What is the difference in an AMD and an Intel processor?

Question

My fiancé and I are going to buy a laptop for her 9 year old daughter and we want to get her one that she can play her games on, do her school work on and grow with for a few years. Yea I know she's only 9 but we are not talking about your average little girl. I am not concerned with her not taking care of a $1000 piece of equipment because of the values she has and the maturity level that this person embodies. (Yea, she's still nine, but...) We are looking at two laptops, one has the AMD and the other has the Intel Core and there is a noticeable price difference. So what's up with that? Help Please... :)

Answer 1

Its just a brand name like ford or chevy. Since AMD isn't as popular as INTEL, its cheaper.

A few more suggestions: There is a new version of windows coming out soon to replace WINDOWS XP. The new version is WINDOWS VISTA. Make sure the Laptop you get is vista compatable so you won't have to upgrade in a few months.

Last thing: HP, Dell and Gateway offer a protection called COMPLETE CARE or something similar. This covers you for a period of 3 or 4 years even if the damage is from dropping it or spilling somethig into it. The coverage can add $300 or so to the cost of the system, but I would SERIOUSLY consider it. Especially for a 9 year old.

Repairing a laptop is VERY expensive.

Good luck.
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Answer 2

I would hope that this girl is very, very mature, and, actually has a use for this computer, every single day. Otherwise, it's a waste of money. Let's assume that such a person does exist. AMD and Intel are two seperate companies. AMD processors have recently begun to gain more popularity, but Intel still holds most of the processor sales. Intel procs are divided into a few catigories for laptops,
Centrino:
Core Solo, Core Duo, Core Duo2
Core Solo has one processing core, and is the earliest proc that is still common today. It's perfectly fine for word processing (wp) and maybe games, should be fine this 9 year old.
Core Duo/Core Duo 2:
Core Duo is the first dual-core processor for a laptop, dual core processors don't necesarily mean x2 the speed, and in some cases are slower than a one core proc such as the Core Solo However, the Core Duo really shines during multi-tasking or games. Core Duo 2 is just a more refined, and often more expensive verson of the Core Duo

AMD wise, they focused mostly on gamers, but also have some decent laptop processors.
Turion, Turion x2
The Turion is AMD's response to the Core Solo, and is compariable to the Core Solo, although some have said it is slower, I own one of these, and it works fine for wp and non graphics intensive games.
The Turion x2 is AMD's Core Duo/Core Duo 2. It is also a dual core processor, and is probaly very similar in performance.

All of these processors are great, just remember, in a year or two, these processors will not be top of the line, and may seem slow to you. Also, these processors are also designations for mobile technology, which means the computers they meet certain requirements for hard drive space, ram, and power consumption. As a personal note, i would not advise buying such a piece of computing for a nine year old, as a laptop is very expensive compared to a desktop, which would be cheaper, and more powerful. So, if you don't need the portability of a laptop, get a desktop, and, if she doesn't absolutely need a laptop don't get one, computers are junk after two years due to the exponential rate of development for computer tech.

Hope this was useful...

Answer 3

AMD and Intel are two processor companies (processor = brain of the computer). Currently Intel has better processors in the laptop market so if your gonna buy a laptop buy one with and intel processor (if your gonna buy a pc I recommend AMD all the way!!!!) Since your gonna buy her a laptop i recommend waiting until windows vista comes out and buy a laptop with at least 1GB or RAM a processor with a clock speed over 2.0 Ghz and a advance video card (either ATI or Nvidia, NOT INTEGRATED!!)

Answer 4

AMD is better for gaming experience, for example, but not for multitasking.
Intel processors have better performance when many programs are running at the same time, comparing to AMD.

Lately, AMD processors are much more expensive than Intel.

You should consider what are you thinking to do with it. A laptop for gaming is a bad idea. The technology advances quickly and it's harder to update laptop hardwares.

Hope this helps on your decision.

Answer 5

AMD wins at gaming, and the Dual Cores beat Intel PD's pasted together dual core design.
Intel does have a edge in encoding of things just due to the higher Ghz's brute force and they do run warmer, but much less so now with the processors using the 65nm core

Answer 6

Intel computers are more server/programming/coding/etc based. If you want her to run games and do her school-work, I'd go with AMD. Especially if its AMD Turion. Now if the Intel is Core 2 Duo or Duo -AND- its cheaper, go with that. But most likely the AMD laptop will have better graphics and perform games better.

Thanks for asking! Wish my parents would do that for me :P

Answer 7

speaking personally, i'd have to say get the AMD based system. the amd has better in built security within the processor that makes the system less vulnerable to attacks.
also you will want to buy a decent security suite to installon the lap to see www.trendmicro.com pc-cillin internet security. this is a total security soloution that when configured correctly will provide the best all around security for the system. i use AMD based systems that i built myself. and i find the performance is excellent. ok the processors are only 2ghz and 3GB ram in the primary system, but it runs like greased lightening.
however the choice is yours. try both see which you think performes the best.
read the spec on www.amd.com and www.intel.com about the processors and make your choice.
remeber to get a decent GPU chip as well. in my experiance i'm happy with the radeon chipset for my needs on my desktop systems and as AMD and ATI are now one company in the near future we should see processors and GPUs performing like one with amazing life like results. however i'm guessing that near future is about five to ten years away.

i found the performance of the AMD is better for my needs than the intel. but you may find intel better for your daughters. so hire them both for a week and see which your daughter finds better for her needs.

Answer 8

Intel has much more cache memory than Amd.Intel processors are better for applications,audio and video rendering,but amd is only better in 3d games,becouse 3dNow instructions.Since you're going to take laptop my recommendation would be Intel.It's much better for laptop

Answer 9

AMD is usually used to process games and other media. Intel is good for processing everyday programs. To me, AMD is the better bang for bucks. I'd go with AMD if I were you. You wont regret it.

Answer 10

AMD ones are in general better. faster for one thing.