Np8662 processor choices

Does anyone have data to reflect on the difference in performance between the P8600, P8700, and the P9600? I'm purchasing a NP8662 in the next week and a half and have a budget around 1650 +-50$ including shipping costs, and I need to buy Vista as well as want a 320GB@ 7200 RPM HDD, and I'm setting the rest of the laptop options to stock. This will cost me 1483$.

I'm trying to decide if I should get P9600 with 2GB (1 SODIMM) 1643$, or if I should get the P8600, 4GB memory and an extra battery for 1628$, or the P8700, 4GB ram, and a car charger for 1638$.

I can always buy the extra 2GB stick later, but I'm unsure which route I'm going to choose, and I'm going to base that on the performance difference of these processors. If there is any data specifically on the NP8662, I'd appreciate that as well. Thanks for your time, and any input would be helpful.


Edit: One of the key interests on my part is how the cache directly effects the performance. The Theoretical performance decreases/increases in processor speed alone are as follows: 9600<->8700=(Loss 4.88%)(Gain 5.14%), 8700 <-> 8600=(Loss 5.14%)(Gain 5.41%), and 9600<->8600=(Loss 9.77%)(Gain 10.83%) The cash savings from 9600->8700=110$, 8700->8600=55$, and 9600->8600=165$. While clearly if there is no substantial effect by the cache, the price of the 9600 is absurd relative to the performance gain.

These statistics are only theoretical based on processor speed, so any actual results to support or disprove this would greatly help me decide whether or not it's worth it.

Based on the theoretical processor speeds above and the assumption of cache having no substantial effect on the processors performance, the percent price increase of the P9600 relative to the P8700 is a 300% increase in cost making it quite a hefty difference. These numbers fail to recognize the base prices of the processor, so they only represent differences in cost relative to the base price of zero and one another.

 

The usefulness of cache depends on the application in question. For most purposes, 3MB of cache for a dual core processor is fine, but there exist programs that work better with more than that.

And yes, the T/P9*00 series is well past the point of diminishing returns. This always happens when you're buying the best thing available and the P9600 has no competition at all. That said, if you consider the total price rather than the difference relative to the P8600 and assume that the retailer isn't charging too huge a premium, the P9600 is only 44% more expensive than the P8700 (you can find the approximate prices by googling intel price list; it's $241 for the P8700 and $348 for the P9600).

 

I would get the P9600 and if you can't afford the 4GB RAM right off the bat, then I would just buy the extra stick of 2GB RAM a little bit down the line.

 

speaking of which, which brands are the most compatible with the sagers? i noticed the stock ones are 7-7-7-20 1066 but no brand on them

 

Ask the seller just to be sure(and the return policy if it doesn't work)-