OT - cheap laptop for 15 tabling. pentium: 3? Celeron? 4? M? Core Duo

skreemer7 · #1 11-26-2006, 03:32 PM

Any computer gurus with some processing advice for a laptop that I will only use for 15 tabling. I'm on PS usign table navigator. I will not be using PT and PAH because I think these programs will significantly require me to up my processor. I'm looking for something under $400. Is this rational? Any advice and recommendations would be much appreciated.

BiPolar_Nut · #2 11-26-2006, 03:55 PM

I would avoid a celeron at any price. P-III *might* work, but there should be brand new laptop deals after rebates for around $400-$500 and obv would be far more value for your dollar.

You may find good deals on craigslist for used units. this one is a pretty sick deal as an example since I have no idea what city you're in. Centrinos are nice for 2 yr old laptops.

Dementia · #3 11-26-2006, 05:25 PM

celeron + centrinos = both trash honestly.

BiPolar_Nut · #4 11-26-2006, 06:00 PM

[ QUOTE ]
celeron + centrinos = both trash honestly.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess it depends on the operation. A 1.6GHz Centrino will absolutely spank a 3.2GHz P4 at floating point operations by around 30% in my experience. I'd often run SetiAtHome for a few days to a week as part of the burn in for some of my clients a couple years back. The centrinos blew me away banging out around 20 work units per day (average from 4 laptops, 24/7 over a 7 day stretch). The P4 3.2's (desktop machines) would only churn out 10-15 a day. 100% CPU usage for a week and the laptops merely got warm, too (not hot).

BiPolar_Nut · #5 11-26-2006, 06:10 PM

I tried checking spec.org to get data to back up my claim and see if perhaps centrinos suck at Integer calculations or something. I couldn't find any in a few searches. I did some other searching for centrino benchmarks in general and they looked pretty poor.

Perhaps floating point is the ONLY thing they do *shrug*

Dementia · #6 11-26-2006, 06:17 PM

Sure against a P4 , I think it's wiser for OP to just maybe spend an extra cpl of bills and get himself something more efficient like one of the better Core 2's or even a capable AMD (but check back here first, some AMD laptops chips are something awful).