Laptop Help?

[jmpoop]

OK, I have had the same desktop PC for about 4 or 5 years and I am looking to replace it with a laptop to bring to grad school.

My Current PC's specs: P4 3ghz, 2.5gb RAM, DVD-R, 200gb hard drive, ATI X300 Series PCI-E video card

I want a laptop that's around $700, with a blu-ray drive and HDMI output. This one fits the bill:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8933014&st=8933014&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1214612038399

Laptop's specs: AMD Turion X2 2.0GHz dual-core mobile processor RM-70, 3GB DDR2, Blu-ray Disc-enabled double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW, HDMI, 160gb hard drive, ATI RADEON HD 3200 Graphics RS780M with up to 1406MB total graphics memory


I've been told that Turion is inferior to Core 2 Duo, and I know that the HD isn't that big. I could care less about the HD, I have a couple huge externals.

I can honestly say I don't know much about dual-core processors. Is this laptop's processor(s) faster than my current rig? What about the video card, is it better than my current one?

Thanks

[brian_hoffman]

No the processor isnt faster. you are runnig 3hz in your desktop and the X2 2.0GHz.. is well... 2ghz.. Its just you have two... it does not equate to 4ghz tho;.

Think of it like a highway.. You have a car... you drive 60mph... 1 lane = 1 processor
Well with a dual core you have 2 lanes... BUT you are still driving 60 mph... So you still get to your destination at the same time... Its just you get more data(cars) there at once.

So when you are running multiple apps it can split the load across the diffrent cores (lanes) keep in mind the apps need to know to take advantage of the extra core/ lanes.

Id get a intel core 2 duo... they are very nice and fast and support the most recent instruction sets.

[joebells]

I agree with brian about the core 2 duo for sure. I would have to disagree slightly and say that I think that the amd chip in that laptop probably is faster than that p4. The p4's were horribly inneficient. And its why amd was able to do really well for a little while. Intel made some changes so they could ramp the p4's clock speed higher and higher and it made the p4 not as efficient per clock. Thats why amd came out with their + naming scheme where a chip clocked at 2.1Ghz is named 3000+. To kind of try and relate the performance of their lower clocked cpu's to intels higher clocked cpu's.

But really, as brian said, these days the core 2 duo is where its at. Coming up intel is copying amd and integrating the memory controller onto the cpu and that should lead to a nice improvement. I really hope amd is able to come up with something to keep themselves relevant. Intel will smash prices through the roof if amd goes under.

Sorry I don't have a recomendation as far as an actual laptop to reccomend. I'm into macs these days. I do believe that hp makes a better laptop than dell though.

[Ego-X]

Think of it like a highway.. You have a car... you drive 60mph... 1 lane = 1 processor
Well with a dual core you have 2 lanes... BUT you are still driving 60 mph... So you still get to your destination at the same time... Its just you get more data(cars) there at once.

Problem with anologies is they only illustrate what you are thinking rather than facts Brian. you could switch that around and say if you were driving down a single lane road and you hit a jam you have to sit and wait whereas with two lanes you simply switch and continue on your way, both analogies are equally as bad depending on the viewpoint you approach from.

You know what? in some benchmarks core2's are more than twice as fast as say pentium D when comparing same clock speeds http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=8

Clock speed is just a small part of the equation you have to consider pipelines too, Dual core benefits greatly from less context-switching also.

@Jmpoop That Turion laptop will wipe the floor with what you have currently.

[jmpoop]

Thanks for all the help guys. Ego-X, will the new video card be better than my old one? I haven't had any luck finding any benchmarks (3dmark, etc) for the ATI RADEON HD 3200 Graphics RS780M.

Also, what's the whole "with up to 1406MB total graphics memory" business about? I'm used to seeing "256mb", "512mb", that sort of thing.

[Ego-X]

I'm not really familiar with the IGP(Integrated Graohics Processor) I'm guessing it will be better than what you have but have no idea how it performs in absolute terms i'm afraid.

As for the 1406 business. The memory for the graphics is taken from system memory, therefore it is saying you can allocate 1406Mb's of the 3Gb's you have available. To be honest anything more than 128Mb's is probably a waster of time on an IGP. So view that as purely marketing speak.