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Is the celeron ok?

post #1 of 22
7/23/04 at 1:51pm
Thread Starter 
Hey there,

I've got a quick question. My girlfriend is looking into buying a sony a series A130. My question is this, would the 1.4g celeron be an acceptable proccessor for her? She won't be playing any 3D intensive games but she is an interior design major and therefore will be running CADD on her laptop. Will the celeron be able to handle this with 512megs Ram and the 32mb Radeon 9200? Please let me know what you think, because we could save some major cash if this worked out.
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post #2 of 22
7/23/04 at 2:18pm
Celeron just screams "BAD BAD NO!!!" in my mind. From the experience I've had with them, they were slow. And we were only programming on them! But that was two years ago and they might be better now.

What's the price range you're looking at? What are the stats on the A130?
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post #3 of 22
7/23/04 at 2:32pm
Thread Starter 
Her price range is about 1300-1700. But she wants a very good looking computer which is why we looked into sony. the specs are this

Celeron M processor 1.4g (1mb L2 cache) 400mhz FSB
chipset is Intell 855PM
40g 4200 hard drive
15" XGA screen
512 (256x2) ddr 333
64mb radeon 9200

thats what it stands at right now. I know celerons have a horrible rep ( I would never get one) but i'sm just tryin to save her some cash. tahx for the reply. any more info is greatly appreciated
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post #4 of 22
7/23/04 at 2:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mustang64p
Hey there,

I've got a quick question. My girlfriend is looking into buying a sony a series A130. My question is this, would the 1.4g celeron be an acceptable proccessor for her? She won't be playing any 3D intensive games but she is an interior design major and therefore will be running CADD on her laptop. Will the celeron be able to handle this with 512megs Ram and the 32mb Radeon 9200? Please let me know what you think, because we could save some major cash if this worked out.
celeron will not be a good processor for a program such as CADD. I'd suggest a Pentium M processor because of it's 1-2mb cache. This will give you much better performance in CADD.
Don't worry, these systems can be bought for a relatively cheap price if you know where to look. I wouldn't buy Sony because they are simply overpriced (although their screens are awesome)
The best solution for you IMO would be HP's ZT3000 which you can get with a Pentium M or Dothan processor (the Pentium M has a 1mb cache, dothan was recently released by intel and built on a .09 nanometer process. It has a 2mb cache which will give even better performance on CADD. The ZT3000 is fairly cheap, it comes with an average video card, (I'd suggest getting the 64mb gpu) Memory will be a great aide to you with CADD. Get the ZT3000 with 1 dimm of 512mb, and if you aren't too far overbudget, you might even get 1GB. the ZT3000 comes with a 15.4WXGA which is almost as good as a Sony screen.
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post #5 of 22
7/23/04 at 2:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mustang64p
Her price range is about 1300-1700. But she wants a very good looking computer which is why we looked into sony.
that's a very reasonable budget. IMO, the aopen 1557G with a paint job is a very sexy laptop. Check it out at ibuypower.com It's very cheap. A paint job costs $100 and is very good quality. The system has an awesome gpu, however, the screen is not the best out there. you could spec out a nice system for $1550
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post #6 of 22
7/23/04 at 2:46pm
The new Celeron processors are far better than the first generation Celerons that we all know about how horrid the performance was, etc. However, for CAD work like Interior Design or whatever she is doing it's best to get something a little more powerful. She probably doesn't need a P4 3.4Ghz EE processor lol, but something decently above a 1.6Ghz Celeron.
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post #7 of 22
7/23/04 at 2:54pm
Here is an article so that you can decide if Celeron is ok or not....:

http://www20.tomshardware.com/mobile...309/index.html

Here is the conclusion of the article:

Quote:
As the comparison tests of the Dell Latitude D505 based on the Celeron M, or alternatively the Pentium M have shown, a notebook with a Pentium M CPU is only advantageous with regard to the battery life. Regarding performance, the difference for day-to-day use of CPU models with a similar core clock speed is only marginal.

Price-wise, it can be argued that one hour more battery life for a cost of $100 isn't much to pay. However, if a long battery life is really the premise, then in the case of the D505, we would rather invest $130 in a spare battery for the Celeron M. That way you can easily achieve an additional two hours of battery time. And, it only costs $30 more than a Pentium M system with comparable performance. If on the other hand, the premise is to have long battery life including the lowest possible weight, or in other words, the greatest mobility, then there is almost no way of getting around the Pentium M. But also in this case, it still doesn't have to be a Centrino notebook. After all, other suppliers also provide competitive WLAN modules.

Whether a Celeron M or Pentium M processor is selected, we rate Dell's Latitude D505 as a good business notebook, above all because of its great connectivity options, the numerous expansion possibilities and the attractive price. However, we weren't convinced of the quality of the PC's case and body workmanship.
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post #8 of 22
7/23/04 at 2:55pm
I think she should get a notebook with 2.8Ghz Intel Pentium 4 w/ 800FSB...it's the best processor for the money for her uses at this time and will give her the performance she needs and room to grow into it...within that budget you have in mind

P.S. Or she could go the AMD 64-bit route with an eMachines notebook...either way just hit up Best Buy and they would be able to set her up with something in that price range and with the right features...
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post #9 of 22
7/23/04 at 3:08pm
A Celeron is a piece of silicon pretending to be a processor. Get a Pentium M or at the very least a Athlon XP. For higher end get a AMD64.

The Compal is good but doesn't look as slick as most notebooks. eMachine is also good bang for the buck though boring looking.

Try looking at the Compaq notebooks. They have a nice silver case to them an look nice. Or at least upgrade the Sony computer you are looking at to a PM.
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post #10 of 22
7/23/04 at 3:12pm
No, it's not good, it's outdated, and painfully slow.
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post #11 of 22
7/23/04 at 3:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rustican
A Celeron is a piece of silicon pretending to be a processor. Get a Pentium M or at the very least a Athlon XP. .
Not necessarily true. Did you read the Tom's article where its the P-M vs. C-M?
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post #12 of 22
7/23/04 at 3:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sucka
No, it's not good, it's outdated, and painfully slow.
or in other words:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusitcan
A Celeron is a piece of silicon pretending to be a processor.
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post #13 of 22
7/23/04 at 3:16pm
Yeah the people making those comments obviously have no familiarity with the 2nd generation and now third generation of celeron processors...the new Celerons are COMPLETELY different than the old ones which were mocked and scoffed at by all. These new ones perform how a budget processor should. Look at those posted benchmarks and get edamacated!

I played with a notebook with a 2.0Ghz Celeron in a notebook..it didn't perform poorly at all in my opinion..everybody doesn't need a 3Ghz+ processor lol..
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post #14 of 22
7/23/04 at 3:29pm
Isn't that what Banias 1.4, and so on is for now..lol

I was mainly refering to desktop, so i probably shouldn't have commented at all.
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post #15 of 22
7/23/04 at 3:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Element
Yeah the people making those comments obviously have no familiarity with the 2nd generation and now third generation of celeron processors...the new Celerons are COMPLETELY different than the old ones which were mocked and scoffed at by all. These new ones perform how a budget processor should. Look at those posted benchmarks and get edamacated!

I played with a notebook with a 2.0Ghz Celeron in a notebook..it didn't perform poorly at all in my opinion..everybody doesn't need a 3Ghz+ processor lol..
Hey Element, just read the review from Tom's and i'm honestly surprised that the Celeron did as well as it did. I would have liked to have seen some real world apps instead of just synthetic benchmarks though.

From my own experience with celerons, they are horrible at multasking. (note: i was using the 'older' Celerons) Openind up diffrent programs at once slowed the system noticeably even with enough ram.

I would still recommend a PM or Athlon XP over a Celeron. The price diffrence isn't that much more for what the higher end processors are giving an are more useful in the long run.
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post #16 of 22
7/23/04 at 3:59pm
Here is my celeron experience.
-At one point i was fixing up a computer for a friend with a 500mhz celeron and 64mb ram, long story short, it responded slower than my Pent MMX with 64mb.
-My friend has a 2.0ghz Celeron and 512mb and it is fairly quick. I'd say it is about the same, if not just a tiny bit faster than my 866mhz P3 w/256. It does basic things well, but playing CS (with Intel graphics) could get difficult.
-At BB I was checking out a Toshiba lappy with a 2.4 celeron and 256mb ram, and ATI 9000IGP. Well..long story short. I click on the my computer icon, wait...still waiting....STILL waiting. Finaly it appears on the screen.

If I were you, I'd forget the Sony. If weight isn't a problem look into the Compaq r3000t dedicated or the x1000 models. Also, i think you are better of with the 1.3ghz Averatec 5xxx.
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post #17 of 22
7/23/04 at 5:46pm
I think the thing you guys are missing is that it's one of the NEW Celeron M's. Notice the cache is 1MB and not 512K.

Though it won't be as good as a PM, it'll be as good as a 1.4 Banias, roughly.

It's not as bad as the desktop Celerons by a long shot.

Super
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post #18 of 22
7/23/04 at 7:59pm
Thread Starter 
Thank you all for the replies so far. I'm definately helping her look into other options but she just can't seem to pull herself away from the look of the Sony. She's thinkin a bout the HP that was mentioned earlier. But as of yet the reviews seem to be mixed. CAn I get a few more opinions of whether or not she could get by using CADD on a Celeron Pentium M w/ a 1mb L2. Thx again
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post #19 of 22
7/23/04 at 8:29pm
If she likes the look.. get her a Ferrari, it's processor will certainly handle CAD.

Its a little over her budget, but you're her boyfriend, throw in the extra. Then you can brag to her/your friends that you bought her a Ferrari.
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post #20 of 22
7/23/04 at 8:38pm
Acer Ferarri is one hot lappy! But, the painted CL56 doesn't look so bad either. Though..the thing about paint, if you paint a Dell 600m, it'll make it look cool. PS: You might wanna look into Dell 600m and 300m models with Centrino
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