Laptop Purchasing Advice

[Richard Karl Gregg 0]

hey guys...along time since I posted here!

 

anyways I need a new laptop ready for uni in september.

 

At the moment I'm torn between these two:

 

HP DV8387EA:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw...ined&tabIndex=1

 

HP DV8372EA

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw...ined&tabIndex=1

 

I don't really understand which is better in terms of AMD vs Intel.

 

Hopefully someone who understands these issues better than me can help advise me :)

 

Thanks alot!

[Count von Phoib 0]

What do you plan to do with it?

 

I'd personally go with the Intel one, higher cache and the dual processor looks far more better then the AMD one, even if I am an AMD fan...

 

Besides, it has a better graphics card, so if you want something to replace your desktop, I'd take that.

 

But, if I were you, I wouldnt buy such a heavy laptop, but settle on something small to read your docs and serve the web on, etc.

[Richard Karl Gregg 0]

Sorry i should of said what i needed it for, bascially i need it for photoshop, illustrator, flash, 3dsmax. Overall to do my graphic design work on.

 

It doesn't matter if its big i just need something i can work away from home whilst im in the studio and in the libary at uni...im not a fan of the unis exclusive use of macs <_>

 

Anyways thanks for the advice the intel one does look alittle better now...

 

Also if anyone knows of any better laptops for the same price...let me know.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Greggy

[Sc4Freak 0]

Hmm... CPU wise both laptops would be about the same speed. However, the Intel system is dual-core. The only downside to it compared to the AMD system is that it has half the RAM. I also recommend the Intel system - its faster overall. Especially if you can upgrade an extra 1024mb of RAM, which will no doubt help a lot with those types of programs.

[Richard Karl Gregg 0]

I noticed the AMD laptop has DDR whereas the Intel has DDR2 is the performace difference that significant?

[MarbleSentinel 0]

I have one of those laptops you posted. I've owned it for the past 3 months and had no problems with I and it seem s great.

[mastermind 0]

I noticed the AMD laptop has DDR whereas the Intel has DDR2 is the performace difference that significant?

Not really. An AMD system with DDR or DDR2 performs roughly the same. Whether it is DDR2 or DDR the amount of RAM still matters most.

[Smartmlp 0]

It does matter in that DDR2 is much cheaper then DDR1 though :-)

[mastermind 0]

Last I checked the prices are roughly comparable for DDR 2 800 and DDR 400. You don't really overcome the increased latency of DDR 2 until you hit DDR 2 800, which is why AMD finally switched. There was no performance benefit until DDR 2 matured enough to get 800 to mass production.

[Smartmlp 0]

Again, this laptop does not support DDR2 800 (infact, I dont even think that DDR2 800 is avaliable in a laptop chipset yet) so the ram is cheaper becuase DDR2 533 or 667 is what he will have to buy.

[mastermind 0]

The price difference for equivalent amounts is about $20 a stick. It's not significant in the overall price.

[Smartmlp 0]

Lets not forget higher capacity, as far as I know DDR is only available up to 1GB modules, you can get 2GB DDR2 modules (im talking about laptops here)

 

Price + Capacity = DDR2 wins.

[maskawaih 0]

It does matter in that DDR2 is much cheaper then DDR1 though :-)

Nope. Not at here. DDR2 is far more expensive.

[Sc4Freak 0]

Last I checked the prices are roughly comparable for DDR 2 800 and DDR 400. You don't really overcome the increased latency of DDR 2 until you hit DDR 2 800, which is why AMD finally switched. There was no performance benefit until DDR 2 matured enough to get 800 to mass production.

But the latency doesn't matter as much if you have higher bandwidth. DDR2 800 at 4-4-4 may have the same latency as DDR 400 at 2-2-2, but DDR2 800 has twice the bandwidth... it should perform much better than the DDR 400.

[flyby 0]

From a 3Dsmax rendering point of view, you're better off with the Intel.

 

When properly configuered, 3dsmax uses multiprocessors for most parts of its rendering phase. as a result you'll get a bigger speed boost from a dual core then from a single, higher clocked CPU.

[Smartmlp 0]

It does matter in that DDR2 is much cheaper then DDR1 though :-)

Nope. Not at here. DDR2 is far more expensive.

That makes no sense becuase DDR2 is designed to be cheaper to manufacture.

[Richard Karl Gregg 0]

From a 3Dsmax rendering point of view, you're better off with the Intel.

 

When properly configuered, 3dsmax uses multiprocessors for most parts of its rendering phase. as a result you'll get a bigger speed boost from a dual core then from a single, higher clocked CPU.

intel it is then :)