would a dual core 1.6ghz be faster than a 2.2ghz celeron?

[pimpin gimp]

Evening all,

Just looking for a laptop to replace my clunky old desktop and clear a bit of space in the house.

Currently running a packard bell desktop with a 2.2ghz celeron processor & 1gb of RAM. I'm looking at various laptops with dualcore or core-duo processors that range between 1.4 & 1.8ghz.

Am I likely to notice the difference between the two? All the laptops I'm looking at have at least double the RAM of my desktop, but lower processor numbers... albeit they've got 2x1.4/8 ghz rather than a single 2.2...

My main concern is that I'm not downgrading, it doesn't have to be much faster.

Any ideas?

[james_gt3rs]

I think it should be faster, happy to be corrected though!

[GFWilliams]

It depends on a few things.

What programs you are using and the os. If the program can't utilise the dual core, then it will be slower. It also depends on the clock speed of the computer. This could be similar on the two, so there could be little difference. A dual core processor will tend to be able to compute more at one time though, making it seem quicker.

[TooLateForAName]

Depends on the exact chips.

Celeron is just a brand name which has been slapped on all sorts of chips over the years. The latest ones are in fact dual core.

You cant compare processor speed for different generations of processor. I'm sat in front of a 2ghz c2d which is far faster than an older 3ghz machine.

the celerons are the bottom end of the range, but a newer celeron may well be real world faster than a faster clocked older chip.

[pimpin gimp]

Thanks guys, the 2.2 celeron is from about 2003/2004... it aint modern!
the dual core are on much more modern machines from 2007/8/9 etc.

As for programmes, it'll be a web browser (probably chrome) ms word, occasional photoshop,and itunes.

That's basically it!

[cbcbcb]

The "old" 2.2GHz Celeron is based on the old Pentium 4 design. The Core 2 Duo is a more recent design which gives better performance at lower clock speeds, so with everything else being equal you would expect better performance all round especially if you add more RAM.

[gamefreaks]

Stay away from the Celeron. Its very slow, even the recent ones based on the Intel Core.

[Silverbullet767]

Go with the core 2 duo, overclockable too. I have mine running at a 20% overclock which gives the PC a nice little boost. Original cooling too. The fan just runs a little faster now.

[lestag]

pimpin gimp said:

Evening all,

Just looking for a laptop to replace my clunky old desktop and clear a bit of space in the house.

Currently running a packard bell desktop with a 2.2ghz celeron processor & 1gb of RAM. I'm looking at various laptops with dualcore or core-duo processors that range between 1.4 & 1.8ghz.

Am I likely to notice the difference between the two? All the laptops I'm looking at have at least double the RAM of my desktop, but lower processor numbers... albeit they've got 2x1.4/8 ghz rather than a single 2.2...

My main concern is that I'm not downgrading, it doesn't have to be much faster.

Any ideas?

rule of thumb.

Buy a mid range CPU, dual core also means if one process goes rogue you will still have the equivilent of 1 processor left for the rest. Most applications can not take advantage of more than one processor (this will change over the years)

intel or amd = who cares these days

Windows 7 32 bit will only use 3GB of RAM, not matter how much is physically there.
Windows 7 64 bit will use as much RAM as is available (there is a limit but don't worry for a laptop)
512MB dedicated Video RAM ( more and more content is delivered in a graphical format like youtube or playing DVD on laptop)

Intel have just come out with the I3 I5 and I7 processors which replace the core 2 duo range

So I think , for what you want a core 2 duo would do and they will probably be at a lower price than the intel i3 i5 i7 and 3GB of RAM and Windows 32 would be fine. 2GB of RAM would be a bit light (my vista laptop has 3GB and half is used just in getting it running)

[V]

It depends what generation Celeron and what generation Dual Core. Is it a Netburst era CPU, or is it based on Core architecture?

[V]

lestag said:

Windows 7

Its worth pointing out that the majority of new PCs I've experienced over the past few months (work in IT) are with the exception of netbooks all coming shipped with Windows 7 64-bit, which means they can fully utilise 3/4GB RAM, which has now become the standard.

[pimpin gimp]

I bought a toshiba machine in the end, 1.66ghz dual core processor, i forget the tyoe but it's an intel of some sort. the 2gb of ram will help for sure!

Thanks for all your help chaps.