which is the better deal?

1. Pavilion ze4430us: AMD Mobile Athlon™ 4 2400+ processor, 512MB Memory, 40GB HDD, DVD+CDRW Combo Drive, 56K Modem, 10/100 ethernet, WiFi, 15.0 XGA TFT Display, Microsoft® Windows® XP - Home, ($900)

2. Pavilion ZE5385: Intel® P4 2.6GHz processor, 512MB, 60GB Hard drive, DVD & CD-RW combo drive, v.90 56K modem, 10/100 Ethernet, Integrated 802.11 b wireless LAN, 15" SXGA+ TFT Display, Microsoft® Windows® XP Home ($1100)

both are refurbished. choice number one should have a longer battery life because of the mobile AMD cpu. Choice number two is faster and has more harddrive space.

Comments?

 

You also get the SXGA with that second option which is nice to have in a notebook if you want to increase the res and have more real estate. I think the weight is an important issue if you want to be mobile too, look at how these two compare with regards to that.

I'd lean towards the #1 option as the $200 difference is pretty large for what seems to be similar machines with similar performance. Like I said though, might want to weigh in a few more factors to get a better feel for the difference.

 

I am trying to find out the battery up time. The AMD is a mobile processor and the Intel is not. From what I hear the P4 lasts only about 1 hour. How about the mobile AMD?

 

well, there's just so many factors that affect battery life. you can't peg a battery life on a processor itself, it's how well the processor manages the applications that run and how effective it is in switching to low power mode when needed. Of course, if you have a notebook with a mobile amd chip but also a brilliant large screen with strong backlighting then your battery will be sucked away by that -- the processor can't change that. To help you out though here's what AMD says about its mobile chip, and there's no doubt it will handle power better than the P4



Like most of today’s users, you are demanding ever more from your notebook computer. You are looking for DVD playback, multimedia creation and high-performance gaming all while having the freedom of mobility. These types of compute-intensive applications can drain a notebook battery in no time. Systems that use advanced power management techniques like AMD PowerNow!™ technology can deliver performance and battery life to meet your needs.

Some applications require more processing performance than others. AMD PowerNow! monitors these requirements and automatically adjusts to help ensure the application runs optimally, while using the minimal system battery power.

Intelligent AMD PowerNow! technology helps ensure that you have performance WHERE and WHEN you need it by getting more from your system battery. AMD PowerNow! controls the speed and voltage of your notebook processor so that your system uses the battery more efficiently. When the system is idle, AMD PowerNow! cuts the flow of power to various parts of the system allowing them to “sleep.” When you need high performance, AMD PowerNow! responds in an instant, and you are off and running with all of the compute power that a Mobile AMD Athlon processor-based mobile system has to offer.

Microsoft’s Windows® XP operating system includes integrated support for AMD PowerNow! technology, providing transparent power optimization to enhance battery life for notebook computing so you don’t need to be a computer guru to work like one.