Dell Laptop vs CPU

I curently have a Pentium 4 (2.80 GHz) CPU and need to replace my corporate computer with a laptop in order to access network from home. Someone is telling me that the laptop pentium M (1.6 MHz) is actually doubled which wouyld put it at about a 3.2 MHz speed. The 2.8 is the minimum I can use and don't want anything less. Is this true? I can't find any documentation that states the Pentium M is actually twice a fast. This does not sound logical. I appreciate the help.

 

Yes, the Pentium M is built on a different architecture which is more efficient and hence is able to provide more performance at not too high frequency. Basically a Pentium M does more work per clock cycle than the Pentium 4.

A Pentium M 1.6GHz is a very capable processor and more or less should be equivalent to the performance of a P4 at 3.0GHz.

Also read this FAq, it gives you a rough idea of the performance of the PM...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=18483

Couple of benchmarks & reviews of the Pentium M...
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2342&p=11
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/pentiumm-780_12.html

 

That is incorrect. Generally the correct comparison of speed with a Pentium M to a Pentium 4 is to take that speed plus half. So in this case, 1.6Ghz + 800Mhz = Pentium 4 2.4Ghz.

 

Thanks everyone for the information. Miner...the links were very helpful.

 

I'd say, that if you are using a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 right now, you'll be fine with a 1.73GHz PM. That's neck and neck with a 3.2.

 

yup...that's PLENTY of power...hehe