardcore use on an 8 cell battery - so i'm not disappointed.

also, as an added perk - i did have an issue with my lcd lamp going out (common) and the compaq/HP tech support service was super nice and VERY fast. i called tech support sunday evening, got a support ticket drawn up - and FEDEX was at my doorstep by 10 am monday, my laptop was in california by tuesday am, bulb replaced and on a fedex truck by close of day tues, and on a truck wed. am and back in my hands safe and sound by thursday AM. overnight both ways courtesy of HP tech support. Kudos to them for a very pleasant experience!

but that's OT, and to answer your question directly - i would say go with the centrino over the P4 for a laptop if i had to choose from the two - but consider AMD - i also own a P4 desktop and i'm very pleased with my Athlon XP-M.

VG

 

I concur. Ive been using Athlon for about a year now and couldnt be happier with the results.

 

I have a P4 in my laptop and it sucks. Battery rarely lasts 1 hour. That said, when I get my new laptop, I'd go for AMD, too. I currently have an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+ dual core processor in this PC.

 

You might want to consider AMD Turion64 for laptop. I have seen some reviews comparing Intel Pentium-M with this processor, Turion64 is better on some tests.

My choice is :-

Desktop : AMD Athlon2
Laptop : Intel Pentium-M

 

Thanks for your comments... I am not interested at all in AMD or Celerons, just wanted to know the difference between P4 and Centrino, and it seems that I will stick to the centrino one.

 

Fryman,

Please read my explanation. Pentium 4 is a processor and Centrino is a chipset with wireless connectivity. A Pentium 4 laptop would probably have Centrino as well.

 

Ok, just change the question to Pentium4 vs Pentium M

Anyway, you know what I am talking about, so who cares about tech definitions?

 

Get a powerbook - motorola chip at the moment if I remember.

Watch out for the flaming power adaptors though

 

What's a powerbook? Is that Apple?

 

No, an apple is a fruit you eat..

 

http://www.apple.com/powerbook/
Be careful of adaptors that set alight, other than that best laptop Ive owned by a long way.

 

I like P4, is there a real big difference in the weight