I don't know much about this processor or how to verify what it can or can't do can some one help?

Intel® Core™ i5-430UM processor 1.20GHz with Turbo Boost up to 1.73GHz

I have been trying to find a review for it but no luck thus far.

Can some one tell me what this processor is for, what it can and cant handle, its limitations. I just wanna know more about the processor coming from a real person in a way I can understand.

I bought a laptop with it from Sony, I basically want the computer to be a long battery life ultraportable laptop with decent performance and ability to handle all my school work, power point and so on, also I want it to be a multi media computer for Video watching and maybe some low end video editing (youtube quality stuff).


Some games will be played on the laptop and it comes with this graphic chip

ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4550 GPU (512MB VRAM)

I guess another question is is the processor good enough for some basic games from 2006 and older?

Mostly I'm talking about games like FFXI, and WoW.

 

Should be capable of 1080P youtube video.
FFXI sure but not in heavy load areas like cities, or party quests. CPU usage jumps up in these areas.
WoW, same thing with FFXI.
May need to keep it on low details for cities/etc.

I suspect perhaps games like COD4/MW2 on medium perhaps high settings but to be honest depending the screen resolution the CPU may bottle neck it. Lower resolution=higher CPU usage. Higher resolution=higher GPU usage. This is a typical trait of most games, not all of them follow this... characteristic.

Honestly it should be more then fine for what you are using it for.

 

this is an ultra low voltage processor found in some ultraportable laptops, they use less power than the normal voltage counterparts.

games are more GPU dependent, and they can handle most of the stuffs you mentioned with little problem.

 

The CPU is very weak. Many modern games will be nigh unplayable with it. A 1.46Ghz dual core nehalem is not much at all.

Also the ATI mobile 4550 is very underpowered as well, and again many modern games will be nigh unplayable with it. If it comes with DDR2, you are hosed. If it comes with DDR3, there might be a chance for you, but things are going to be ugly. It is almost a tossup of whether the CPU or GPU is worse for gaming, but they are both really bad.

So basically, if you have no intention of playing new games, and are fine with low resolution and low graphics settings, then the i5-430UM and Mobility Radeon HD 4550 are right for you. And besides, school is about school work and getting drunk, not staying up all night questing on WoW anyway.

The CPU's ability in games is independent of resolution while the GPU's ability is dependent on resolution. Raising or lower the resolution can mask or uncover the CPU's limitations, usually, when there is somewhat of a parity in the performance of both the CPU and GPU.

 

i3,5,7 CPU don't support DDR2 ram.

 

I know. The Mobility Radeon HD4550 does.

 

?? Actually I never said the CPU's ability is dependent on resolution, the load on the CPU is. The higher the resolution, the less load on the CPU. The lower the resolution of the game, the higher the load. This is true for most games, and it is a well known characteristic. This is why at OCN when a member gets a powerful GPU, but has a low resolution screen and a weak cpu we recommend upgrading the monitor's resolution so that the game becomes less CPU dependent and more GPU dependent.

Here's a quick test, I am afraid I don't have a heavier game installed. I will install Left 4 Dead later. This game is running on DX9's API.
Ugh pictures came out compressed. The one with the larger screen is using around 13%-18% CPU usage. The one with a small screen is using 30%-38%.