Performance of Intel Celeron 550 (2.0GHz) + XP?

I'm trying to find a very inexpensive 15.4" notebook for a friend. XP would be preferable, especially with low-end hardware, but I've already told them it's a long shot.

I have found one with XP Home but it has a Intel Celeron 550 (2.0GHz, 533MHz FSB, 1mb L2). It also has 2GB of RAM and Intel's X3100 integrated graphics (I've actually seen a few dirt-cheap ones still using Intel GMA 950!).

She will only be doing light internet tasks (email, paying bills, online banking, casual internet surfing) and nothing demanding.

Is it a bad idea to even consider this one? Would a 1.73GHz Pentium Dual Core AND Vista Home Premium make more sense?

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with the Celeron and XP for your typical Internet suite. The Celeron 550 probably offers similar performance to mid-range Pentium M and frankly I still think XP flies on Pentium M. The 2GB and X3100 are already more than sufficient for anything the Internet can throw at you as well.

 

Thanks! The Pentium M reference gave me a good reference point. I'm actually using my old Toshiba with XP Home and a 1.6GHz Pentium M for a week or two while I wait on my new HP dv7t to arrive. My Toshiba only has 1GB of RAM and it's tolerable with Outlook and Firefox (with several tabs opened). The Celeron in question has the same FSB and, even with just 1mb of L2 instead of 2mb like the Pentium M, I get a feeling that the 0.4GHz faster clock speed will more than compensate!

I usually consider the Intel X3100 graphics as adequate-at-best, but it's actually a big step up from the Intel GMA 900 on my old Toshiba. Kinda like trading in an old Ford Escort for an almost new Focus. ha

 

The Celeron-M 550 is based on the Santa Rosa Core 2 Duo. It's the same core but is single core and has a reduced FSB and L2 cache. The all-out performance would eclipse that of a Pentium-M however your friend should know that Celerons do not clock down (a costcutting feature over the premium chips) so it'll be running at 2.0GHz the whole time. This doesn't usually create a problem as Celerons often idle higher than premium chips but under full load have similar or lower temperatures, but using the laptop as a "lap"-top may be risky as they can overheat quite easily IF the cooling system is covered.

 

I agree, the last generation of Celeron are faster than Pentium M.

XP is a very good operating system that can ran easily in low spec configurations. it was designed to run on Pentium 3 computers.

For the RAM Windows runs fine on a 256mb system with no antivirus. With antivirus and few windows open at the same time 512mb is a minimum. So your friend should be happy with 1gb.

Last if you can get a laptop with 5400rpm instead of 4200rpm. The latest are slow and they will slow the rest of your system, besides they difference in the price between a 4200rpm and a 5400rpm is neglegible.

I advise you to search for an AMD based laptop with a Sempron processor. They are about the same price as Celeron based system if not cheaper.

Besides Sempron are faster than Celeron, and they feature the cool & quiet technology, which enables them to reduse their speed when it's not needed. Hence a longer battery live.

last try to get a 5400rpm hardrive and avoid 4200 rpm ones.

 

Indeed, XP should do just fine with a 2 GHz Celeron. It will have the power of at minimum (very conservative estimate) a 3 GHz Pentium 4, which is more than enough to let XP fly. I'd actually go with the Celeron and XP over the slower-per-clock Pentium and Vista with 1 GB memory - for light tasks a dual-core CPU doesn't actually make that much of a difference, and XP's lower memory usage might.

 

Thanks for the input. I placed the order for the system with the 2.0GHz Celeron and XP Home.

It's actually a Dell Inspiron 1525 from Dell Outlet. The puzzling aspect of this particular notebook is that it was never offered with XP (according to Dell). The 1525 was the update/replacement for the Inspiron 1520. When the 1525 was introduced, the 1520 became available ONLY with XP Home or XP Professional.

For whatever reason, there were five Inspiron 1525's with XP and identical specs, each priced at $389. Who knows how/why they came into being, but I think it's a very good deal.

With 3-5 day shipping and sales tax, the grand total was $433.51. For that price, here's what I got-

Dell Inspiron 1525
Jet Black
Windows XP Home
2.0GHz Intel Celeron 550 processor
15.4" WXGA (1280x800) display
2GB RAM
120GB Hard Drive
Intel GMA X3100 graphics
CD/DVD Writer
Dell wireless-g adapter
6-cell Battery
Full 1-year warranty

Thanks again for the advice! This notebook is actually for a close friend who is currently battling cancer (hence the ultra-low budget), so the input helped her as well! =)

 

Best wishes for your friend!

 

You're too conservative.
A pin modded Celeron M360 1.4ghz @ 1.86ghz was as powerful as a no HT Pentium 4 @ 3.4-3.6 ghz on Sandra Sisoft.

Since the Celeron M550 is two generation newer than my M360 and it's faster I would expect it to easily bit a P4 4ghz.