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AMD Athlon 4 vs. Intel Pentium 3
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Posted by: Erekose
Okay, here's the deal folks. My father is hell-bent on getting himself a Sony Vaio laptop (notebook? whatever) any way here is the question. There are two similarly priced computers with similar features (dvd-rom/cd-rw combo, ethernet card, etc) the only major difference is the processors. One is a 1.0GHz Amd Athlon 4 procesor and the other was a 900 MHz Intel Pentium 3. He asked which one to get, and I couldn't tell him which was better. I've heard from different people that this one is better than that (depending on which they prefered), but if i could just get some feedback (perhaps some information as well). He will most likley use it to browse the web, play online games and the such, nothing really to heavy. Okay then, help would be nice but when it comes down to it its his money not mine.
Posted by: SKYHN
The Athlon blows the P3 away....
Athlon is better for everything.
My friend actually just got the Vaio laptop your talking about with the Athlon in it, model #pcg-fxa35/D (thats a bit different than the one on the website because his is a "Bundled" laptop, as they call it, because its from costco)
When you buy the laptop though, make sure that you max out the ram. Laptops are very hard to upgrade, even the ram can be a pain. That particular Laptop is not that great for games though, its video power is quite low.
Vaio's are excellent laptops, but much like 80% of the laptops out there, they lack video power. If the games that are gonna be played on it are gonna be high graphic ones, I would suggest finding a different laptop with a Athlon/GeForce 2 Go Combination, it will give you much better game performance.
Posted by: Erekose
Okay, well I'm not sure what it said it the way of graphics on the Athlon model, but Sony called it the 'All-in-One Pro', if that helps any. I'm sure I can find out its graphics chipset for you and you could better asses it like that. Thanks for the feedback.
Posted by: SKYHN
Is this the Laptop you are talking about?
Click Here
Posted by: Erekose
Yes, my friend it is the PCG-FXA36. Good eye!
Posted by: SKYHN
Everything on that Laptop is excellent, accept for the: ATI Rage™ Mobility M1 graphics chip with
8MB SDRAM and 3D acceleration support
Its kind of hard to find good Video Graphics on laptops. The best out there right now is the GeForce 2 Go. I dont know of any company that sells them though. Back in January when I got a laptop, I couldnt find any of them with even remotely good video power.
A game like RTCW will not run on that particular laptop, but other games like Diablo 2 will. I would shop around a little more before commiting to a Vaio if gaming is a must have for it.
Posted by: Erekose
Heh, well I'm pretty sure I don't know what RTCW is, and Diablo 2 will most likely be his staple game. If it would be possible to find a GeForce 2 Go and install it myself then great, if not its not really that big a problem. Thanks again for all the help.
Posted by: Kdr Kane
AMD processors have been known for using a lot more power than Intel processors. I realize the CPU's here are "mobile" versions.
But in this case, I would be inclined to not buy AMD.
Posted by: Digitalphatman
The 1 gig athlon is better just on the simple fact that it is a faster clock speed(and not because athlon blows the P3 away)than the P3. Any game that is not real graphics intensive should be ok on the laptop and unless you can find an ati mobility radeon or like skhyn said a geforce 2 go(although these chips are still buggy and very stable) then this laptop is a good choice. The amount of Ram on it too is pretty good.
Posted by: Null Actor
 Quote:
Originally posted by Kdr Kane
AMD processors have been known for using a lot more power than Intel processors. I realize the CPU's here are "mobile" versions.
But in this case, I would be inclined to not buy AMD.
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Actually, the Athlon 4 doesn't use that much power. More than the P3 of course, but not lots more. The athlon 4 also has technology that will scale the clock speed with what you are running to save battery power.
Posted by: Kdr Kane
Agreed.
But, if you're going to buy a laptop, battery life is a lot more important than speed.
Posted by: Erekose
Well if battery life is the only concern with the Athlon, then I can always just keep it plugged into the AC power cord, or if it comes down to it, carry a spare battery. I'm not sure if it was the one I was looking at to buy, but one of the Vaios mentioned something about double-battery capacity or using two batteries at once or somesuch. But, anyway still sounds like the Athlon is the way to go.
Posted by: SKYHN
I believe that the battery that comes with that particular laptop lasts 2 hours. I dont know if you can buy a stronger one.
I said that the "Athlon Blows the P3 Away" in a overall speed performance comparison, but when you are talking battery power, the P3 wins. I have a P3 Laptop at 900mhz, I dont really know how long the battery lasts. It might be a 6 hour though, I mostly have it plugged into the A/C. But I hardly use it anymore, my girlfriend uses it all the time now. I think she has it plugged into the A/C most of the time too.
I remember taking a 6 hour trip to L.A. once and it ran the whole time, I had about 3% battery power when I shut it off.
Posted by: Sarc
I'm not to sure about other manufaturer's, but Toshiba has some laptop's out there with the Geforce 2Go chipset in them.
The last one I saw was a Satalitte with a 1GHz PIII, 512MB RAM and a 30Gig H.D. It was quick, but only had about 1.6 hours of batt. life. 
Posted by: Canis Lupus
Dude, you shoulda gotten a Dell...
Posted by: SKYHN
LOL Canis...
Posted by: Swilo
*kills laggy and swipes his pelt as a present for red*
You deserve it for that stupid comment.
Posted by: The-AoD
h4h4 I'd take an intel for a labtop ANY day.. Just for the fact of the battery power, what do you really want to play on your labtop that you'd need more speed than 500mhz?
In my own opinion, the Intel would be a better choice since most labtops aren't really used for games, especially when most desktops can blow them away and have alot better looking graphics and actual.. looks 
Posted by: Erekose
Heh I have a Dell Dimension desktop right now. After the notebook he's buying a Vaio desktop as well.
Posted by: Canis Lupus
Quote:
Originally posted by Swilo
You deserve it for that stupid comment.
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Stupid is as stupid does, bubba 
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
As much as an AMD fan I am, I still wouldn't buy an AMD Laptop over an Intel. It has nothing to do with processers at all. It's the video chipset.
All the Athlon Laptops have poor performing graphics platforms on them. In the Intel camp however, you have graphics performance chipsets from both ATI and nVidia.
If he can wait a bit longer, nVidia is releasing the successor to the GeForce 2 Go chipset within a couple of months.
Here's a nice review for you to look at..
http://www.gotapex.com/reviews.php?...7500/index.html
Posted by: The-AoD
Excellent Ion, I checked that out earlier, looks sweet for a flabbertop.. Not that I'd want a flabtop
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
If that new nVidia graphics chipset will be on Athlon Laptops, I am so there!
Posted by: Null Actor
Quote:
Originally posted by The-AoD
Just for the fact of the battery power, what do you really want to play on your labtop that you'd need more speed than 500mhz?
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If I had a laptop, I'd be using it for programming. Compiling needs a mega-uber-processor though, so I'd definitely go Athlon. With the powernow feature, it clocks down to like 400mhz or something rediculously slow unless you are doing something that's eating a lot of CPU power, then it speeds up.
Posted by: Canis Lupus
If I had a laptop ... oh wait, who am I kidding ... I can't frickin afford a laptop, lol!
Posted by: JANNA
D2 is gonna run like poo on a laptop they just dont have the horses where it counts to run games. laptops its very important to find the best warranty u can since they are prone to breakage and damage more so than anything else electronic. go with a dell since from them u can get a 3 year warranty sony if im not mistaken is only 90 days. but unless ur a student or need it for work i really dont see a need for a laptop. i haveone for work because of travel issues. but if i never traveled i would never buy a laptop. i am less than impressed with laptops in general mainly cuz if and when it breaks i have to send it off for repairs i cant do it myself in less than an hour.
Posted by: Chako
If you buy a laptop, don't buy it for games. They suck at gaming. I don't care at how fast the CPU is, or how good the chip set is. Laptops are not gaming machines simply because you get to look at an LCD screen in all its ghosting glory. Yes, I know, LCD screens are getting better, but they still need a long ways to go before it can challenge a good old CRT.
I have an old laptop I bought when a P150 was new. I would never dream of playing anything on it other then productivity software (even when it was new). From past experiences, most if not all laptops also get warm to the touch. Some models you can fry eggs off of them if you leave them on for long periods of time. Another consideration is the keyboard form factor. Not the best for FPS games either. In short, don't buy a laptop to play games for they are not gaming machines.
Now for Sony. They don't make the best product out there as far as computers go. Their Vaio line tries to differentiate itself from the rest by being productivity machines for content producers. They are loved by amateur video makers etc.. for their software suite. Once again, they don't make good gaming machines for they usually are slow machines that lack the performance of a gaming rig. The dell usually handily beats Sony in most if not all bench marking. So, in other words, I personally never would look at Sony for a computer. This does not mean they are junk, I just view them as second rate.
Posted by: tkron
Heat is a definate killer in laptops, for just that reason I would go with the P3 over the AMD.
I sure hope Dell has improved its laptops, they make an excellent desktop computer, well integrated and with decent components but I am not too sure about their laptops.
The company I was at 3 years ago decided to upgrade their portables with dell laptops, and they bought about 2 to 3 of thousand of them. Thier experience with the Dells was that they had a failure rate of about 20 percent. The most common problems were motherboard failure, HD problems, overheating of modem and network plug ins. The particular laptop I had had its motherboard fail twice in the first 2 months of operation.
Posted by: Erekose
Ah well, as to wether or not he should buy a laptop, or as to wether or not he should by a Vaio, I don't really have any say. Heh, the only reason I could get him to wait was to say that I was asking here which processor was better. I'll be sure to let him know all of this though.
Posted by: The-AoD
Well, Nova, if you really look into it, dropping the clock doesn't make "that" much of a difference, it's more in the actual power delivered to the CPU. And other thing, heat concerns are a BIG problem. I know for a fact that 90% of intel laptops have a heatsink on the processor, with no need of a fan. I don't know about AMD's, but I haven't seen an AMD live long enough to tell it's tale of no fan.
But on the brighter side, Chako, you're absolutely right, You need to keep the gaming to a desktop, yeah specially FPS type games. If you're in "need" of it for business or work or something, yes, I see the point. But if you're only traveling/taking a vacation/riding in the car, why have it? Sometimes it's good to get away from computers.
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