Which is better-Intel Centrino or Pentium 4?

The Toshiba M35 series or the Compaq X1000 / HPZT300 series are both excellent Centrino choices. I bought the X1000 but I came very close to getting the Toshiba M35 series but the pricing was slightly higher. Compare these two machines at Circuit City and the components are nearly identical.

Note, the X1000 and Toshiba M35 use dedicated video 32mb or 64mb which is very important -- the A45 Toshiba uses shared memory -- dedicated video is faster and allows you to play more games, etc (but not up to the level of some desktop machines which have huge video cards which use lots of power).

Also, shared video memory deducts from your system RAM memory while dedicated video memory does not.

The Toshiba M35 / M30 series gets warm around the touchpad and under the machine in comparison to the X1000 / HPZT3000 series (which do not even run the fan most of the time so they are silent) but both are comparable and get 3.5 - 4 hours of life while using wi-fi for the internet (built in) or playing DVD's.

Toshiba has a nice new Toshiba M30 series just released with the new Dothan 1.7 Pentium M chip (now with 2mb L2 system cache, older Banias Pentium M's have only 1mb L2 system cache), a DVD burner/CD burner, 64mb dedicated video, 80gb hard drive, new Tru-brite screen technology (check it out at Circuit City --very nice) for $1999.

Older Banias Pentium M models like the Toshiba M35S320 (with a 1.5 Pentium M Banias) can be had for under $1500 but those have 32mb dedicated video, only a DVD ROM/CD-RW, 60gb hard drive, etc.

I would recommend an Intel Centrino laptop unless you will be leaving the system plugged in and on a desk all the time (like a desktop). In that case get a Pentium 4 chip.

Yea, but they only sell the 1.6Ghz model of the M30 in Canada (where I live)...can someone tell me the difference between Canadian dollars and American dollars? I forgot, and a lot of the websites are American...

How about the Toshiba Satellite P20?
Specs:
3.4 Ghz/HT
1024MB RAM
GeForce Go 128 MB
Windows Media Edition 2.0 Edition
DVD +/-

That is a high performance Pentium 4 laptop chip (Pentium 4M) with hyperthreading. If you are going to leave it on your desk plugged in nearly all the time -- and are just going to pick it up to move it around the house or office -- then you will get maximum performance.

But the battery live will likely be 2 hours or less and it will run very hot so it will not be a 'laptop'.

The M30/M35 line from Toshiba at 6.2 pounds (15.4" widescreen) and the Compaq X1000/ HPZT3000 line (6.5 pounds) are good Centrino machines. You can get either 32mb dedicated video or 64mb video in these machines but not 128mb. Acer has a good Pentium M Centrino laptop out though with the ATI 9700 video card and 128mb video memory.

If this will be your only machine and you play a lot of games and aren't going to use it unplugged alot get the P4. But if you either are a student and carry it around or travel alot or like me use it around the house at home with the wi-fi (and I have a desktop for DVD burning and more intensive games) then get the Pentium M (Centrino) line as you will get 3.5-4.0 hours or in some cases more battery life.

I think the US dollar is still worth about 25% more than the Candian $ so if it costs 1500 US that would be 1875 Canadian. Best Buy is in Canada so check their store and website. You should also be able to order from Compaq/HP by their website or Toshiba.

Whats the composite video (monitor in), thats included on the new model Toshiba M30?

Composite video is the standard yellow jack used to input video to your Television (it is the same as yellow plug you use to input a Playstation or Xbox).
The Red and white jacks next to the yellow jack on a TV are for audio left and right. To get output from a laptop you usually have to use a headphone jack adaptor to run the audio to those two jacks.

Many laptops now have a S-video jack instead which is a round black jack. It has better video quality than Composite.

These give you the option to play a DVD on a TV or run a photo slideshow or even play a game from your laptop on the TV screen.

For the composite in, it says that the M30 is able to connect to satellite or cable, what do they mean by that?

Ken you seem to be the man with all the answers, you rock. I just purchased a Toshiba M35X S149 for $865 & that included taxes (Incredible deal)the next day it was back to $1099 but I just got offered a Toshiba A45 S121 for free. Do I have the better computer already? Please help. Thank you.

There was a list posted yesterday (as a post on the Cnet notebook forums) showing all the new models that are coming out between January-March with the new Sonoma Pentium M architecture (the only one I am aware of that is available right now at the 1/10/05 Intel official launch is the Dell 6000).

When I scanned the list, I saw some Toshibas and the A45 may be one of those that is Sonoma. If this model of course has a Pentium M in it (or it is not a Centrino at all) and has a 533mhz bus (instead of the old 400mhz bus) and also has a Pentium M cpu that is a 7xx code ending in a 0 (example 730 Pentium M 1.6 Dothan) then you have a new Sonoma Penitum M notebook.

Your M35X model was a very good price at under $1,000 for a full Pentium M cpu (not a Celeron Pentium M) but it is the older techology we all have before the new Sonoma 1/19/05.

You will have to tell me what the Toshiba A45 has but it is Sonoma I would take that over the 'old' build on the Toshiba M35X.

If the Toshiba A45 is a Pentium 4M based notebook forget it -- keep the M35X as an outstanding value under $1,000 at the price you got -- you don't have dedicated video RAM, however, so I hope you are not trying to play games on it.

The newer Sonoma architecture has improved shared video over the old but you are still better getting dedicated video if you can (like the Toshiba M35S420 had but that cost between $1750 and $1999 until September 2004

I think that the Toshiba A45 series only have Desktop Celerons and some Mobile P4's, but the S121 comes with a 2.8 desktop Celeron CPU. I used to have the A45-S120 (Similar model with a 2.6 Celeron), and it has a SERIOUS heat problem, so AVOID if it does have the Celeron.

then get the Pentium M. The P4 is the hottest-running CPU you can buy and it's almost criminal to put them in notebooks. Celerons are... cheap. Buy them for people you really don't like. The Pentium M is a decent chip but it's 32-bit-only and you pay extra for Intel's Centrino marketing program that convinces newbies that Centrino = wireless.

If you can you should buy an AMD Turion notebook so you'll be ready for 64-bit Windows Vista next year or 64-bit Linux today. 64-bit WinXP is out but it's strictly for power users (third-party driver support issues).

you mainly use your notebook as a desktop and only travel once in a while therefore making it a mobile laptop once in a great while. I have a P4, 3.06 with hyper-threading technology and well like I said I use it mainly as my primary computer at home and travel not often enough to really cause me to worry about how hot it runs. If it is plugged into an AC adaptor will I still have to worry about how hot it runs?

If I were to have a P4 notebook I'd buy and use a cooling pad. Heat effects the whole unit and, over time, takes its toll.

and how do I use it on my laptop?

it's a pad that you lay on your work area, plug it in and place your lappy on top of it. I know you can buy them through Tiger Direct and likely they're available at local places like Best Buy, Curcuit City, Staples etc... but I haven't checked. They cost 30-50 bucks.

I am new to the world of laptops and since they have become just as good or even better than some desktops I decided to purchase my first one. It is a P4 with HT technology but if as you say it runs hot then I would probably want to buy one of these cooling pads. I will go to best buy and see what they have. Thanks for the help.

but, if I understand your last post correctly, you have not yet purchased your notebook, so you have the option of avoiding a P4 all together...so why not buy a machine that has a processor that was designed for a notebook? I don't mean to be obtuse, but I don't understand... after all, you wouldn't buy a trailer truck diesel engine for a sports car. Are you under the impression that P4s are twice as fast as P-Ms because of the speed rating of the chip? If so, you should understand that a P-M rated at 1.5 GHz operates about as fast as a P4 rated at 3GHz.

No I understand the fact that 3.06GHz is not the end all be all of processing speeds. I know that the new Centrino or Pentium M with a speed of 1.5 GHz runs just as fast if not faster and runs a whole lot cooler with more battery life. I purchased the pentium 4 with HT but have until January 31st to decide if I want to keep it...meaning I can return it for a full refund prior to that date. I am using this as my desktop and therefore from what I am hearing it is ok to use the pentium 4, and also I am hearing the Hyper-Threading is pretty solid as far as boosting performance. When I do travel I can use this to watch DVDs and things like that but probably only have enough battery life to watch one which really would be all I need because my travels are not that far and not that often. I had no idea laptops had come so far and when I purchased this pentium 4 3.06 GHz with HT, I thought I was getting in on the cutting edge of technology. I am an idiot I guess. The machine cost me 1200 dollars so I mean when I compared the specs to other products I was seeing things for over 2,000 dollars with similar specs. Who knows, I might return this and go for something else. We'll see.

computer that does what you want... and $1200 is a nice price for a machine that does what you want.

Sorry, but after far too many crashing P4 laptops, it looks like a bad idea. No laptop maker seems to build it to go past a few years without heavy maintenance.

Bob

Is the new P4s with HT technology any different than the P4s you are talking about or are they all the same and bound to crash or act crazy after 2 yrs of use? Right now I like what I am seeing with my P4 3.06 with HT as I really use it a lot to replace my desktop but sure when I do want to use it as a laptop then I will have to be aware of how hot it runs and also the battery life. I mean is there enough data that has been collected on the Hyper-Threading to really make any assumptions here?