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General discussion

Centrino M 1.5 vs. M 1.6

Aug 6, 2004 10:22AM PDT

Hi,

I'm planning to purchase a laptop, but I'm completely new to it. Is a Centrino M 1.6 a lot faster than a 1.5? Is it worth the extra money to get a faster chip now, or is it better to upgrade it later on? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

BL

Discussion is locked

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Re: Centrino M 1.5 vs. M 1.6
Aug 6, 2004 10:35AM PDT

In short, give me the new 2 megabyte cache Dohan. Also, for me, a dedicated video controller with it's own RAM.

Bob

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Re: Centrino M 1.5 vs. M 1.6
Aug 6, 2004 11:55AM PDT

Bob gave you the important needs. Here are the details of those needs:

There are two 1.5 mhz Pentium M cpus out there ... the 705 Pentium M is the old original Centrino Banias standard with 1mb L2 system cache. I have one of these and they work great but it is crazy not to upgrade to the new Dothan line when it can cost only $50 if ordering custom.

HP and Dell are selling the 705 'fake Dothan' (all new 7xx branded Pentium M cpus were supposed to be Dothans but 'surprise' the lowest 705 is not.

Toshiba or some other manufacturers sell the 715 Dothan 1.5. If you want a notebook that has the 715 then go ahead and get that.

Otherwise, order the 725 Pentium M 1.6 mhz or higher. The 735 1.7 mhz is on many prebuilt notebooks in the stores. For the Compaq X1000 a Pentium M 725 Dothan is only $50 above the bogus 705 Banias 1.5. That is it if ordering custom. Retail price differences are much higher (as much as 400-500) as they load up the Pentium M Dothan 1.7 prebuilts with a DVD burner (+200), higher video memory, etc in comparison to the 705 (Banias) cpu with a DVD/CD-RW, less dedicated video, etc.

If you order custom you can avoid this large price difference by ordering what is a priority to you and getting less (save $200 on CD-RW/DVD instead of DVD burner) of what you don't need.

For HP custom notebooks the 755 Pentium 2.0 Dothan is $475 more than the 705. That is not worth it . And the 745 Pentium M 1.8 is too pricey also.

So, get the lowest Dothan CPU (715 or above) that you can and that is the best value. You will appreciate the 2mb L2 system cache (doubled from original Pentium M's.

And, yes, as Bob through in as a curve ball, try to avoid notebooks that have shared or integrated video memory.

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Re: Centrino M 1.5 vs. M 1.6
Aug 6, 2004 3:14PM PDT

Is it possible to upgrade from a Banias chip to a Dothan chip without getting a new laptop? Since CPU's increase in speed in such a short time, I think I would get a slower chip first, then upgrade (if possible) to something faster later on. Any ideas?

BL

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Re: Centrino M 1.5 vs. M 1.6
Aug 6, 2004 4:21PM PDT

Yes, you can upgrade the CPU later. But the price difference now is only $50. The price DIFFERENCE between the 705 Pentium Banias 1.5 and the top 2.0 Dothan Pentium M is $475 on a custom order Compaq X1000 but that is price difference. That does not mean that later the CPU you want will be only $50.

Also, there will be a new chipset out (Sonoma) early next year. You can't upgrade the chipset so you will be stuck with the lower RAM (PC2700 right now), etc.

But the point is that you buy the best value when you can get it. The Pentium M 725 1.6 Pentium M gives you that value.

You are spending $25 to move from 1.5 to 1.6 in mhz and you are paying $25 to DOUBLE the L2 system cache from 1mb to 2mb.

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Re: Centrino M 1.5 vs. M 1.6
Aug 6, 2004 3:32PM PDT
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Re: Centrino M 1.5 vs. M 1.6
Aug 6, 2004 4:32PM PDT

Both of these PREBUILT Toshiba notebooks state 1mb L2 cache. So, in fact, they are trying to push the old Banias Pentium M CPUs on you for both of these Canada models. You didn't state you were ordering from Canada where both Toshiba and HP don't seem to offer the custom builds.

The reason the 2nd system costs more is that it has a DVD burner while the first system has a CD-RW/DVD ROM (that is a $200 price difference US alone. Also, the 2nd system has the new Trubrite LCD screen which is similar to the Sony Xbrite technology. The first one doesn't have that.

I have a Pentium 1.4mhz Banias (original 1mb L2 cache) so if you can't find any way to get a Dothan CPU then order the cheaper system.

But go to the Toshiba US website and you can see what it costs to order a prebuilt there with the 1.7 Dothan 735 Pentium M or to build a custom machine (10% off all custom order Toshiba notebooks on US website).

Also, look at the Compaq X1000 and HPZT3000 at the US hpshopping website.

That will show you the best pricing for the configuration you want then convert that to Canadien $ and see what you can find out there to compare it to.