[blackecho]

I'm thinking about getting a new laptop and these are the two I'm looking at. They are both right at 2,000$. Which one do you think would be better at both gaming and graphic design plus multitasking? battery life and weight do not matter.

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor @ 3.2GHz 800FSB 512KB ~ CNB362
SiS 648 FX 800FSB DDR333 AGP8X Platform w/Audio & LAN Mainboard
1024 MB PC2700 333MHz DDR MEMORY
80GB 4200RPM ULTRA ATA 100 HARD DRIVE
MOBILE ATI RADEON 9600 PRO 128MB VIDEO
16X/2X CD-RW/DVD-RW COMBO DRIVE
15.4" WXGA WIDE-SCREEN TFT LCD DISPLAY Max: 1280x800 PIXELS
BUILT-IN AC 97 SOUND

or

AMD MOBILE ATHLON64 3400+ Processor
VIA K8T800 & VT8235 Chipset Mainboard
1024 MB PC2700 333MHz DDR MEMORY
80GB 4200RPM ULTRA ATA 100 HARD DRIVE
MOBILE ATI RADEON 9600 PRO 128MB VIDEO
8X DVD & 24/16/24 CDRW COMBO DRIVE
15" SXGA TFT LCD Pixels w/ 32bit True Color Max: 1400x1050 pixels
BUILT-IN AC 97 Sound

 

[rmay635703]

One is better suited to one thing the other to another.

Graphic editing the P4 is "slightly" better due to its higher memory bandwidth.

The athlon is better at games due to its superior FPU.

Heat isn't a factor really but the P4 at that rating does run hotter which doesn't make it the opertune lappy chip.

Your main concern would be to get a decent graphics card whichever chip you choose, so games will run well. No point in getting a 3gig chip then putting an outdated vid card inside.

Good Luck

 

[blackecho]

ok, they both have MOBILE ATI RADEON 9600 PRO 128MB VIDEO cards. which one do ya'll think is the better deal? or which one is faster?

 

[Tommaso]

I do believe the Athlon 64 system has a higher FSB. With the Athlon 64 the FSB is actually incorporated into the chip giving you higher bandwidth. I would go for the Athlon 64, but you will not have as much battery lasting time as the 64 is a hog on power. Both are excellent systems though and will suite your purposes perfectlly. You can't get too much faster than these two systems.

 

[zeddy]

Performance wise there isnt much to choose, I would therefore look at the the other "advantages":

I would choose a 15.4" WIDESCREEN over a standard 15", even if the standard one has a higher resolution capability - try looking at a 1400x1050 display for long periods! also you are getting a DVD rewriter with that one rather than a DVD/CDRW combo.

You might want to look at the Dells and get a wuxga widescreen laptop, they are doing a nice new inspiron 9100 and if you lower your CPU down to a 2.8GHz you can pair that up with a 9700 Radeon mobile for less than $2000, or keep with the 3.2 for around $2200, with the better WUXGA screen.

 

[StillLearnin']

The AMD should be faster overall. It shouldn't be the deciding factor- the diff between the two cpus. The biggest question you need to decide on is which do you want more:

The P4 with: "16X/2X CD-RW/DVD-RW COMBO DRIVE
15.4" WXGA WIDE-SCREEN TFT LCD DISPLAY Max: 1280x800 PIXELS"

OR the AMD64 with: "8X DVD & 24/16/24 CDRW COMBO DRIVE
15" SXGA TFT LCD Pixels w/ 32bit True Color Max: 1400x1050 pixels"

A CD burner/DVD burner combo with a max screen resolution of 1280x600 pixels

OR

A DVD player/CD burner combo with a screen resolution of 1400x1050 pixels?

 

[blackecho]

oh, how it hurts... i dunno. i just dunno.

 

[blackecho]

the reason i asked was becuase i've seen benchmarks inwhich the amd murdered the p4.

 

[zeddy]

Widescreen would do it for me. I have seen and used Dell widescreen laptops and am impressed as I say you can go for options of enhanced screens with them - and other major manufacturers. Good for gaming, excellent for general document use - looking at wider Excel sheets and two Word doc pages side by side on screen - and also its cool for watching DVD movies in 16:9 format.

The other thing I noticed with the latest Dells is the sound quality is 10x better than on previous models.

 

[StillLearnin']

I like AMD also, but the technology is pretty new and already will NOT be compatible with the newer hardware coming out as AMD has changed their manufacturing technology. The existing 64 stuff is just that existing. The new 64 stuff is entirely different. That includes all mobos, memory, etc. In this situation (and most forum readers won't believe I'm saying this) but I'd go with the P4 as I feel the other hardware included is worth the choice.

 

[blackecho]

ok, cool. although i dont see why most of you are thinking this is a gateway or dell. i choose not to buy from them, i'm buying from cyberpowerinc.com. thanks for all of the input.

 

[Triple6]

I'll second the P4 as the better choice here.

The weakest point for both laptops in the Gaming area is the 4200RPM hard drive. Compare that to a 5400 or 7200RPM drive in a desktop PC or in an Alienware laptop.

 

[GLiO]

The Athlon will give you much better performance across the board. Mainly because its 64bit. And even though you won't be using any 64bit programs or a 64bit OS, it still makes it a lot better.

 

[blackecho]

hmmm... i like the hard drive being 80gigs, but they offer a 60gig at 7200rpm for 40 dollars less. should i go with that, even though it's 20gigs smaller?

 

[Tommaso]

Go with the 7200 RPM - you won't regret it. It is much much faster. A 4200 RPM drive is the only bad point about those computers listed. With a 7200 RPM drive it makes them kick *** all around!