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General discussion

which pentium chip for my needs?

Aug 11, 2004 1:52PM PDT

I am about to buy a Dell Latitude D600.
My processor options are
Pentium M 1.40
Pentium 725 1.60
Pentium 745 1.80

I gather the latter 2 options are Dothans.. Will it make a huge difference in speed/performance for my needs, or barely noticeable? What are the disadvantages of the 1.40 ghz?

I am a writer; I plan to use primarily for word processing and web surfing. Occasional downloading photos, DVD watching, CD burning. No gaming.

I need something with a decent keyboard size thus am choosing D600 for its mid-size yet it's not too heavy (5lb) for occasional travel. Mainly will use it plugged in though; I am not anticipating using the battery too much. I assume centrino is still the way to go and not Pentium 4 under these circumstances. please confirm?

I did look at the IBM thinkpad T series but the cost seems high compared to what I can get with the Latitude -- unless I am missing something? Compaqx1000 is too heavy. Would anyone recommend the Compaq nc6000 instead of the Dell?
Thanks for your opinion.

Discussion is locked

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Re: which pentium chip for my needs?
Aug 11, 2004 2:16PM PDT

the nc6000 by HP (14.1" LCD) is a very good notebook and the only thing it does not have that most consumer models have (nc6000 is HP business model) is that it has no firewire port But it has USB 2.0 and that is fine for many if not using video editing.

I saw an instant discount posted recently on HP for that model. Also, you get customer support through the business lines (instead of consumer) and that is supposed to be somewhat better. Also, it is a 1 year international warranty which means you could have it repaired at any HP facility in the world (consumer models are US warranty repair only)

You can read the reviews and user comments for both models looking up both under new reviews at Cnet The nc6000 got an 8.5 recently (anything 8.0 or over is very good) and the Dell D600 rated in the 7's. There are other Dells rated 8 or higher but not that one.

The Pentium M 1.4 will be fine for you (that is what I have on the X1360US I bought) but you will get somewhat faster webpage access with the doubled L2 cache on the 725 1.6 -- anything 715 or higher is a Dothan.

The Dothan CPU will not speed up your hard drive access --to that upgrade from a 4200 hard drive to a 5400 or 7200 rpm hard drive

512mb RAM should be fine for your use

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Re: which pentium chip for my needs?
Aug 11, 2004 2:32PM PDT

Any one of the three is okey.

The speed difference barely noticeable using Dothan. Unless you're handling huge database calculations etc, the Dothan CPUs with higher clock frequency runs only a little bit faster.

According to your needs, you may even consider integrated video with shared memory backed up by only 256MB system RAM. Ultra Low Voltage Pentium M CPU on ultraportable models less then 4 pounds can fill that role too. Only thing you need most is a full size keyboard.

Pentium M is way better then Pentium 4-M.

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Re: which pentium chip for my needs?
Aug 12, 2004 3:17AM PDT

If you get integrated or shared video and find out later you needed dedicated video for some purpose you are out of luck. Video dedicated memory is the most important thing to purchase (even over the processor speed) as it is not upgradeable like on a desktop at anytime (with an open expansion slot).

You could run on 256mb but why? 512mb is the sweet spot now and you can order 256mb and add a 2nd 256mb or even a 512mb for under $100 after rebates -- but remember you have only 2 RAM slots on a notebook.