Help deciding on AMD vs Intel HP

Hello all,
After reading the review of the DV5Z I was about to purchase it because of the advantage of hybrid Crossfire. Now at this point I am not so sure what to order. I would like to buy an hp as the APP pricing is very nice.

I am a college student looking for a decent laptop to take to class, take notes, surf and maybe watch a movie, or play an older game like C&C Generals or BFME. My question is this- Will I notice a big difference in computing, speed or performance with a AMD ZM-82 (2.2Ghz) or Intel T7250 (2.0Ghz)? I do not do a lot of processor intensive things, and like the Puma platform, along with the AMD prices.

Thoughts, suggestions?

 

I very much doubt you'll notice a difference in the CPUs. The difference in integrated GPUs is massive though. For your purposes I'm not sure if you even need the Radeon 3450 upgrade, though if we ever figure out how to enable Hybrid Crossfire it will certainly be nice and HP requires it to configure the Blu-ray ROM upgrade.

Best Buy has a dv5z model on sale this week. It might be worth taking a look at one in the store, even if you're going to order one from hp.com with all the bells & whistles. No 3450 in that model of course.

 

cpu wise they are close enought you won't notice any difference(if there even is) GPU wise, the HD 3200 is a solid x3+ faster than the X3100, the HD 3450 is... well I have no Idea how much faster... likely way way way faster then the HD 3200.

 

the intel core2duo will run cooler and faster, and consumes less energy. than its amd equivelant. personally i choose the core2duo.

 

Actually the HD 3450 (dedicated card) appears to be hardly any faster than the HD 3200 (IGP!).

 

Nah. the t7250 is an old processor. it will be a little slower

 

wait for the dv5t, it runs the centrino 2 processor, i believe its the first centrino 2 laptop to be reviewed be4 release date... i forget which site it was reviewed... are we even allowed to post other review sites? i don't know its my first day as a member, don't wanna ruffle any feathers... but yea, compared to amd, i pick intel based solely on reviews of the two processors, i haven't actually used amd, but i can tell you that in the past, they haven't produced the best quality chips... correct me if i'm wrong (im here to learn)

 

Though it is true that Intel chips are faster than AMD's, the OP is asking if he NEEDS the intel chips later or if he should just buy the AMD one now. To be honest, you will not see/notice any difference between the two chips. Unless you do some CPU instensive work, the AMD chip will be fine.

 

If you have never used AMD before, then you cannot truly give an unbiased suggestion to someone who is asking about performance. Reviews on chips can and are slanted, depending who is doing the reviewing.

With that said, both Intel and AMD have made solid processors - some generations of AMD are better than Intel and other generations vice versa. I've used both many times throughout my life and so the answer to the question is "it depends." In this current iteration, Intel has the edge over AMD, clock for clock, however, AMD is a good deal less expensive than Intel. So, the answer really is "it depends on how much you want to spend." In general, you get a bigger bang for your buck/peso/euro/ruble/etc with AMD. (Sometimes, it's worth gettin' an AMD chip to continue supporting competition and innovation. With AMD competing with Intel, it has forced both companies to bring better and more capable chips to market with more reasonable prices).

And you really need to consider the whole platform, not just the CPU. Most apps that you run daily are easily handled by either processor at roughly the same speeds. So, your choice, speed, and size of memory will have a significant difference. So, too, with your choice in GPU/IGP. AMD has the upper hand on IGP solutions right now against both nVidia and Intel.

 

thanks for the responses guys, I now have a second question. I have heard that AMD historically has worse battery life than Intel, but if I get the High Capacity (higher 6 cell) battery from HP, will this help? I am going to college this fall, and really like the IGP of the AMD, dont want to pay Intel prices, but need the wire-free ability of a laptop.

 

The high capacity 6-cell battery is only marginally better than the one that comes with the machine for free. If you really want more battery life, go for a 9-cell (or a 12-cell, if they offer one).

 

I would go with AMD cpu because of price and I dont plan play latest hardcore game. I use it to surf internet and typing long document watch movies so I bought last year AMD cpu laptop

 

Several advances have been made to the new AMD Turion X2 processors to make them more energy efficient:

LINK

Next-Generation Power Management
Get long battery life with performance on demand. Enhanced AMD PowerNow!™ Technology dynamically switches performance states (processor core voltage and operating frequency) based on processor performance requirements enabling today’s more mobile and demanding PC user to extend battery life. With AMD Dynamic Power Management, each processor core, and the integrated memory controller and HyperTransport™ technology controller are powered by a dedicated voltage plane to give you the performance you need while multitasking on the go. Independent Dynamic Core Technology extends battery life by dynamically optimizing the operating frequency for each core in the processor based on end-user application needs. And AMD CoolCore™ Technology extends notebook usage while on battery by turning off processor features that are not being used.