AMD or Intel

I am purchasing a new laptop but am very confused when it comes to which processor to go with. Can anyone enlighten me?? Just a word of advice, I am a little green when it comes to the technical part of computers so I could really use some help!

 

Intel or AMD is only half the question, you'd need to now exactly which processor to get(as they are but companies that manufacture processors).

Rule of thumb:
- Pure performance = Intel
- Budget = AMD

Nonetheless, this won't help much, we'd need to know about your needs, your uses, your budget and everything.

 

Generally speaking these are the manufacturers of the "guts" of virtually all the computers on the market. Both make excellent products, and the choice is typically made by the computer manufacturer. In most cases, AMD tends to run a slight economy over Intel.

In car language you might think of them as AC Delco and Mopar.

 

I think that Intel is the best choice for laptops, AMD right now needs to improve there cpu.

 

I agree with 'cloudbyday'.
Intel has a superior product on offer with their cpu's at the moment as far as mobile market is concerned.
Their cpu's don't heat as much as AMD's do, and they are more powerful/faster.

But as other people noted, we need to know more about what your needs are, so we can help you better.

Despite the fact that AMD may have some shortcomings, it's still a viable product.

 

AMD's mobile processors at the moment are a joke. Their desktop processors not so much, as the Phenom II line is actually pretty good, but anything mobile go for Intel for now.

 

Desktop wise I'd go AMD or one of the new i7's. Laptop wise I'd most definitely go Intel. They run MUCH cooler, and most of the time perform better.

 

Intel has always performed well for me (specs in sig). My $0.02.

 

Wow, I guess I have a lot to learn but I am hoping you all can help me with my decision. Here is a bit of info I posted in the "What Notebook should I buy" forum and the answers to your questions.

I want to upgrade my current laptop, which is a LG E510. I am looking for a GREAT quality laptop that will last me 5 years or more and this laptop will be my primary use/desktop replacement. Now the thing is, I know what I want on the outside when it come to features and options, I am just not too familiar with all the technical stuff. I know I don't need all the bells and whistles for what I do right now, but I would like to get the most features and options I can for my money right now, so that I do have it if I ever want it down the road....and I am not in the situation I am right now, looking for a new "better" laptop just a year down the road!

My budget is $1200 to$1400. I will be using the laptop for Photo editing & storage, itunes for loading my itouch, downloading music, personal website design, some movie watching, but No gaming other than solitare. I like to mulitask with a few windows open at once. I always run Facebook, MSN, weather central, solitare, and web-browsing. I want something fast that won't bog down when there are a few applications running.

The other features I am looking for are:
17" monitor
HDMI
Webcam
Full keyboard
DVD Burner

General Questions

1) What is your budget? $1200 to $1400

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
Canada

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: LG, I don't have much experience with any other but I like the look of the Toshiba's, ASUS and HP
b. Dislike: Acer, Mac


5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
No

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Photo editing & storage, itunes for loading my itouch, downloading music, personal website design, some movie watching, No gaming. I like to mulitask with a few windows open at once. I always run Facebook, MSN, weather central, solitare, and web-browsing. I want something fast that won't bog down when there are a few applications running.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Mostly used at home. Portability is not an issue

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
Just solitare....lol!

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
Not much of an issue right now as it will be plugged in most of the time, but I would like to have a couple hours for those rare times I am travelling

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
would prefer to see it but I could probably go without if the right one became available. I am just a bit leary when ordering online.

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Windows 7

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer?

Medium to high

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Glossy

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Not really

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
Within the next month or so and I want it to last at least 5 years, more if possible

Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
The more storage the better! SSD, I am not familiar with. But I want whichever choice is the best.

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?
DVD burner and I would like to have blu-ray but will also consider without


I look forward to getting some info and recommendations!

 

You were supposed to copy/paste the form onto this thread and fill out the questions.

 

Best forum for recommendations on a notebook is the "What Notebook Should I Buy" subsection. There is a sticky in there that contains a form, which is will help people recommend you a notebook.

 

I have done that twice now and I have only gotten two answers. I was hoping for a bit more info. Maybe I'll just have to keep reading other peoples posts and go from there?

 

What were the recommendations and did they fit the criteria well?

 

Consider the Dell Studio XPS 16.

 

For the OP's uses, I don't think a discrete graphics card will be useful. And it'll make it harder for the OP to get "several hours" of battery life.

I would recommend the Dell Studio 17, HP dv7t, or HP dv6t. And since your budget is very generous for what you need, I'd say get yourself a nice dual-core Intel processor. A quad-core would probably be overkill, a waste of money, and will shorten your battery life.

 

Thanks, I'll check these out!

 

if your considering the dv6t you might as well consider the 15.4 16:10 screens as well, they are about the same size as the new 16inchers.

I would strongly recommend the HP 8530p business computer, it comes with a standard 3year warrenty and are built like tanks, but still look decent. with an aluminum surface and magnesium alloy frame on the under side this machine can take a beating. I own one and it's the best computer I've bought in years. the screen is fantastic and according to HP it gets 4:45min of battery life, but from my experience it's closer to 3:45min with screen at 100% and wifi on and active which means if you had to you could get it over 4hours easily. it has HDMI, and a full keyboard (do you mean including a number pad?), I don't think it has a webcam.

if your not picky over the 16:10 vs 16:9 issue, you can wait a month or so for the 8540p, but it will likely be out of budget.

it will also second a recommendation on the Studio 17.

 

Okay, so when you are referring to the 16:10 vs 16:9 screen, what exactly does that mean? Is that screen size? I am looking for a 17 inch screen preferably but a 16 inch would probably work. And yes, I am looking for the full keyboard with number pad. I do however need a webcam. That is one of the main reasons I am upgrading to a new computer (I just bought this one only a year ago).

I am not really sold on Dells and don't think I want one. I know my friend has one and she loves it but I just hate the call in support they have. I don't know, may be I should be considering them but if I can get away without, I will.

I am in no hurry to buy my laptop and would really like to wait if there is something new and better coming out. I am also leaning towards the ASUS based on their reputation, but I am still unfamiliar as to which one would be right for me. I also like the looks of HP, and have read good things about the Toshiba's and Sony. But again, I am at a loss when it come to choosing one for me in regads to the technical part of it! But I am learning

Thanks!

 

16:10 vs 16:9 is an issue of ratio, or the differences between width and height. A 16:10 screen is taller than a comparable 16:9 screen, which is wider, but not as tall. Most consumer notebooks produced these days have 16:9 screens, which is the same width/height ratio as all the widescreen LCD TVs that are currently being produced.

Also note that there is a significant difference between Dell (and HP for that matter!) consumer and business support. Dell and HP business support is _much_ better than their consumer support, however, the downside of that is that if you buy a Dell or HP business machine (such as the 8530 listed in the quote), you'll generally be paying more than for a consumer level machine. Unlike Acer and ASUS, Dell and HP make most of their profits and market from the business and government sectors, and not nearly as much from the regular consumer.

 

Also the business notebooks tend to last longer than the average comsumer notebook.

 

what's an AMD?

just kidding. i have only had intel procs on my laptops and have amd procs on my desktops. i can say that the performance of the amd procs on desktops is amazing. i havent had an intel proc on a desktop since like 2001......

but for laptops, i've only used intels. the amd's run toooo f'in hot which not only degrades system performance but degrades the lifetime of the units altogether.

this is my 2 cents.

 

Well they're certainly more durable (and less pretty), but they are also more expensive as well.

 

The TC wants it to last 5+ years, so it's certainly worth the extra expense.

 

i would get a notebook with only intel processors... AMD mobile processors are a joke... if u do want a notebook to last long , u don't really need a buisness one... i have a dell pentium M laptop which has lasted 5 years but seriously , u need to uprgade after 2-3 years... it becomes obsolete after that... i would recommend a dell studio XPS 16 with core i7 and ATI 4670... or if u want a more flashy notebook with pure performance , ASUS G73... comes with Core i7 , 17 inch full hd screen , ATI 5870 , fastest mobile card and blue ray for $1600....

 

How is a Pentium M obsolete? The fact is that for most people, a Pentium M is all that is needed. Otherwise the urge to call older technology obsolete is either an excuse to upgrade or marketing at its best.

 

It's obsolete in the sense that it's old technology.
If there's anything I can't stand, it's stagnation when it comes to tech.
We create something that most people will be satisfied with ... all right, but there's going to be a good portion of those who will need much more powerful pieces of tech to get certain jobs done within at a fraction of the time it took them with previous hardware.

Pentium M is certainly adequate for basics ... but throw far more complex stuff at it such as 3d studio Max and a mesh of 1.78 million poligons to render, will the i7 render it out far faster, at the same speed, or slower?

Similar analogy with old gpu's.
Throw in a decently heavy 3d scene into the viewport and let's see how a gpu from 5 years ago will deal with it in comparison to a gpu from today.

One cannot make an excuse for technological stagnation simply because our current needs are being 'mostly' met with what we have today.

 

I think the word utdated: is more appropriate than obsolete.

Deks, not all consumers use 3DSMax and do renders, nor 3D modeling, or game whatsoever. That is why the CULV and the Neo exist. They cover very well most needs and give impressive battery life.

Now, that said, back to topic. mponto. I think you could check out the new i5 laptops, like the Inspiron 17, the Studio 17 has ann i5 too ( http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/studio-1747/pd.aspx?refid=studio-1747&s=dhs&cs=19) and that will last for some time and be powerful enough. There is also de DV6t Quad and DV7t Quad from HP that might be worth a look...my suggestion is i5 520M or i5 540M over i7 720QM and i7 820QM.

 

Hmm, 5 years with the rapid advancements in computers these days? He might want to rethink that. Still, considering even my old Dell Inspiron did exactly that (it was a hand-me-down), it is possible.

 

Other options are the new ThinkPads T510? An HP 8730p?

 

8730 is sweet machine. If can find a dream color screen, even nicer.

 

While Serg pointed out that few people require such continual updates, I will add that old technology is not always bad technology. I would also add that most people upgrade just because they want an excuse to do so, or because they receive some gratification in buying a new product. The fact remains that for most people, old technology will suffice.

 

I agree with you there bog, old definately doesnt mean bad, i can still run pretty common tasks on my old AMD athlon 1.2ghz processor without problem, i suppose its down to what you use it for.

 

I'm sure both of these would get you across town, but which would you prefer to own?





They're both Cadillacs by the way.

 

Wrong analogy. It would be like comparing a Pentium II to a Core Duo or Even a P4.
A more accurate version would be this:


vs this:


Both will get the job done equally well but a lot of people are not gonna care about the new features and added performance if the old version works well for them.

 

Well I do sometimes have a penchant for exaggeration, but that's just because I wanted to make sure my point was clear.

LOL, that reminds me of this old Dell with XP in one of the labs I go to. I can be half way through my project while you're still waiting for that thing to boot up.

Merry Christmas!

 

This is inaccurate a 386 to Core Duo is a better comparison for that 2 pics.

 

Back to topic, the thing is that the AMD is quite capable, and mostly underestimated, when it does perform well and covers all regular needs.

 

"Obsolete" is user-dependent. A computer is only obsolete when it stops meeting your usage requirements and standards. As an example: for some hardcore gamers, an Nvidia GeForce 9800GT would be considered obsolete, but for a casual gamer like me, it would more than meet my needs.

Therefore, I think it's perfectly possible to use a nice, durable laptop for 5+ years, but ultimately, I think most users will feel very compelled to upgrade after about 3-4 years (I've found that I feel the need to upgrade after around that period of time).

That said, it takes a fair bit of luck for a laptop to survive daily use for 5+ years, even if you are careful and you buy a solid business-grade laptop. Even though I babied my Averatec 2155, its screen connection in the hinge began failing after 3.5 years.

But my advice on the original question is the same as before: Intel mobile processors are currently better than AMD processors especially in terms of power consumption and heat, even at the same price point.

 

you have a giant budget and almost no needs.

so get whatever looks pretty

 

isn't that what apples business is based on?

 

Don't start an Apple vs PC war please from this point. But considering the budget, I would suggest a good midrange business laptop with a SSD inside. A T510 would be solid enough and meet the requirements.

 

No

Spurious

Right on th money!

Again it depends on what your priorities are. In some cases, AMD is superior to Intel.

Pfff! Yeah, like there's any question a PC is better. Wait...what??

 

this was a dupl post