woodsy Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 hi there first posting here. I am about to purchase a new notebook for going back to university, i will be running autocad 2005, 3d max 5, photoshop etc. i understand i need a good dedicated graphics card (at least 128MB) 1 GIG RAM. My problem is that i don't know which processor to choose. should i go for the pentium 4 (at least 3.0 Ghz), the AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor or the latest pentium M processor? weight and battery life aren't that big a concern, the most important aspect is performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graphix Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 If weight and size are not an issue get a full blown p4 3.0 ghz(or better) cpu with hyperthreading.... however don't sit it on your lap, it gets mighty warm. graphix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 From what I've heard, P4s will get hot and eat up power. The Centrino line are the chips for mobility. Keep this in mind if you are going to be doing a lot of traveling or think you'll have it sitting on your lap (that would get pretty toasty!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graphix Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 From what I've heard, P4s will get hot and eat up power. The Centrino line are the chips for mobility. Keep this in mind if you are going to be doing a lot of traveling or think you'll have it sitting on your lap (that would get pretty toasty!). as he said weight and battery life aren't that big a concern, the most important aspect is performance. Centrinos are nice enough for the word, excell, net cruising type of folk that want to carry them arround, extreamly light and small, but they fall VERY far short when it comes to performance. graphix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted August 25, 2004 Share Posted August 25, 2004 Actually, from what I read, that's not necessarily true. The top Centrino/Pentium M cannot compete with the top P4, but a few steps down and they are equal. Keep in mind that the nomenclature is different, so it's something like a 1.4 PM equals a 2.8 P4. Search through PC Mag and PC World and you'll see they've been pretty impressed with the speeds. They should be just as capable working with 3D as the comparable P4. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I've been looking into getting a laptop for about a year now, so I do a little research now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcorbett Posted August 25, 2004 Share Posted August 25, 2004 Go for the P4, stock up on RAM, and make sure you get a good video card to go with it, 32 minimum, 64 recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck Posted August 25, 2004 Share Posted August 25, 2004 what about the dell m50? or boxx's new laptop? very expensive, but might be worth it, atleast for a few years until its old and you are still making payments... i think they have quadro cards in them right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graphix Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 Here is a link to a fairly decent comparison. http://www.cpuid.com/PentiumM/index.php However having used both a Centrino Based notebook and a p4 3.0 HT notebook with the same ram (1gig) for work(heavy 3D rendering and plan old autocad and photoshop). I must say that in real life the P4 3.0 HT performs MUCH better. graphix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsy Posted August 26, 2004 Author Share Posted August 26, 2004 sounds like the P4 3.0 is the one to go for, what about cooling?, is it worth getting an external usb fan to increase cooling rate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graphix Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 not really.. as long as you are in an ACed space. graphix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pictor Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 I recently bought one of these: http://www.rockdirect.com/notebooks/quaddrati2.htm It's a tasty piece of kit and great for 3D work and comes with everything but a kitchen sink, very reasonably priced too. The downside is a battery that only lasts an hour or so and at 5kg it's not exactly a lightweight but if it's a desktop replacement you're looking for you can't go wrong. Excellent staff and support too - 3year warranty included as standard. Marvellous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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