HP dv6565ca

The dv6565ca just came out here in Canada. My only concern is that it comes with the T5450 processor, pumping out a mere 1.66 GHz. Is this processor part of Intel's Santa Rosa processors? I thought Santa Rosa was only the T7100 and T7300. I want my notebook to have everything Santa Rosa. Can someone clear this up for me, please?

 

Yes, the T5450 is a part of the Santa Rosa platform. Older Napa platform based processors wont work with the newer platform. Santa Rosa brings about a change in the chipset(965GM or 965PM), wireless(4965/3965), Intel integrated graphics(X3100) and a couple of optional technologies like Robson. The processors themselves are mostly just a refresh of the Napa based Meroms.

 

Why isn't the T5450 shown here? Also, the why does the T5450 FSB run at 667 MHz, unlike the rest of the Santa Rosa processors at 800 MHz?

Honestly speaking, will I see a big difference between a T5450 and a T7100?

 

Its an OEM only processor. Intel does not include the OEM processors in their line up. Santa Rosa adds support for processors upto 800MHz FSB. It is not necessary to have a 800MHz FSB processor to be called Santa Rosa. As I mentioned earlier it is more to do with the chipset rather than the processor itself. The T5450 is a medium range Core 2 Duo and performance wise it will be slightly lower than the T7100. The reduced FSB, cache & clock speed help in differentiating between the processors. Performance wise it should be definately fine for everyday use(browsing, word etc) and you wont notice any difference between the T5450 and T7xxx. The only noticable difference will be when you run demanding applications like audio/video encoding, rendering etc. Gaming will mostly be limited by the graphics card, the cpu differences will have a minor impact.

 

I concur - the processor doesn't make a huge difference to overall performance unless you're doing some heavy number crunching. Video and hard drive performance has a MUCH greater impact on the relative feel of performance than processors.

Don't forget that unless the processor is actively crunching away, it sits idle about 99% of the time waiting for something to do.

As it happens I bought the earlier version of your laptop model, the DV6265ca back in February with a T5500 at 1.66GHz, 667MHz bus, and it's more than fast enough. In fact, the power saving features keeps the processor running at well under a gig most of the time, even when actively using the computer, and I never notice any performance issues. The only reason I know it drops speed is due to monitoring software I have which reports clock and CPU speeds.

Enjoy the new laptop!

 

Thanks a lot! I didn't buy the notebook yet. You guys convinced me not to choose the Sony FZ140 over the HP dv6565ca simply because of the processor. It seems like the difference between a T5450 and a T7100 won't have a great impact on performance for me.

But just to clear something up... is the T5450 a Core 2 Duo Pro? And what does OEM mean?

 

I got the dv6565US and that has the 1.5 Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 and its pretty snappy. Plus I was adding and deleting programs and data for almost 3.5 hours continuously (no power saving either) before battery went (15", 200 gb HD, 2 gb ram).

 

OEM means that the cpu is sold only to system builders and original equipment manufacturers. They are not available in retail outlets as a standalone processor.

I havent heard anything about Core 2 Duo Pro. Maybe you have it confused with Centrino Pro...
http://www.intel.com/products/centrino/pro/index.htm

 

Right, Centrino Pro.