P4 or Centrino

gaspode · Post by **gaspode** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 12:41 pm

If you are ignoring battery life then there is really only one decent comparisson to make between the two...

Would you prefer higher clock cycles (and possibly hyper threading) so that you can do more... or would you prefer a larger on die cache and shorter pipe so that you can have a lower latency that is much more stable at higher CPU% usages.

I've been running my Centrino laptop and loving it... I don't tend to tax to the max CPU usage so I can get down to the 2-5ms range without having to grind my teeth and worry that I might have drop outs.

The more important thing over either though is to make sure you have a dedicated graphics chip that has it's own dedicated memory. Shared graphics memory will be the bane of your laptop music career.

Good Luck.

Greg

RobStrobe · Post by **RobStrobe** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 1:02 pm

subterFUSE wrote:That Toshiba is overpriced for what you are getting.

I paid exactly $3,000 for my laptop, and it's got a higher resolution screen (1680 x 1050), 2 gigs of RAM, a 256 MB graphics card, 2 SATA hard drives in RAID 0 for a total of 160 GB, and a dual-layer DVD burner with LightScribe (burns labels on DVDs).

If you buy a name brand like Toshiba, Sony or IBM... you are just giving money away for a nameplate on the case.

You could get a laptop with the close to the same specs as that Toshiba for about $800 less, easily.

I like Asus better.

and which one would you prefer from ASUS till about 1600 EURO???

=)

gaspode · Post by **gaspode** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 1:07 pm

Does Asus give the same brand name service as Toshiba, IBM or Sony? Just curious as I have no experience with Asus. Their systems seem like a great deal, but I've always been afraid that they are a lower build quality because some of their models look a bit too flexible.

I've personally owned a lot of laptops, and been the most happy with Toshiba service. Granted it sometimes comes down to how understanding the other person on the end of the line is... but I've had total hardware failures and had no problems getting replacements from Toshiba in a very timely manner.

I'd be interested to hear what other's have had for experience with some of the non name brands as in the next 6 months I'll probably be upgrading my laptop.

louZ · Post by **louZ** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:03 pm

forge wrote:personally, my laptop is just an easily transportable desktop because I dont tend to sit at the beach to work and audio interfaces either need their own power or make the battery life issuse redundant and using the onboard sound card is not ususally a pleasant experience both for sound and latency even with asio4all.

If you do want the battery life and go the way of the centrino, get one with a decnt on board (with headphones) card or you will be wasting your money because you wont use it for music on the move.

what about usb audio interfaces? they use battery power.

gaspode · Post by **gaspode** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:59 pm

For sound cards, I'd say go with the Indigo Echo DJ or Indigo Echo IO... both are very great solid cards.

Greg

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:40 pm

and which one would you prefer from ASUS till about 1600 EURO???

Well... I would recommend M-Tech before Asus... except that M-Tech is a USA company. So it might be harder to get them in Europe.

I did a ton of research before buying my recent laptop... and found that M-Tech has the best prices vs. specs of any company I found. (There may be someone better... but I don't know of them)

The build quality on my M-Tech is top notch. Best laptop I've ever owned, and this is now my 7th laptop. I've owned laptops by NEC, Toshiba, Dell, Compaq, and now M-Tech.

martin808 · Post by **martin808** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 8:58 pm

I bought a p43.2ghz laptop.

Its useless!!!! i'm actually going to have to sell it, 4 months after buying it.

with the live5 performance test. i am getting results of around 60 - 80%CPU
i cant even begin to think about using it on battery power because the processor speed drops so dramatically it wont even play my set. its really annoyiong to say the least. apparently the problem is due to overheating and the chip wont run at full speed.

i wish i'd bought a centrino (which is what i will buy when i sell it!)

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 9:36 pm

What I bought last week for $1700:

15.4" TFT WUXGA (1920 x 1200) Active Matrix Display
2.00 GHz Intel Pentium M (760) Processor (533 MHz Sonoma, 2 MB Cache)
128 MB Dedicated VRAM - nVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6600 16X PCI-Express
1024 MB DDR SDRAM (533 MHz, PC-4200, Dual Channel) (2 x 512 MB)
60 GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
20.00 - Internal 8X DVD±R/RW/(Dual Layer) / CD-RW Combo Drive
Internal 56k Modem (V.90 & V.92)
Internal PCI Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915ABG 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN
12-cell Smart Lithium Ion Battery (3 - 4 hours)
4-in-1 Flash Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MSPro)
Integrated Digital Video Camera (640x480 resolution)
Ac Adapter w/ power cord included
Free Carry Case
No Operating System Installed, drivers included on CD-ROM
1-year parts / 1-year labor warranty from Sager
Lifetime toll-free technical support by calling 800-741-2219 (or 626-964-4849)

I'll get it Tuesday, run the Live5 Performance Test, and post.

I got it at DiscountLaptops.com

As far as Asus, Sager, other "off-brands"...read this

ebenextra · Post by **ebenextra** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:39 am

Asus runs much hotter than other brands, Laptops and Pc... It makes it noisy and for battery life not so good.

I currently live in Taiwan, they come from here. When i've gone to buy a pc or laptop, the sales guys always reccomend not to go for ASUS...

Does anyone have any experience with Acer? I'm gonna buy one next week for Playin Live, live...

Here's the model: http://www.ats-systems.com/store/detail ... ID=3984178

I got 1Gb ram tho and a hard drive at 7200rpm added on. For 1900 USD

Any points of view??

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:48 am

Here's the model: http://www.ats-systems.com/store/detail ... ID=3984178

My mate has a slower version of this (1.6 ghz), and he's very happy with it, he's never had a single problem, and it runs Live5 like a dream.

ebenextra · Post by **ebenextra** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:50 am

Wicked, Thanks Machinate!!

FaX-01 · Post by **FaX-01** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:09 pm

martin808 wrote:I bought a p43.2ghz laptop.

Its useless!!!! i'm actually going to have to sell it, 4 months after buying it.

with the live5 performance test. i am getting results of around 60 - 80%CPU
i cant even begin to think about using it on battery power because the processor speed drops so dramatically it wont even play my set. its really annoyiong to say the least. apparently the problem is due to overheating and the chip wont run at full speed.

i wish i'd bought a centrino (which is what i will buy when i sell it!)

That's retarded.
My 3.2ghz P4 laptop runs the LIVE test @ 32% CPU use.
Mine doesn't over heat or have any stability issues either.
What the hell brand/model laptop was it ?

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 4:21 pm

I actually think the guy above is using speed steping/powersaving without knowing it.

But there was one report in the performance thread about a P4 laptop thar refused to go over 2.2 GHz (or so) even though it was nominall a 3.2. The manufacturer had deliberately underclocked it. Might even had been a HP.

martin808 · Post by **martin808** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:07 pm

no, my speed step is switched off and the power settings are always on. there is a bug in the BIOS meaning the chip wont run faster than 1.8ghz. I've had a shit time with this laptop and i've been fighting with the supplier to get it changed for the last 3 months as i beleive he falls foul of the trade descriptions act. I've even had trading standards fighting my case for me. I'm in the process of taking this guy to court.
I'm not happy

RobStrobe · Post by **RobStrobe** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 9:38 am

Michael-SW wrote:I actually think the guy above is using speed steping/powersaving without knowing it.

i know that my speedstep is enabled(runs) but i don´t know how to turn it off,cause in the BIOS is no possibility to do it...

and we are talking of a shitty SONY VAIO K315S...

ANY IDEAS???

P4 or Centrino

Asus, no