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General discussion

AMD Athalon 64 or Celeron in an HP Notebook

May 13, 2004 6:49AM PDT

I am planning on buying a notebook from HP in the zv5000 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1077625453704&skuId=6387705&productCategoryId=cat01174&type=product) or zv 5000z (http://reviews.cnet.com/HP_Pavilion_zv5000z/4505-3121_7-30822949.html) series. The main difference is that the zv5000 series has a celeron processor at 2.8 ghz, an ATI Radeon 128 mb shared video card, and no firewire port, while the zv5000z has a new AMD Athalon 64 at 2 ghz, an Nvidia 64mb dedicated video card, and a firewire port. Beyond that, there is only a price differnce of about $200 more for the zv5000z model. Do you know if it is worth the extra money to buy the AMD 64 processor which is new and untested, or if it would be better to stick with a processor which is known to work well with current apps?

Discussion is locked

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Re:AMD Athalon 64 or Celeron in an HP Notebook
May 13, 2004 7:01AM PDT

New? Yes. Untested? No.

Frankly, you should do more research and look to history of the changes from 8 to 16 to 32 bit computing. Each transition has happened sooner than the 32-bit (or lower) peddlers would have liked.

64-bit capable will extend your laptop into the next flip. The other BIG item is that video section. The shared memory will not be good for games...

Bob

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Re: AMD Athalon 64 or Celeron in an HP Notebook
Aug 16, 2004 5:15PM PDT

I would recomend the AMD Athalon over the Celeron. The battery life will be about equal but the Athalon will process more information per cycle, meaning an Athalon 3200 which runs at 2gHz is comparable to a 3.2gHz pentium 4 HT processor. Microsoft is also coming out with a new Windows that will be made for the 64 bit processor. The 64 bit processor is compatable with all/most programs on the market. My sister bought an HP zv5000z recently and has had no problems with compatability. The AMD also has Windows XP Pro. Having said all I have said, I would go with the Athalon and spend the $200. You will be more than happy with your decision. I hope this helps.

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Slight correction about XP-64
Aug 16, 2004 9:16PM PDT

Already out and Microsoft doesn't want to lose the 64-bit war so they offer (now!) a free 1-year license.

Bob