Pentium M vs. Core 2 Duo

[Zayin]

Hey guys!!

Iam considering replacing my laptop with a new one.
The one I have now is specced with a 1.73Ghz Pentium M CPU.

The new one Iam looking at is specced with a Core 2 Duo T7200 2Ghz CPU.

I cant seem to find the Pentium M on any comparison charts.... how much "raw" cpu power will I gain with this replacement?

Will it be noticeable while working with large spreadsheets and data import / exports from externals systems?

How about games? will the Core 2 Duo perform MUCH better?

If you can direct me to a chart for comparison... that would be great!

Thanks in advance!

 

[melarcky]

i cant redirect you but i can tell you this much,my friend has the Pavilion dv9000's series laptop it has a Core 2 Duo 1.8hz i forgot the model but i think that its less then the one your talking about and it kicks my p2.4 Mobile's Ass in everything, so yes you will gain performance
But whats the other laptop your looking at?

 

[SSS_DDK]

Go for it... it is worth it.

 

[zenmaster]

Dont consider anything except a Core2Duo in a laptop.
It far outpaces every previous Intel chip by a wide margin.

The Pentium-M is at least 2 generations old in regards to Intel Laptop CPUs.

 

[malachi1612]

Core 2 Duo's are dual core and 64bit, which Pentium M's arent. So you will see a major improvement plus you will be Vista ready if you decide to use it instead of XP. Ive had my laptop for 2 months which has a Core 2 Duo T7200 at 2Ghz and it is lightening fast.

 

[rdhood]

Each core is going to be faster than your pentium M. For most gaming or spread sheet work, though, you are only going to be using one core at a time.

Hypothetically, if you had the laptops side by side and were doing a single task on each system (excluding background OS processes), the C2D would be slightly faster because the single core would be slightly faster than the Pentium M.

Then, when you consider that you have to do that single thing + all background processes on the Pentium M, while that single thing alone runs on one of the cores of the C2D, the C2D would be considerably faster.

With games and notebook computers, though, processor is not as big a deal as the graphics adapter. Your Pentium M with a 7400 or 7600 or higher graphics adapter would whip a C2D notebook with a GMA 950. So, you need to spec a notebook with both C2D and the best graphics adapter you can get.

I have an HP 6000t with CoreDuo and a Go7400 adapter and it plays older games (Castle Wolfenstein Enemy Territory) very well. My older Pentium M with a GMA 900 sucked rocks (unplayable).

 

[SSS_DDK]

wasn't Core 2 supposed to be like 30% faster than Core Duo???? if that's the case then even with single threaded applications it would outperform Pentium M

 

[zenmaster]

I concur about Video.
This is very important when selecting your Notebook.

Skimp a bit on Memory or HDD if necessary since they can be easily upgraded later. Video cannot usually be upgraded easily.

Consider getting something with dedicated RAM.
Don't even consider the Intel video for any reason.

What is your price range and goal?

I often find a lot of good laptop deals at outlet.dell.com

I have purchased my last 3 laptops from there and have never had an issue. (Self, Wife, Sister.) I always build desktops, but for laptops I prefer name brand.

 

[zenmaster]

Oh, And here is a sample system that would work great for any purpose.
The video card on this system uses dedicated memory.
Much faster than those with shared/hyper/turbo in the name.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inspiron 9400/E1705
(System Identifier: 09C7DRE4)


Inspiron 9400/E1705 Notebook: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (4MB Cache/2.00GHz/667MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005

System Price : $1,449.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Operating System
Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz (2 DIMMs)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hard Disk Drive
100 GB EIDE Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Video
256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Media Bay
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certified Refurbished
Certified Refurbished
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Base
Inspiron 9400/E1705 Notebook: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (4MB Cache/2.00GHz/667MHz FSB)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hardware Upgrade
TV Tuner w/ Remote Control
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Network Interface Card
Intel Pro Wireless 3945
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NoteBook Screen
17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Notebook Screen

 

[wolverinero79]

I don't think it was THAT significant. However, the comparison is being made to the previous mobile generation before Core Duo. So either way, he'll see a nice boost.

 

[rdhood]

I don't think it was THAT significant. However, the comparison is being made to the previous mobile generation before Core Duo. So either way, he'll see a nice boost.

xbitlabs has done a few benchs, and C2D is only *slightly* faster than CD (clock for clock), and actually consumes more power. The bigger difference is that CD is 32bit and C2D is 64bit.

 

[Zayin]

Thanks alot for all the answers guys!

I currently have a Dell Latitude D810 with the Pentium M and a 128MB dedicated ATI 300 card.

The one Iam looking at is also a Dell D810 but with the C2D cpu and a Nvidia Quatro Gfx card with either 256 or 512mb dedicated memory.

Id still like to see a comparison chart if anyone has a link... I cant seem to find one that compares these 2 types of cpu.

Thanks again!

Zayin

 

[zenmaster]

Why the Quattro? Isn't that more of a workstation card?

Wouldn't the Inspiron with the go7900 work better for you?
I guess if you were doing CAD and other OPEN GL that would work better.
However, most folks are looking more for DirectX and game performance.

I can't find a direct comparison between the Pentium M and the C2Duo.
However here is a link comparing the Pentium M vs various P4s and Athlons.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/25/dothan_over_netburst/page11.html

You will find that the Pentium M at stock speeds does not do all that well considering the large gap in Clock Cycles. I could be OC'd but your laptop is not doing that.

Then find yourself another chart with the new Core2Duos and contrast that with the same P4s/Athlons found on the other charts.

Be sure to compare relative rankings. You can't transfer hard numbers from one review to the next since there will be so many other factors. But relative rankings would be a useful note.

 

[mpjesse]

Unless you're using CAD software or something like 3dsmax, don't get a quadro. You'll have absolutely no use for it. And the drivers for Quadros don't work very well in games.

 

[Audiose]

I have a 1.66 GHz Core 2 Duo in my computer, and it replaced a P4 at 3.33 GHz notebook. The 1.66 GHz is outperforming a Turion 64 2 GHz, and the P4. The Core 2 Duo is by far the best I have ever seen in terms of performance. Multi-tasking is a piece of cake - I have had 6 different applications running at once - including two software installs - and never had it stick. Not once.
Note - Core 2 duo requires that you install Microsoft's hotfix for Windows XP if that is the OS you are using - if you want multi-thread support. Otherwise you have a core sitting and doing nothing.

Hotfix link and instructions for installation: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=60416

 

[Haltech123]

Not sure if anyone said this or not but you cant switch the Core 2 Duo to a Pentium M. Diff socket. C2D is socket M/mobile, C2D destop is LGA775. Pentium M = Socket 478.Best you can do is the 780