Is this a good laptop? (and other PC advice)

[mrboo001 12]

I'm looking for a new PC, hopefuly a laptop, (I'm going to college next year, so the mobliey would be nice) that is better than the desktop I have now; heres the main stats:

Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz

1GB DDR RAM

nVidia GeForce3 Ti200 card

I mostly play Sim CIty 4 and Civ4, but it would be nice to know that I can play the lastest games (like that new Oblivion RPG)

I think I found a good laptop but I want your guys advise:

http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_techspecs_full.php/masterid=16310448

http://stores.tomshardware.com/rating_getprodrev.php/masterid=16310448/id_type=masterid

Heres some other PCs I've found (inorder of intreset):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834224047

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883102226

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883102225

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883102225

I also have some general question too.

I've heard that the ADM processors are better than Pentium. This true? Should I care?

Are computer cheaper in the US than in Canada, with equal dollars? I'm going to the US at the end of June, and since the CND$ is at 90 cents per USD$, it would be nice to know this.

Is there any new coming up in the computer world that I should know about? (In hopes this would bump prices down abit)

I'm comptely clueless about about video cards (kept I know the one I have is old). Which one is better, ATL or nVidia?

I have a 512MB Ram stick in by current PC. There anyway I could move it to a laptop?

Any online stores or ones in Uath (where I'm going) I sould know about (not in links)

My budget is $1000. But I'm willing to go another $100-200 if the laptop REALLY worth, but I have college coming up, I'd rather save the money for books than getting the latest and greatest (but I want to last alteast 4 years)

Hope I don't overwhelm anyone with these question. Thanks in advance!

[SC4Noobie 5]

Normally, I wouldn't buy anything premade, non customizable, like the laptops you listed. As for your general questions,

1. I personally prefer AMD over Intel (Pentium). They are abnout the same, but I find them more durable.

2. Not sure about this, but my bet is cheaper in the US.

3. 64 Bit processors are coming out, and they will put amost any 32 bit processer as useless. 32 bit is almost all of the PC's out there.

4. No. Laptop and Desktop memories are different.

5. Order online

6. Buget - Tricky spot you are in. 64 bits will definatly take over teh market in 4 years. Find a 64 bit at all costs, if you dont plan on replacing for 4 years.

I would normally buy a refurb HP laptop.

Good laptop -

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/product_detail.do?storeName=storefronts&landing=outlet_store&category=refurb_notebooks&subcat1=hp&catLevel=4&product_code=EC365UAR%23ABA

This one has 1 gb RAM (last for bout 4 years at a strech), 64 bit processor (essential), Dual layer DVD burner (good for future and backup). Only shortage is crappy graphics card, which will not last 4 years (if you play new grapic intensive games)

I'll look for more laptops later...

[Ma8thew 77]

64 bit processors are already out, in fact I have one in the PC I'm using now. Linux, Mac OS X and just about any other good quality OS you care to mention have supported them for years, but driver support on Windows 64 bit edition is total hell. Unless you plan on running Linux or another *nix on this laptop, you don't need 64 bit. And 64 bit will use more power (so less battery time) and it will not take over the market in 4 years, it will merely increase in usage, and will not be that huge a breakthrough, PCs will just get faster.

[mrboo001 12]

I have a question about the Duo Cores. If All I'm doing is playing one game (ie SC4) will both cores kick in all the way, partly, or not at all?

[Ma8thew 77]

Duel cores are always good, and I believe should aid gaming, but I'm not certain.

[Praetorian Cohort 0]

SimCity 4 can't use both cores, but it can use one core entirely, leaving the other to focus on the background tasks.

I reccomend a laptop with an Intel Core Duo processor. They're better than what AMD has to offer currently.

[SC4Noobie 5]

I know that 64 bit processors are already out. I just bought one. It was a good deal. Many people don't seem to understand that Intel is going down the drain. I am not sure if any laptops offer this, but I know AMD is almost done developing a 64 bit dual core processor for laptops. I almost held out for one, until sheer need took over. Dual cores DO aid gaming, because you can use one corejust for SC, and others for other tasks. But definatly TRY to get a 64 bit. Especially because Vista (new Microsoft O.S.) can utilize 64 bit. 32 bit WILL be useless in 4-6 years. Not many people realize this.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

There is a lot of talk about 64-bit processors and dual core processors.  Let's take them from a practical point of view:

64-bit greatly increases address space.  This is the one real advantage, in that you will be able to process even bigger, sloppier, bloated code from microshaft than ever before.  There is also a faint hope that more bits might be added to the order code in such a processor thereby increasing the instruction repertory.  You might be able to get some really fancy vector commands and other goodies in these machines, but it is unlikely.  With the 64-bit decor, you can allocated some bits to an access isolation mechanism (AIM) to increase security to the point where a multi-user machine can have two or more users with real, live, different security clearances and be unable to access eachother's work.

Dual core really means two processors.  Most software written today cannot take advantage of this, and in some cases you have to intervene to restrict a process to one cpu.  This is true of SC4.  It doesn't do well in dual or multiple core situations.  The effect of dual core is that you can run two programs simultaneously provided there is some method of keeping them out of eachother's hair.  You have to take steps when two processes access the same resources to prevent deadly embrace situations where they both relinquish the processor waiting for a resouce the other one isn't going to release.  New applications, written with this in mind, should be able to take serious advantage of this, but the second processor will, likely, only be used 80% when the first one is running at 100%.

[defcon pilot 0]

Actually, 64-bit also makes for a faster processor. My iBook has a 1.4 GHz processor which initially made me think that it would be slow, but the 64-bit feature makes it run nearly as fast as my 3.2 GHz, 32-bit desktop. Runs smoothly, too. I'd strongly reccomend it.

I don't know much about dual core, but, based on what N_O_Body said, I gather that it will be unable to run SC4.

[Ma8thew 77]

No iBook to date has had a 64 bit processor. Only the PowerMac G5 has.

[thesonofgray 0]

Just my two cents on the subject: From a 3rd year college student on a very large, pedestrian oriented campus - bringing your laptop to class is very overrated. And unless you have a 12" lightweight little machine then you will find that the energy to drag the computer around far outweighs the benefits of using it in class. I'm an engineering major so using a computer in a math oriented class is practically impossible, but even in classes like history and government, the laptop provides little benefit. (Unless you absolutely HATE hand writing)

AMD processors are usually better in handling graphic intensive things where Intel processors are usually better for office applications. I say usually because there is overlap depending on the actuall processors you compare. Intel has quite a grasp on the mobile processor market simply because their processors are very energy efficient (more battery life). While AMD processors equivalent to the mobile Intel processors still usually outperform Intel, AMD usually sucks up battery life like no other. So it's a pro/con situation.

Laptop memory and desktop memory are different.

And you would be hardpressed to find a good laptop that can handle SC4 without much lag for less than $1000. I would just make the extra investment and increase your budget to between $1200-$1600. You want a laptop that won't fall apart on you and that won't be completely outdated in a couple of years. Remember, laptops are VERY difficult, if not impossible, to upgrade or modify.

Good luck in college!

[SC4Noobie 5]

Just a quick thing I don't think many people know, is that cycle speed of a processor (eg 2.4 ghz) barely has an effect on how your laptop performs. The MOST important factor in computers (aside from nearly unchangable things) is the RAM. RAM is important. VERY important. Get a laptop with at least 1 gb ram. 1 gm ram will be like what we think of 256 mb RAM today.

[jacqulina 162]

i myself prefere a pc that i can customize i dont much like laptops

[Superchan 23]

i would get a good quality laptop with an athlon 64 and a good video card, a core duo would probably be expensive, besides the integrated memory controller makes a amd athlon desktop with DDR outperform an intel desktop with DDRII, here is a pice of the wikipedia article

Advantages and shortcomings
In many categories of performance, Yonah represents an uncharacteristically large improvement forward over its immediate predecessor:

two computational cores with no significant increase in power consumption
outstanding "performance per watt"

The shortcomings of Yonah are largely inherited from previous Pentium M architectures:
high memory latency due to the lack of on-die memory controller (further aggravated by system-chipset's use of DDR-II RAM)
lackluster Floating Point Units (FPU) throughput due to the smaller number of FP units in each CPU core.
no 64-bit (EM64T) support

The Yonah platform requires all main-memory transactions to pass through the external Northbridge chipset, increasing latency compared to the AMD's Turion platform. This is a weakness shared by the entire line of Pentium processors (desktop, server, and mobile.) Application tests have proven Yonah to be resilient in the face of main-memory latency. Its L2-cache system is quite effective at hiding that latency from the execution core.

the rest can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_duo

[SamFlash 0]

I'd wait a few months as Intel just announced that their new processors will be out within the next few months.  They're well worth  waiting for.