More $ for more MHz.. Is it worth it?

[Wolfey2424]

I'm in the process of buying a brand new laptop. There are two that I've narrowed it all down to, this being the following:

Toshiba Satellite A200/K00
Toshiba Satellite A200/400

(These are Australian models, so they may be different in the USA)

Both laptops have the same specs, except for one thing: the amount of megahertz the processors have.

The A200/K00 has a Core 2 Duo processor @ 1.73GHz
The A200/400 has a Core 2 Duo processor @ 2.16GHz

This means that if I get the A200/400 P(the higher GHz one)it will cost me approx. $260 U.S. Dollars for an extra 430 MHz.

Is it really worth the extra money to get the extra MHz?

Thanks

 

[paparazi]

For every day desktop applications then possibly not, for number cruncking coding type tasks like video encoding etc then possibly yes.
If the machine is running Vista then the extra money might better be spent upping the amount of ram.
Martin

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[cdogg]

I would say having 2GB of RAM is more important than the extra 430MHz. So make that your first priority when considering any extra cost from the base model.

But remember too, that the Core 2 Duo runs almost twice as fast per MHz than the old Pentium 4's. So the extra 430MHz really translates to an extra 700MHz+ in old "CPU speak". Still not worth $260, but I suspect some of that extra money is also going to better video, more RAM, better screen, etc., and not just the processor. It shouldn't be anyway...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[wahnula]

You won't notice the speed difference and the lower clock speed will mean longer battery life. Just double-check that the rest of the components are identical, then use that extra cash for more RAM as stated above.

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Tony

 

[SteveLord]

Yup, more ram will do you better, especially since laptops throttle down constantly, that extra clock speed won't do squat for you. Whereas, your memory is always constant.


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[kmcferrin]

Agreed, prefer memory over a little more speed, unless you're doing something CPU intensive with the laptop.

I have a relatively new laptop with a Core 2 Duo 1.6 GHz (or is it 1.66 GHz?) CPU, and it absolutely flies, even with Vista. Of course, it also has 2GB of RAM as well.

 

[ATLMatt]

I don't think it will make much of a noticeable difference. In my desktop Core 2 Duo system, overclocking from 2.16 to 2.99ghz made no noticeable difference for everday apps. I agree that going to 2gigs of RAM would be a good move though.

One other thing to consider, and something that isn't often listed in the base product specs, is the hard drive RPM. If the faster model is a 7200rpm drive VS the 5400 in many laptops, that might sway my decision.

 

[Vector13]

I agree with Matt. The processor speed difference will not be noticeable. But the harddrive speed of 7200 RPM definitely will speed up your boot time and data retreival.

2GB of memory won't necessarily speed up your system. Vista uses about 350MB which leaves you the rest for apps (usually more than enough). What matters is the speed. You can have 2GB of DDR 266 MHz memory and it'll do you less than if you had 1GB of DDR2 533 (currently the hightest for laptops, I think ...)
Also, if you plan on getting XP, I'd go with the faster harddrive, because XP still makes extensive use of the page file, which is on your harddrive. Vista uses the page file as well, but it seems that it doesn't use it as much. It takes advantage of your RAM. Hence the fact that it almost doubled memory space needs from XP to Vista. (Well, that's partially true. Vist *does* do a LOT of preloading ...)

 

[cdogg]

2GB of memory won't necessarily speed up your system. Vista uses about 350MB which leaves you the rest for apps (usually more than enough)

You can't apply this to every situation. For example, if I was running XP on 256MB of RAM, then I might notice that only 110MB is being allocated at startup. But if I upgrade the RAM to 1GB, I might see XP using as much as 300MB at startup. Clearly, the usage varies from system to system and will change depending on the amount of installed RAM.

The same is also true of Vista. As the OS is given more breathing room, it will have the tendency to fan itself out more. I've received a lot of feedback from those who run Vista with 2GB of RAM, that the extra performance achieved is worth having that as your starting point. 1GB of RAM apparently doesn't cut it anymore in the new OS. In XP, 1GB is plenty for most situations.


Wolfey,
I looked at the two you're comparing and the only difference appears to be the processor. You can see that on Page 8 of the brochure here:

http://www.isd.toshiba.com.au/71/li...cefecekfdffhdfgh.0&PRODOID=84568&CATOID=-8156

So knowing that now, there is no way I'd recommend spending the extra $260.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[Wolfey2424]

Thank all of you very much for taking the time and effort to answer my question! I have one more question to ask before I buy the laptop, but I'll put that question in a different section on this site. Thanks again!

 

[cdogg]

No problem. Hope it works out!


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[cdogg]

Sorry, that link above had a session ID. I took it out, so now it will work:

http://www.isd.toshiba.com.au/71/li...u_prod_details.jsp?PRODOID=84568&CATOID=-8156

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884