I'm going to be purchasing a laptop soon, and am confused about how
much memory and processing power I'll need. I've read several
comments here and on other websites that a laptop with the same specs
as a desktop still runs slower.

My current desktop is several years old and does everything I need it
to do. Athlon 1.15 ghz chip, 512 meg memory, 40 gig hard drive (still
only half full).

I'm getting into web development, and can have Photoshop, Dreamweaver,
a second HTML editor and several instances of IE running all at once
with no problems on my desktop.

There's a lot of new low-end notebooks for sale in the $500 - $600
(USD) range right now. They all have at least the same memory and chip
speed of my desktop, some a bit more. I'm inclined to get one of these,
but I'm basing this on the assumption that these will run everything as
well as the desktop currently does.

Will a notebook with the same specs run as well as the desktop, or do I
need a faster processor and more memory to achieve the same
performance?


Mark / Seattle

You have to compare apples to apples. A processor running at 2.0 Ghz
doesn't know if it's in a laptop or a desktop computer. A processor that is
designed to run in a laptop, like the Intel M series, can adjust it's speed
to suit the circumstances. Then there is the factor of Front Side Bus
speed. The faster, the better. So, don't try to compare a laptop with the
Intel M series of processor, designed to run in laptops, to one with a
conventional Pentium processor, designed to run in desktops, like the P4.
Or with a processor from AMD, which makes great processors, by the way!

I'm betting those $500 to $600 laptops have a Celeron processor in them.
Avoid them like the plague. Spend a little more money for any processor
other than the Celeron. Also do not buy a laptop with less than 512 MB of
RAM. And I would go with a dedicated video card, 64 MB at least.

"mhj" <mhj@w-link.net> wrote in message
news:1120554577.125252.140440@o13g2000cwo.googlegr oups.com...

Kevin <webman6@hotmail.com> wrote:
: You have to compare apples to apples. A processor running at 2.0 Ghz
: doesn't know if it's in a laptop or a desktop computer. A processor that is
: designed to run in a laptop, like the Intel M series, can adjust it's speed
: to suit the circumstances. Then there is the factor of Front Side Bus
: speed. The faster, the better. So, don't try to compare a laptop with the
: Intel M series of processor, designed to run in laptops, to one with a
: conventional Pentium processor, designed to run in desktops, like the P4.
: Or with a processor from AMD, which makes great processors, by the way!

: I'm betting those $500 to $600 laptops have a Celeron processor in them.
: Avoid them like the plague. Spend a little more money for any processor
: other than the Celeron.

Completely disagree. There is nothing wrong with a Celeron in a
budget machine. I've been using a Celeron-based laptop (2GHZ Toshiba)
for 2+ years with no problem. I also use a 2.4GHZ P4 desktop, so I do
know the difference.

When it comes to Pentium M (part of Centrino), the budget version,
Celeron M, suffers a bit in performance but also, I'm told, in terms
of battery life, because it lacks some of Pentium M's power-saving
features. If you don't care about battery life and are willing
to put up with slightly reduced performance so long as the price is
right, a Celeron M-based laptop would be fine. For most people, who
just web surf and do some MS Office stuff, a Celeron M has more
performance than they need.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
************************************************** *****************
----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
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Andrew, Kevin, thanks for the info. A question to clarify what you both
said:

Will a laptop with a 1.2 or 1.5 ghz chip (assuming it's the appropriate
chip) and 512 megs ram do roughly the same job my desktop (1.15 ghz AMD
chip, 512 megs ram) currently is doing?

Except for a bit of image manipulation associated with my web design
business, I'm mostly in the category of people who use a computer to
"...just web surf and do some MS Office stuff.", as mentioned below.

Mark / Seattle



Andrew wrote:

mhj <mhj@w-link.net> wrote:

: Andrew, Kevin, thanks for the info. A question to clarify what you both
: said:

: Will a laptop with a 1.2 or 1.5 ghz chip (assuming it's the appropriate
: chip) and 512 megs ram do roughly the same job my desktop (1.15 ghz AMD
: chip, 512 megs ram) currently is doing?

Assuming you mean a Pentium M or even a Celeron M CPU, then yes, a
1.2GHZ chip should be at least as fast if not a bit faster than your
Athlon chip. The laptop hard drive may be slower than the one in your
old desktop, if the desktop has a 7200RPM drive, but you may not
notice the difference or care.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
************************************************** *****************
----> http://www.bizave.com <---- Photo Albums and Portland Info
----> To Email me remove "MYSHOES" from email address
************************************************** *****************