Celeron M vs. Pentium M...worth the upgrade?

[Dswissmiss]

Hello,

I am researching a laptop for a price-conscious friend, and have a few questions. I apologize if these have been answered before, but I haven't been on these forums for quite a while, so I don't keep up with everything

1) I the difference between a Intel Celeron M 370 (1.50GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 400MHz FSB) and a Intel Pentium M 740 (1.73GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB) worth an extra $150? She will mainly use the comp for internet, office stuff, and some minor photoshopping. I realize this question is a bit relative, just wondering how much of a difference it would make.

2) Am I right to assume that most laptops have 2 memory slots, so shelling out the extra cash for 1 stick of 512Mb vs. 2 sticks of 256Mb will be beneficial if she wants to upgrade to 1 gig in the future?

Hm, actually thats it for now...

Thank you
Dswissmiss

[Panama Red]

The Celeron would be fine for her needs and 512 is more than enuf ram. Save the money.

[Statica]

Hi Dswissmiss:
1) Personally, I believe that a Pentium M with the extra MB on cache makes a significant difference to the performance of a laptop. This is especially true when operating on less than ideal battery conditions. A 25% drop in processor performance as you switch to a low battery mode on a P4M for example is still quite capable, whereas the performance of a slower Celeron will turn sluggish. A lot of people are quite convinced that they will usually be running a laptop chained to the wall, under these circumstances I might be inclined to recommend a Cel. provided the requirements (especially the use of Fotoshop) arent that extensive.
Also remember that you're at the last year for the product cycle for most of the popular suites out there, including Windows XP or even Office - with newer software comes greater requirements, and a processor on a laptop is not something you can swap out.

2) Cumulative, with the recommendation for (1) I wouldn't be averse to saving a bit of $ to go with 256x2. Especially if it's a name brand laptop. This makes it possible to buy RAM from other sources than the manufacturer's recommended shopping sites. This might give you a better deal, all said and done a year down the road when you find that you need more RAM.
Oh it is not right to assume that a laptop will have 2 memory slots, would be worth your time to make sure that it does.

HTH

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by Dswissmiss 1) I the difference between a Intel Celeron M 370 (1.50GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 400MHz FSB) and a Intel Pentium M 740 (1.73GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB) worth an extra $150? She will mainly use the comp for internet, office stuff, and some minor photoshopping. I realize this question is a bit relative, just wondering how much of a difference it would make.

The main difference between the Pentium-M and the Celeron-M is that the Pentium-M features Advanced SpeedStep to dynamically throttle the CPU down while on battery, and that the Pentium-M can turn off some of its cache to save power. The Celeron-M can't do either of these. So if your friend is planning on using her laptop on battery a lot, then the Pentium-M would make sense; otherwise the Celeron-M would be fine.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by Statica 1) Personally, I believe that a Pentium M with the extra MB on cache makes a significant difference to the performance of a laptop. This is especially true when operating on less than ideal battery conditions. A 25% drop in processor performance as you switch to a low battery mode on a P4M for example is still quite capable, whereas the performance of a slower Celeron will turn sluggish.

Ironically, because the Celeron-M does not throttle down to save power, it is actually just as snappy on battery as it is plugged in. The extra cache on the Pentium-M does help somewhat, but I think it's a case of diminishing returns once you get up above 1 MB.

[Statica]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow Ironically, because the Celeron-M does not throttle down to save power, it is actually just as snappy on battery as it is plugged in. The extra cache on the Pentium-M does help somewhat, but I think it's a case of diminishing returns once you get up above 1 MB.

Oops you're right on SpeedStep for the celeron M. Thanx for the correction.

I still like the P-M for its SpeedStep and good power management. Again, it depends on how much of a price delta we're talking about.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by Statica I still like the P-M for its SpeedStep and good power management. Again, it depends on how much of a price delta we're talking about.

I completely agree. I personally wouldn't buy a Celeron-M because I am a fan of long battery life, but for those who want to be able to carry their computer back and forth, but have it plugged in all the time when they're using it, a Celeron-M would be just fine.

[kram 2.0]

I agree with TFH and Statica. It'll come down to whether or not you would value battery life enough to invest in a more efficient system. The Celeron-M will still lead the Desktop Replacement CPUs out by a longshot though in terms of battery. After all, at its core, it is a stripped down Bainas Pentium-M.

I will note that the extra cache does make a considerable difference in Photoshop - if you were to use Photoshop on a regular basis, Pentium-M would be the way to go. For periodical use, I don't see cache being much of a factor.

kram