<p>go centrino!</p>
<p>Yep, thanks for correcting me redski. </p>
<p>And okrogious, 1.75 is not too generous. That multiplier comes from several credible sites that perform tests on both processors. I also forgot to add that it is comparable to the Pentium 4 with Hyper Threading technology.</p>
<p>Here's what you have to know for a new college PC:</p>
<p>Laptop: Go Pentium M.
Desktop: Go Athlon 64</p>
<p>Cheers.</p>
<p>Is a 400 Mh FSB much different than a 533 Mh FSB. By the way, I really don't know what the FSB does.</p>
<p>fsb - front side bus. it's main purpose is toconnect the memory - ram - with the processor. obviously, a faster fsb means faster performance. however, especially on a laptop, the speed difference won't be noticable.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Okay, thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Also consider the speed of the RAM. There's no sense (in fact, it's actually detrimental) in getting a CPU with a 533MHz FSB if the RAM can only communicate at 133MHz (ala PC133 SDRAM).</p>
<p>Well no computer that has a FSB of 533 MHz is going to come equipped with SDRAM. If it has the new 'Sonoma' setup (which has the 533 MHz FSB) then it will probably come with DDR2 RAM such as PC4200.</p>
<p>The processor that is going to outclock all the processors on the market is the new "Cell" processor. It's a completely different type of processing chip; on the chip itself there are these little "cells" (what the hell are those, right?! :D ) that will take on a single task all by themselves, versus the standard processor breaking one task into smaller pieces. This allows for advanced efficiency and speed. The new processors should be available to the public within the year (summer of '06 - perfect, just as I go off to college!); hopefully they will produce new laptops/notebooks with the new processors quickly- if not, I'll just have to buy a new motherboard heh.</p>
<p>the cell processor is used in the playstation 3, it is very similar to the multicore processors in production right now, which happen to be selling very poorly</p>
<p>pentium Ms are not 1.75 times equivolent in clock speed, this is only true in very select benchmarks, for better approximations I would use 1.3 or so</p>
<p>I think you have totally the wrong idea on the Cell processor. It is the chip in hte PS3 and IBM is experimenting with making high-end workstations and supercomputers with them.</p>
<p>They are not a desktop chip and windows will not run on them. You will have to run AIX or Linux or something similar to even use one (not that they will really be available like that).</p>
<p>Their plan, I believe, is to integrate it with consumer computing products in the near future, not immediate future.</p>
<p>indeed</p>
<p>Right now the cell will only be in the ps3, and eventually its architecture may expand to workstation and consumer products. However, in the present time, to wait for it to arrive on your home desktop is foolish. In terms of its design, it is a multicore processor so in that principle it is similar to, for example, a Pentium D, but however it is its own design. My point was that its advantages come from multithreading, which is already being (unsuccessfully IMHO) employed.</p>
<p>Dual-core processors are not needed for the average user. It tends to be my experience that video gamers are very versed in their computer hardware and software so I'll assume that the people asking questions on this forum are not very hardcore games. Therefore, they really couldn't take advantage of dual core processors. E-mail, Internet, and Microsoft Office really only take about 800 MHz of processing power; therefore anything too high would really be an overkill.</p>
<p>With dual core-processors, the clock speed is not what you look for when focusing on them, it is high-level multithreading. If you use programs like photoshop and video editors with very large files you may benefit from a system with a large amount of ram and dual core processor (as well as for gaming, but games don't take advantage of the processors yet).</p>
<p>E-mail, Internet, and Office can run on a 150 mhz processor, but to run smoothly I would want well over 1 GHz</p>
<p>even videogames dont benefit much from multiple processors or multiple cores. They are generally coded to run on a single CPU and the only real advantage is that the OS and other stuff can run on one core while the game takes up the whole of hte other core.</p>
<p>Of course with the PS3 and more and more multi/dualcore setups, this is going to change.</p>
<p>really, dual core makes more sense for stuff like heavy duty database processing and computational fluid dynamics =).</p>
<p>From an article that I saw on Google News today...seems like near future was an inaccurate statement - immediate future was correct after all :D</p>
<p>Gateway touts 64-bit PCs</p>
<p>By Dinesh C. Sharma
<a href="http://news.com.com/Gateway+touts+64-bit+PCs/2100-1042_3-5769956.html%5B/url%5D">http://news.com.com/Gateway+touts+64-bit+PCs/2100-1042_3-5769956.html</a> </p>
<p>Story last modified Thu Jun 30 08:35:00 PDT 2005 </p>
<p>Gateway has announced new desktop PCs featuring 64-bit dual-core processors and the Windows XP Media Center operating system.
One model, the 840GM, is powered by Intel's 3GHz Pentium D 830 dual-core processor. The 835GM, meanwhile, is based on the 2.8GHz Pentium D 820 dual-core processor.</p>
<p>The computer maker also released the 831GM, which runs on a 3GHz Pentium 4 processor 630.</p>
<p>All three computers will be available through retail outlets.</p>
<p>Each of the three systems has a DVD-ROM, a 250GB hard drive, and a 16x double-layer, a multiformat DVD+/-RW optical drive.</p>
<p>Previous Next All the new desktops come with a media manager for reading different digital devices, software for burning CDs and DVDs, a multimedia keyboard, and a USB optical mouse. The 840GM also features a BTX chassis, the company said.</p>
<p>Gateway said the machines were designed with students in mind.</p>
<p>"We created this new line specifically for the needs of students by incorporating all the hardware and software features needed to maximize PC productivity and entertainment," Marc Demars, Gateway's senior director of desktop product marketing, said in a statement.</p>
<p>The 840GM and 835GM will retail for $1,049.99 and $849.99, respectively, starting July 10. </p>
<p>The 831GM will be available for $699.99 starting Sunday, Gateway said.</p>
<p>Dual cores have been out for a month at least now on websites. Its no big news that Gateway is gonna build computers with em.</p>
<p>Well it is news in respect to the idea that the implementation of dual core processors in desktop and laptop computers is a long way off - not true; they hoped to start marketing desktops and laptops with dual core processors in early 2006. However, the desktops are apparently are being released this summer. Just wanted to show you the article, that's all :D</p>