Centrino not good for rendering?

[Aspiring Visualizer!]

I am thinking of purchasing a Centrino Laptop for CG work.

 

In my last post I was told that Centrino isn't a good choice for modelling & rendering...

 

Just wondering what your views are on it?

[Life Style]

I'm not an expert in Laptops but I think the benefit on Centrino is that it is smaller and much lower voltage, but you are actually getting less processing speed. A 1.5 GHz Centrino is about equivalent to a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4.

 

I recently bought a 17-inch HP with a 3.0 Pentium 4 with HT for less than the current Centrino's. It's great for rendering but is very heavy and kills the battery in about two hours.

 

It depends whether you are more concerned about portability or processing speed. I needed a computer I could take with me sometimes, while Centrino is better suited for the daily commute.

 

Centrino is definitely the way of the future but it is not yet a more powerful solution.

[mbr]

From the tests I've read, that 1.5 Centrino/Pentium M = P4 2.4 is about right. With that in mind, the Centrino laptops are just about as fast as any of the P4s (Centrinos go to 2.0 now). The big advantage of the Centrino line is:

1. Battery life is dramatically improved

2. Speed Step Technology slows processing down so that it will still work when it gets too hot (P4s won't, and they heat up quickly when doing 3D work).

 

The only draw back is the cost, from what I can gather.

P4s were never meant to be in a laptop, so they tend to run a lot hotter (and shut down when too hot) and eat the juice.

 

I know none of this from personal experience, though. A recent editorial in PC Mag was bitching about how the laptops would shut down with game playing because it got too hot. I've heard this a lot lately.