Pentium vs. Celeron

Okay, I'm probably going to receive a bit of flak on this one. However, I have searched around the web, and read a lot of articles, but I am not quite satisfied with what I've found. Most of the articles I found were horribly outdated, and inconclusive, and many forums discussions became horribly opinionated instead of fact-based, turning more into AMD vs. Intel than anything.

The fact of the matter is, I'm looking for new computers for a couple people, and am having a bit of trouble deciding on certain parts of the machines (namely, the processors). I'll briefly outline the expected usage of each computer. The first computer will mostly be used for:

• Desktop PC (for an adult in 40s)
• Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• General Web browsing
• Listening to music (CDs or local files)
• Burning music CDs
• Maybe playing low-end games (though doubtful)

The second computer will mostly be used for:

• Laptop PC (for a student about 18)
• Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint (schoolwork)
• General Web browsing (wireless capability is largely preferred)
• Listening to music, and watching videos (CDs, DVDs, or local files)
• Burning CDs and DVDs
• Solitaire =D
• Maybe playing other low-end games

It is easiest that both of these machines are prebuilt, so a recommendation on manufacturer's would also be appreciated. So far, I have been leaning towards Dell or IBM for both of them, getting a Pentium 4 for the desktop, and a Pentium-M for the laptop. However, since the desktop may just become an adult's "office computer" (used mostly for clerical work, e-mail checking, web browsing, etc.), I had wondered if a Celeron would be fine in this case. Some input please?

 

Celeron is okay, uses less power, and if just for general office work, will work fine.

As for choices, I would personally stay away from Dell, and look at IBM, HP, or even Sagar or Asus. All laptops come with built in Wifi now days. I would though lean towards a Centreno rather than a Pentium-M for the Studen, due to longer battery life, and cooler operation.

 

Hmm, I've heard good things about Dell and IBM, and bad things about HP. I've never heard of Sagar, and I didn't know Asus made anything but motherboards. Also, if I recall correctly, "Centrino" simply means the combination of a "Pentium-M, the Intel 855 chipest, and an Intel 802.11b/g wireless device". You may be thinking of the "Mobile Pentium 4" vs. "Pentium-M" standoff, where it is said that the Pentium-M runs much cooler than the Mobile Pentium 4, performs better than Mobile Pentium 4's at the same clock speed, and saves battery life over the Mobile Pentium 4.

I'm not discounting your advice, I just want to know what it's founded on so that I can best pick out what each of these people should be getting.

 

HP makes a very good laptop!!!! I have a media center laptop and my sister has a regular laptop...and several friends also have HP laptops!! They are a major player in the laptop world!! I have a Pentium 4 in my laptop (because of the media center) and my sisteer has a pentium m in hers and mine runs much more hot and also has about 1/2 the battery life of hers!! So for what you were saying the kid needed the laptop for...I would just go with the pentium m...it is plenty of a powerhouse for what he is going to use it for!!!

As far as a desktop goes...I always buid mine so it is open architecture, which will allow me to change/upgrade any piece of the machine I want, anytime I want to!! And since I am typically an AMD man...I'm not much on the die hard specs for pentiums!! However...I can safely tell you that since they are using it for just your basic computing, that any typical budget machine will cut the mustard!! What they are using it for does not require a real powerhouse of a system, but nowadays for a desktop...the market standards are going with pentium 4's...or in the AMD world...the athlon 64 bit chip is quickly mainstreaming into the budget PC world!!!!

If you do buy a commercial system, I would stick with Compaq, Acer, or HP!!

But...not knowing your budget...and going on what you say they are wanting them for...here are the two systems "I" would buy, trying to stay within a decent pricerange!!!! Check out the links below....

For the notebook...the following is a good deal!!!!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1512156&CatId=1896

For the desktop...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1512546&CatId=0

Hope that helps!!!!
Roger

 

How are Compaq's, Acer's, and HP's customer support? Again, I have heard very few positive things about either Compaq or HP, and nothing about Acer, so I want to know what about them you like. Also, the student's (note: the student is female, for future reference) budget for the laptop is $1000, and the budget for the desktop is not known at this time (probably about $600).

 

Celeron for the desktop would be more than sufficient. As far as laptops i agree on HP having good laptops. All the ones I've tinkered with have performed nicely. As far as the pre-built ones several friends have them. The worst of the bunch IMO has been an E-machine HP and Dell both seemed fairly comparable in performance. Hope that helps

 

Go with the celeron if your going to only do office work, But if you do plan on playing high end pc games or anything that's processor intensive (like burning dvd's) then go with the pentium 4.

 

Bumping this thread to revisit the matter. It seems that Pentium-Ms and -Ds are replacing Pentium 4s as Intel's mainstream processor, but that Intel is still keeping Celerons around as well. The Pentium-Ms and -Ds seem to be mostly based off of the P4 architecture. All of the Pentium-Ds that I have seen are "Core Duo" (dual core, basically the same as HT), while some of the Pentium-Ms are "Core Solo" (single core, probably uses less battery power and produces less heat, I haven't looked into it yet) and others are Core Duo. The requirements for each system have been updated as follows:

The first computer will mostly be used for:

• Desktop PC (for adult female in mid 40s, budget of $600)
• Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher
• General Web browsing (sometimes used to watch streaming movies)
• Making Remote Desktop connections to work PC
• Listening to music (CDs or local files)
• Burning music CDs
• Maybe playing low-end games (though this is doubtful, definitely nothing more intensive than Heroes III, or Asteroids (the version that came out around 2000), and Solitaire)

The second computer will mostly be used for:

• Laptop PC (for a student about 18, budget of $1000)
• Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint (schoolwork)
• General Web browsing, probably picture intensive sites (wireless capability is largely preferred)
• Instant Messaging
• Listening to music, and watching videos (CDs, DVDs, or local files)
• Burning CDs and DVDs
• May be used for some Photoshop work
• Solitaire =D
• Maybe playing other low-end games

There is also another computer in question now. It would be used mostly for:

• Desktop PC (for adult male in mid 20s, budget of $600)
• General Web browsing, mostly MySpace.com
• Instant Messaging
• Playing online poker
• Listening to music
• Burning CDs

 

Desktops, a 2.8ghz will work fine. As for the laptops, the HP AMD laptops are great, but if needing battery, look at the Lenovo laptops.

 

I have a Compaq Presario 2570us and never had any problems with it, same for the HP Pavilion xt923 desktop.

 

It is the opposite for me. Dells have the worst machines to work on, glad that the State agency that I work for uses HP/Compaq's exclusively. Worked for a cellular company that used Dells and they where the worst pieces of crap machines ever made. Everytime you turned around, they broke, and never worked.