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I am planning on buying a new laptop soon and would like to know what the difference is between the different processors. I don't need to know about all of them...maybe just the more popular ones. Which one would be recommended for a college student? I mostly use my laptop for word processing, surfing the internet, chatting, watching DVDs, etc.

Also, what do the processor speeds mean? What speed would be sufficient for a college student?

2006-08-13 20:51:06 · 10 answers · asked by mmmmk 2 in Computers & Internet Hardware Laptops & Notebooks

10 answers

Do not be deceived by speed!!

A computer is a complex collection of components that have to work together to perform the instructions of whatever programs you are running. How well they do this depends in part of course on the sorts of programs you are running, because different programs have different demands.

The fist figure given for a processor is its clock speed. Every time the clock ticks an instruction or part of an instruction is carried out.There is a difference between different processors as to how efficiently they carry out complex instructions - some take more clock cycles - but this is very rarely important at all.

Once the clock speed is over 1 GHz or maybe 1.5 GHz it is extremely unlikely to be performance limiting.

The next two things go together. Your processor has to talk to the rest of the stuff in the computer. It does this via a bus (a bunch of wires). The speed the bus clocks at will be MUCH lower than the processor, so the processor has to wait around a lot for other stuff to happen. This includes getting the next instruction from memory.

To get round this the processor has a cache on it - the cache guesses what comes next, and loads it in advance from memory - if its right, this saves time.

So you want a machine with as fast a bus as you can get (the next generation of chip sets later this year will have a real advantage here), and you need the right amount of cache memory. In general, you need a larger cache the faster the processor. A 1.5 GHz processor with a 128 kb cache will almost certainly be cache limited in performance. Look for a cache of 512 kb.

The next performance issue is memory. Firstly how fast it is, secondly how it is accessed and thirdly how much there is. More memory mean less disk access, so this is good - 512 MB is a minimum. But look for DDR (which accesses using a mechanism that is twice as fast as SDR), and fast memory chips.

Finally, there is the disk. However much memory you put in a PC the operating system will page some of it to the hard disk. If the disk is slow, the computer will be slow because it will hang around waiting for it all the time.

If you want to play games, you also need a fast graphics card, because otherwise the processor will be hanging around waiting for the graphics card or - worse - will have to do some of its work for it.

2006-08-13 23:19:41 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

Processory speed can be important for watching movies, and keeping sanity while trying to open new web pages and whatnot. If you ever play games, you'll want to have a fast processor for that as well.

My advice, although I don't know much about laptops/laptop processors, is see which ones are available to you. Then research them. Here's a couple of links for you.

http://www.cnet.com
http://www.tomshardware.com

If you don't think you need a whole lot of power, go ahead and skimp on it. But if you hate a slow computer, or if you have very intensive things you do on the computer, get the best you can afford within reason. By that, I mean, don't pay another $80 for a 2.8 instead of a 2.6Ghz.

Look for Hyper Threading too (HT technology).
And most importantly, make sure you have a lot of RAM. (random access memory). It makes all the difference in the world. Get dual channel, if possible.

2006-08-13 21:02:10 · answer #2 · answered by drizzt_234 3 · 0 0

Let's start with what "Clock Speed" actually means. Clock Speed can be defined as the basic speed at which a computer component such as the CPU takes to perform a basic operation, measured in Hertz (MegaHertz, GigaHertz...). When used as a speed measurement of a computer, the "clock speed" being talked about will be that of the CPU.

The problem with using clock speed to measure processor performance is that different processors can perform a different amount of work in the same clock "tick" or cycle. For example, lets say that processor A runs at 4 Mhz, and processor B runs at 1 Mhz. Each processor executes one processor instruction with every clock tick, so Processor A executes 4 times the amount of instructions as Processor B in a second. Now lets look at those instructions. If we want to multiply two numbers together, processor A needs to perform 10 instructions to complete this operation but Processor B needs only to complete 2 instructions to perform the same task. Which CPU will give you the answer first?

As you see above, comparing CPU performance by clock speed works well only when comparing two CPUs which are identical in every aspect except for clock speed. For comparing two different processors, e.g. an Intel Pentium 4 with an Intel Core Duo or with an AMD Athlon 64, measuring the clock speed only tells us what the clock speed of each processor is. It tells us nothing about how each processor performs in comparison to the others.

Performance in the real world can be even harder to understand, if comparing processors by clock speed. Other important aspects of a processor are the bus speed (the speed the CPU talks to the memory and other components on the motherboard, usually different to the internal clock speed of the processor) and the amount and speed of the cache memory available to the processor.

The most important thing is understanding how the system will be used and designing a good "balanced" system for that need. Essentially a computer system working on a task can be thought of as like a production line in a factory, and all the steps in the line need to be kept full of just the right amount of material in order for the line as a whole to be working at optimal performance.

Fitting a upgraded packing machine at the end of a factory line will not increase that line's rate of production if the other parts of the factory line are already working at capacity, all that will happen is that the new packing machine at the end of the line will sit idle some of the time.

Installing the fastest processor you can find but fitting the computer with insufficient RAM or a very slow hard disk will constrain the processor and prevent it from reaching its full potential. The same applies of course to neglecting the processor in order to fit very fast RAM or hard disks.

Hope this helps...

2006-08-13 21:02:07 · answer #3 · answered by Brody 3 · 0 0

You computer usage does not require a top end laptop. One thing you did not mention is your level of computer expertise. Given the needs you have expressed, and putting in mind ease of use, I would recommend an Apple MacBook or MacBook pro depending on your budget. I am sure you can also get an older Mac at a sensible price. The ease of use and setup make it commendable for a student. And the styling certainly is nice. However I must warn you, some Games have only PC versions, and if this is an overriding factor then go for a Pentium series laptop.

Whatever you do go for, add RAM. Most manufacturers put in inadequate RAM. I would recomend you have at least IGB or RAM.

2006-08-13 23:13:46 · answer #4 · answered by Essess 2 · 0 0

RAM is probably the most important item you can have in terms of having a quick and efficient computer. I would recommend at least 1 gig. Most entry-level processors in computers today are more than sufficent for simple tasks (ie: web browsing, word processing and office applicatons, graphic-easy gaming). You should only consider an expensive, high-end processor if your primary role for the computer is hard core gaming and/or professional video editing.

I would also suggest that you use Windows XP Pofessional versus XP home edition as your operating system. Win xp pro is much better at allocating storage than home edition, in addition to being a bit safer. Mac OSX is also an awesome alternative, if you don't mind a slight learning curve.

2006-08-13 23:12:55 · answer #5 · answered by Pussy Ann Jankins 2 · 0 0

What you're looking for depends entirely on what you plan to use it for. If you just want to type stuff in a word processing program, then speed really doesn't matter. If you want it for games, then you definitely want speed. Go for a balance of both. A Pentium 3 would work just fine, but the 4 will be more future-proof. Get it?

2006-08-13 22:10:03 · answer #6 · answered by P Wee 2 · 0 0

Why isn't everything on the Internet dated?! Some of this advice seems stale.

2016-01-28 03:35:41 · answer #7 · answered by ? 5 · 0 0

Processors are speed of processing of computer task.
you caqn buy P-IV processor.

2006-08-13 20:58:07 · answer #8 · answered by guidemeanyone 2 · 0 0

the differece is speed and power managment about the laptop it depende on how much u want to spend and do u want wireless or not and f u want it use it on battry for long time

2006-08-13 21:01:09 · answer #9 · answered by iraqi_helper2000 2 · 0 0

you just go to the compaq web

2006-08-13 20:54:38 · answer #10 · answered by h3e 2 · 0 0

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