Intel Centrino / Pentium M Processors

[samn01]

I am planing to by a new laptop (c£700) and I am looking at some Dell models, I have some questions.
What is Centrino and do I need it?
Is a pentium M 1.5GHz processor better than a Celeron 2.4GHz processor and if so why?

Thanks
Sam

[Plotloss]

Centrino is a posh name for wireless networking capability (i.e. the built in version of a PCMCIA card)

The difference between the M line and the normal is basically power useage. The 1.5M will be a lot slower than a P4 1.5 (if such a thing existed) but it will allow a much longer battery life.

Have a look at the Crusoe powered laptops if battery life is a real consideration.

[samn01]

Can I still use a 802.11g card with a Centrino laptop?
Would I need to? I will be using the laptop with my wireless router, is Centrino as good as an 802.11g card?

Thanks for quick response.

Sam

[Plotloss]

Depending on the release of Centrino on the laptop you wont need the 802.11g PCMCIA card because Centrino is now 11g compliant.

It all changed around the start of January so all Centrino branded laptops should be 11g compliant but its worth checking with Dell I would suggest.

[samn01]

Thanks Plotloss

[Zod]

Plotloss said:

Centrino is a posh name for wireless networking capability (i.e. the built in version of a PCMCIA card) The difference between the M line and the normal is basically power useage. The 1.5M will be a lot slower than a P4 1.5 (if such a thing existed) but it will allow a much longer battery life. Have a look at the Crusoe powered laptops if battery life is a real consideration.

No, the Centrinos are actually much faster clock for clock than P4s. The Pentium M has double the cache of the P4 and runs at approximately 1.5x the speed of the P4 on a clock for clock basis, so that a 15. GHz Centrino is broadly equivalent to a 2.2GHz P4.

The Centrino name just refers to a Pentium M with Intel's WiFi chip.If the manufacturer uses a different WiFi adapter, then it mus call it Pentium M, not Centrino.

[stuh]

Zod said:

Plotloss said: Centrino is a posh name for wireless networking capability (i.e. the built in version of a PCMCIA card) The difference between the M line and the normal is basically power useage. The 1.5M will be a lot slower than a P4 1.5 (if such a thing existed) but it will allow a much longer battery life. Have a look at the Crusoe powered laptops if battery life is a real consideration. No, the Centrinos are actually much faster clock for clock than P4s. The Pentium M has double the cache of the P4 and runs at approximately 1.5x the speed of the P4 on a clock for clock basis, so that a 15. GHz Centrino is broadly equivalent to a 2.2GHz P4. The Centrino name just refers to a Pentium M with Intel's WiFi chip.If the manufacturer uses a different WiFi adapter, then it mus call it Pentium M, not Centrino.

I have a Centrino laptop 1.5Ghz. It posts a similar winstone score to a 2.6Ghz P4 but with a 5 hour battery life.

New Centrino, "Dothan" was launched today...

www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/06/intel_dothan_debut/

[TheHobbit]

I use an IBM R40 every day. It's a Pentium M 1.5 with 512Meg. Clock for clock, its easily quicker than a collegues 1.7 Pentium 4.

I use linux, and the drivers for the centrino wireless are something like pre-alpha at the moment, so I use a D-Link DWL-G650 Cardbus wireless adapter with no problems at all.

[annodomini2]

I use a 1.4ghz centrino at work, and they are a hell of a lot quicker than a p4 mhz for mhz, I run a high processor load package which tests software, its approximately 25% quicker than my previous P4 2.0ghz.