Intel Celeron vs Centrino

I am about to buy a new laptop and I am about to choose between the
following processors:
A Intel Celeron M 360 1.4 GHz (best price)
B Intel Celeron M 360 2.93 GHz
C Intel Centrino Pentium M725 1.6 GHz

I wonder whether A is the best option, I doubt that the speed will meet
my expectations in the long run. B might be an alternative, but what to
expect from speed and performance? I know that heat production and heat
management is a problem for Celeron processors and slow down the speed.
B is a more powerfull processor, therefore, it is probably more
hindered by heat production and the speed might be only 1,5 times the
speed of A (in stead of 2 times). And the heat might cause the
processor to fail (as was the case with the processor of a laptop I
used 3 years ago, it failed every other day during the somer season).

The heat management of C is better. But what speed can I expect? Two or
three times the speed of A?

wrote:
> I am about to buy a new laptop and I am about to choose between the
> following processors:
> A Intel Celeron M 360 1.4 GHz (best price)
> B Intel Celeron M 360 2.93 GHz
> C Intel Centrino Pentium M725 1.6 GHz
>
> I wonder whether A is the best option, I doubt that the speed will meet
> my expectations in the long run. B might be an alternative, but what to
> expect from speed and performance? I know that heat production and heat
> management is a problem for Celeron processors and slow down the speed.
> B is a more powerfull processor, therefore, it is probably more
> hindered by heat production and the speed might be only 1,5 times the
> speed of A (in stead of 2 times). And the heat might cause the
> processor to fail (as was the case with the processor of a laptop I
> used 3 years ago, it failed every other day during the somer season).
>
> The heat management of C is better. But what speed can I expect? Two or
> three times the speed of A?
>


Option A is based on Option C (they are the same chip, only the Celeron
has a smaller cache than the Pentium M). Option B is not related (even
though both the Celeron Ms claim to be 360, they have nothing in
common). You cannot look at them and say 2.93GHz is over 2x 1.4GHz and
thus is the faster chip. In fact the 1.4GHz probably performs better
and is never affected by heat. Only the 2.93GHz one is.

The best machine is C, the close second is A, and the distant third is C.

Alex

Hi Alex,

Thanks a lot for the information. Although, on the basis of your
information I tend to buy option A, I do have an additional question.
The laptop I plan to buy will probably be sufficient for the next 10
years or so. The only doubt I have is the capacity of the processor.

Will it be possible to replace, say after five years, the option A
processor by the option C processor (or a newer and better Intel
processor) or does the overall architecture of the laptop not allow
such a replacement? And is it likely that a replacement over that
period of time is necessary?

Lisa

Pentium M by a big margin... Celerons are slower and use more power.
Intel marketing deserve a medal for pushing that one!

T.

wrote:
> Hi Alex,
>
> Thanks a lot for the information. Although, on the basis of your
> information I tend to buy option A, I do have an additional question.
> The laptop I plan to buy will probably be sufficient for the next 10
> years or so. The only doubt I have is the capacity of the processor.
>
> Will it be possible to replace, say after five years, the option A
> processor by the option C processor (or a newer and better Intel
> processor) or does the overall architecture of the laptop not allow
> such a replacement? And is it likely that a replacement over that
> period of time is necessary?
>
> Lisa
>

It is generally not possible, or at least not easy or recommended, to
replace your laptop's processor. I have never done it. Desktops are
much easier to do that to.

I do not think you will get 10 years out of your laptop. For one, no
computer of ten years ago could run anything from today, and not just
because of the processor. Ten years ago the top of the line desktop was
a Pentium 90MHz and the top laptops were 486DX4/100. The top systems
came with 16MB RAM and 300MB of hard drive. No program today would fit
on that hard drive (but you could easily buy a new hard drive). No
program would run on 16MB RAM (and your laptop probably wouldn't be
upgadeable past 32MB back then). And even MS Office would be unable to
run on that processor since it doesn't support 3 or 4 generations of new
instructions that Office wants to use. Putting that in perspective,
today you might get a 1.6GHz Pentium-M with 512MB memory expandable to
2GB and a 60GB hard drive. In 10 years we may be running things that
require a minimum config of 15GHz 8-core Pentium 7, 16GB RAM, and a 12TB
hard drive.

Not to mention the simple fact that laptop parts aren't all
interchangable and the manufacturer will discontinue a line after 2-3
years. My wife's laptop is 4 years old and was cutting edge back then.
The battery doesn't function at all, you can't buy a docking station
any more, and if it breaks during the next year (5 year warranty!) they
will just give her a new laptop since HP hasn't sold or supported that
model for over a year. 10 years is unrealistic to expect a computer to
last. 5 years is a reasonable limit, though if you ever buy new
software even that may be pushing the envelope.

Alex

On 5/23/2005 07:02, wrote:
> I am about to buy a new laptop and I am about to choose between the
> following processors:
> A Intel Celeron M 360 1.4 GHz (best price)
> B Intel Celeron M 360 2.93 GHz
> C Intel Centrino Pentium M725 1.6 GHz

Your item B above is most likely actually a Celeron D Mobile *340* which
is basically a castrated, power hungry Pentium 4. You really don't want
to get that one. Verify the amount of cache in the processor before
buying to know what you're really getting. The Pentium M based Celeron M
360 is not castrated nearly as much but you wouldn't catch me buying
anything called celeron.

BTW, Centrino is just a marketing term that describes the combination of
Pentium M with a certain chipset and certain wireless card.

~Jason

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wrote:
> I am about to buy a new laptop and I am about to choose between the
> following processors:
> A Intel Celeron M 360 1.4 GHz (best price)
> B Intel Celeron M 360 2.93 GHz
> C Intel Centrino Pentium M725 1.6 GHz
>
> I wonder whether A is the best option, I doubt that the speed will meet
> my expectations in the long run. B might be an alternative, but what to
> expect from speed and performance? I know that heat production and heat
> management is a problem for Celeron processors and slow down the speed.
> B is a more powerfull processor, therefore, it is probably more
> hindered by heat production and the speed might be only 1,5 times the
> speed of A (in stead of 2 times). And the heat might cause the
> processor to fail (as was the case with the processor of a laptop I
> used 3 years ago, it failed every other day during the somer season).
>
> The heat management of C is better. But what speed can I expect? Two or
> three times the speed of A?
>
To start, Pentium-M is a slightly improved Pentium-III which is known
for low power relative to performance. Celeron is a slow but power
hungry chip which is really cheap. Celeron-M is slightly lower power,
and higher priced.

To estimate relative performance multiply the Pentium-M clock by 1.5,
and figure it is similar to a Celeron or P4 at 2.4GHz. A little worse
for heavy floating point, but a useful estimate. Therefore I would call
"C" clearly the best choice, it should be the lowest power and quite
good performance. I have one in an ASUS laptop and it's pretty nice,
although with a 1400x1050 LCD the battery life isn't what I hoped :-(

If you intend actual laptop use, as in "on your lap" the Pentium-M is
the better choice, the Celeron-M I use occasionally RUNS TOO HOT FOR
COMFORT. With a small screen, I would expect the Pentium-M to last about
50% longer on battery life.

Hope this helps.

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SBC/Prodigy Yorktown Heights NY data center
Project Leader, USENET news
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