Name: killer Date: August 29, 2005 at 19:20:03 Pacific Subject: Sempron 2800+ or Celeron M? OS: Windows XP/Home CPU/Ram: Amd3200+/2 gb Ram
Comment:
Hey I am going to be buying a laptop tomorrow. Now, I have a choice between Toshiba and Acer. I don't know which one to choose. Toshiba is more trusted brand, from my point of view and they have bright view monitor (the shiny one). However, Toshiba has Celeron M, 1.4ghz processor with 1mb L2cache and 400MHZ front bus, and ACER has Sempron 2800+ which operates at the speed of 1.6GHZ. Now, the thing is that I am new with ACER... please advice. I have already done a check on processor speeds, and I found out that Sempron is almost 2 times faster than Celeron M.
What do you all thing, what kind should I get? Thanks.... Appreciate, Jam, I hope you will respond to this, and give me a good advice too.
Actually, I've been keeping an eye on laptops because I plan on buying one for my daughter very soon. I'm biased in my choice though...I won't even consider a P4 or Celeron. I've been looking at the AMD Turion 64 or Athlon 64. I've set my limit at $1000 (give or take). Right now, Circuit City has an Acer notebook w/ Turion 64 M-30 (1.6GHz), 1GB RAM, 100GB HDD, DVD burner, & 15.4" screen for $1200 - $200 rebate. She probably doesn't "need" all that power though.
Actually, all the stores have deals right now...Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Office Depot, etc....even Walmart. Most are throwing in a printer, some are throwing in a printer & case. CompUSA is throwing in a whole package of extras.
On the lower end of the price scale, there's an HP Pavilion zv6000 Notebook at Office Depot For $500 after rebates....it has a Sempron 3000+, 256MB RAM, 40GB HDD, DVD/CDRW combo drive, 15.4" screen & "free" printer. While the specs aren't all that great, for an extra $75, you can upgrade to an Athlon 64 3200+, 512MB RAM, & DVD burner. I doubt there's a better deal out there for less than $600...the problem is there over $300 in rebates involved.
The big question is what you want to do with that laptop. If you need to run it for a long time on the build in accu better go for a mobile cpu. As far as I know the intel centrino technology (Pentium M combined with wireless Lan) is still the best choice there. I don't know about the mobile Athlon64 (Turion) but think somewhere I read it's faster but doesn't run as long without external power.
As you wrote it I figure that Sempron is a desktop cpu so it will need much more power which means less running time on accu but more heat which also means the fan running much more often which usually makes quite some noise on laptops. Even on a laptop usually connected to external power I wouldn't suggest a desktop cpu!
The Celeron M I don't know much about but it's definately slower than a Pentium M and hopefully needs less power.
The question you have to ask yourself is if the Celeron M has enough power? Definately not for gaming, audio- anmd video encoding. For gaming you also need a suitable graphic solution because the build in graphic in the chipsets are still not suitable for half way modern games. But for normal office work the Celeron M might be good enough.
Yeah if you for battery saving technology Pentium 4 M With Centrino is the only way to go. There is a new laptop coming out soon that was reading about that has a Pentium M Centrino processor in it that can hold up to 7 hours of battery life and it's dockless ontop of that, the DVD-RW it's a fliptop and it has 15 wide screen LCD Display. But then again this laptop is 3,500 dollars. So this is way out of your price range.
But as for the Celeron M vs the Sempron mobile on avg the Sempron mobile holds up to a half hour more battery life then the Celeron M. So if you are looking for battery life for a budget laptop i'd go with the Sempron.
OK, the thing is that Acer that has the Sempron Processor is not a name brand. I am worried because of it breaking down, since I haven't used. From your reviews, I see that Sempron is better than Celeron M, but the thing is that it is in ACER. I am going to be shipping this laptop internationally and I don't want them having any problems with it. Because shipment is almost 200 dollars. Now, Toshiba, I have heard, have the best notebooks available on market, quality wise. What do you think?
Personally imo IBM makes the best laptops. They are tough, and they are reliable. I have had 2 IBM laptops and they have dropped, tossed, spilt on and just about everything else. Aside from a few dings and scratches they work perfectly fine. I will never buy anything other then an IBM when it comes to laptops.
You've never heard of Acer? They've been around for years & if you believe the PR at their website, "Acer ranks among the world's top five branded PC vendors"
http://global.acer.com/about/index.htm
ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP1
I wouldn't say ACER is the best pc company out there but they are pretty decent. I never heard of any problems to the point of not getting an ACER.
Here is the thing budget laptops are like budget pc's and that is don't expect to get a lot cool features with it like you would on mid or high range laptop.
So if it doesn't have brightview, then that expect in budget system. Still I seen that laptop spec for the price and it looks like a pretty decent deal. Although I would spend a couple hundred more and go for the Turion 64 model, incase you wanted to go to 64bit later on you will have that option.
But it can also lacks something that the ACER has. The ACER does have the better processor, so it's pretty much saying ok what is more important the better processor or the brighter screen?
I've been weighing the pluses & minuses of the different laptops that are currently on sale in the $1000 or less category. Like I said in response # 2, I don't see how you can beat the deal on the HP Pavilion zv6000 Notebook at Office Depot, especially if you opt for the $75 upgrade & the HP printer DJ6540. Look at the specs:
The screen isn't listed as BrightView in the sale ad, but if you go to the HP website & check the specs on the Pavilion zv6000 series, it says "15.4" WXGA High-Definition BrightView"
Total cost after rebates would be about $625 (+tax)...$50 less if you don't go for the printer upgrade
ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP1
I'm in NY & the sale is definitely here, but since it's listed at the Office Depot website, I assume it must be nationwide. I just called the local store & this particular unit isn't something they stock, it's a custom-built machine...the "base" unit is on sale & the "upgrades" are 50% off. Apparently there are different packages or you can pick & choose your configuration. The guy told me I'd have to come in, sit down with them, & work out the details. Once the order is placed, it takes about 2 weeks for the laptop to be shipped to your house. I didn't ask if there are any shipping charges involved. I'll probably stop by the store on my way home from work...there's one about a mile from my house.
ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP1
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ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP1
