Laptop question Pentium4-M
 

Hello,

Hopefully this is the right forum to ask this question..I have begun looking for a new laptop , for general use, and some editing here and there..
I have seen it alluded to several times , where someone will say that the laptop has a pentium 4-m processor, (yes i know it is better power consumption wise, much longer battery life) and they say its a 1.4 ghz, but it is equivelant to a 2.4 ghz P4..

My question is about the spped , is this true ??

And how does the Centrino technology fit in here, does Centrino mean pentium4-m with wifi built in??

I guess the question is what is the difference between the P4-M and Centrino, and are the speed claims realistic??

Thanks,
Mike M.

Yes, the speed claims are pretty accurate. Pentium4M is a completely separate design from the Pentium4, built more like a hybrid of the P3 and P4 cores. It all depends on the particular apps that you run (some are just optimized better for P4).

"Centrino" is a brand name that is only awarded to laptops that include all 3 Intel components: Processor, Chipset, and Wireless. By getting a laptop branded Centrino, you know that all of those parts are Intel and were designed specifically to work together. If you get a laptop that just has the P4M processor, it may or may not have wireless built in, but it does have the same processor as a Centrino laptop.

One more thing... I wouldn't put too much weight on whether or not you're getting a branded Centrino with all 3 parts. The reason is that while it's nice to say that all 3 parts, processor, chipset and wireless may be Intel, in actuality, Intel's wireless offerings usually rate lower in performance than some other aftermarket brands. By that I mean the Intel wireless cards have a shorter range than some other brands.

I've got a Centrino myself, and have access to a bunch of Dells that don't use the Intel wireless, and there is definitely a difference. It's not just my experience - I've read the same in many reviews.

But realisitically, this shouldn't affect your decision too much either. The distance difference is usually only 10-20 feet.

All in all, it doesn't matter all that much if you get a Centrino branded or just Pentium M branded laptop. Also, the performance is not somehow reduced from a standard Pentium to an M/Centrino. I have a Centrino and I use it for various things including the occasional editing, and I am not disappointed.