T2400 Free "Upgrade" to T5500? Was I Duped?

I just ordered a Dell Inspiron 6400 notebook over the phone and was asked if I wanted a "free upgrade" from the Core Duo T2400 processor (2MB Cache/1.83GHz/667MHz FSB) originally listed, to the Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5500 (2MB Cache/1.66GHz/667MHz FSB) for the same price instead.

Now I'm not exactly counting down the time for 64-bit Vista to arrive so I don't know how much of a difference this will make for me. Was it worth it for the free "upgrade" from the T2400 processor to the T5500? How much of a speed difference are we talking here?

Also: although I'm from Canada, the US Dell website for a configuration upgrade to the T2400 is +$150 whereas the T5500 only adds $100. Is this a reasonable price point for both processors (meaning; if the T2400 costs more and does that mean it is therefore "better" than the T5500?)?

 

The CD, either one are plenty powerful, and you are pretty much set for Vista. For a bit more you could of gotten the 2.0GHz version which has 2MB more of L2 cache. Its a good future decision, so you werent duped.

 

If the laptop was the same price with the T5500 as it was with the T2400, then you were ripped off. The T5500 should be cheaper; the same price as the T2300E. I would try to get a Core 2 Duo, but make sure they knock a few bucks off the price.

 

Yes, Chaz, the price was not changed when I took up the free "upgrade" from T2400 to T5500. Is this something to obsess about? Is it worth it to immediately call back to get the T2400 back? More opinions would be welcome.

And my thanks to Bhatman (as well as Chaz) for your optimistic opinion.

 

well since merom is 10-20% faster than yonah that 1.66ghz chip should be about a 1.8-2.0ghz yonah depending on the application. plus you will get better battery life and 64 bit suport. sounds like a good deal to me

 

Yeah, the logical reasoning inside me lead me to believe the same thing; since Memron > Yonah, than T5500 should more or less = T2400, if not better? Is that a safe assumption?

 

I doubt there will be a difference between the CPUs, and it is a good thing that you got a Core 2 Duo, all I'm saying is that it should have been less; Merom has the same pricing as Yonah. Therefore, the T5500 should have been priced the same as the T2300E which it replaces.
Unless it's a big concern, then just go with it.

 

The T5500 is faster then the T2400 so you didn't get duped as far as performance. The T5500 also supports 64-bit extensions and offers better battery life. It doesn't exactly matter what the pricing structure is for Merom compared to Yonah. The OEM's will be charging more for Merom because it's newer and faster but if the T5500 is listed as cheaper then the T2400 on the Dell website then call them back and tell them and get a credit or something for the price difference.

 

t2400 is dual-core. t5500 is single core. big difference.

 

No, both are dual core...They wouldnt call it Core 2 Duo if it wasnt one.

 

are the 2mb l2 cache core 2 duo's also 10 to 20% faster?

 

Ahh, thank you for the clarification, I am glad to hear it. Maybe for newbie-spam-prevention, someone can make a sticky clearly stating the obvious differences between the mobile processors? Celeron M, Pentium M, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, as well as performance tests against one another?

The T2400 is listed as more of a costly upgrade than the T5500 on the Dell US website, if I can find a similar pricing scheme on the Canadian Dell website, I will consider calling in to get a price fix.

Thank you ALL again for your generous help, hopefully I will make my first laptop last.

RE: rDigital
I believe the T5500 is a Core 2 Duo Processor, although I'm not even sure they released any Core 2 Solo processors yet, if at all.

RE: PC_pulsar
Feel free to correct me on this one, but I believe the only Core 2 Duo processors that will show more of a difference from the Core Duo processor (if any), will be the T7x00 series, in which their 4MB L2 cache is a big factor. So to answer your question: no. The cache in the T5x00 Core 2 Duo processors have the same L2 cache as the Core Duo.

 

We actually have an entire FAQ here dedicated to it:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=18483

 

Take off about 5%. In tests conducted by Anadtech with the desktop equivalents it was found that the extra L2 cache made little difference. Many test showed a less than 2% increase but a couple increased by a little over 5%.

 

real world you got ripped off...benchmark world yo got ripped off. C2D is only slighlty faster then yonah, and the only ones that are faster are the ones with 4mb cache. The difference is very small and they should be the same price. Either way you slice it you got ripped. But by all means go for c2d, but get something faster then the 1.66 as it is slower then a 1.83 yonah.

 

Show me a review that shows the Yonah processors are faster then the 2MB L2 Merom processors. I havn't seen any but most of the reviewers have been reviewing the higher-end T7400 and T7600. Even with only 2MB L2 i doubt the 1.83 Yonah is going to be able to beat the 1.66 Merom. Maybe if it was the 2Ghz or 2.16Ghz Yonah.

 

The difference between yonah 1.83ghz and merom 1.83ghz is emt64...thats it! Now when you compare the 2.0ghz yonah and merom then there is a slight difference. The merom has 4mb cache, which in the real world will only make a huge difference in encoding tasks. There is no reason a 1.66ghz c2d to out perform a 1.83 cd.

intel compare site

Go ahead and use this link to intels site and compare. Then youll see why the 1.83 yonah and merom are exactly the same in performance.

 

Yep, i would agree with liquidxit2. There is slight difference in the archotecture, which makes Merom a little faster, but certainly not noticibly faster. Another thing, i think the 20% increase in perforamce Intel said, was probably between a 2 Ghz Merom and 2 Ghz Yonah. The cahce certainly helps the Merom gain a lead. Don't get me wrong, im not saying that cache will increase performance all the time, but just saying the architecture in Merom isn't too much dissimilar from Yonah.