AMD or Intel?

[Nova_Tek]

Peeps... I've been looking at laptops for the past few days and have a good idea as to what I wanna get and how much I wanna spend. But I can't decide over the processor.

I've looked at the Intel i5's and the AMD X3 and X4 (Triple & Quad Core).

The laptop will be used for everyday stuff (so it needs to be Windows), net, video conferencing, word processing, films etc but will also be used for video editing/recording, audio editing/recording when I'm not around the Mac.

I've read reviews that are saying the AMD CPU's are good at productivity stuff and graphics but the Intel is also very good etc so I really dunno what to think.

TBH my dads 5 year old Intel Core Duo with 1GB ram does the above stuff with relative ease but in terms of current tech which would be best?

Need some info and need personal opinions and experiences I think to help my decision.

[MK999]

Intel is miles beyond AMD atm, the i5 that does HT (forget the model) is gonna be your ultimate laptop processor but tbh any will be quick enough to cope, I have an i7 desktop and it is ferociously quick, it'll analyse what takes the dell XPS machines at uni 15-20 seconds to do, so quick that the dialog box doesn't even pop up.

Processors currently are way beyond all the other tech in a PC, so you don't need to spend too much for top performance really. It's more about the supporting components.

[Nova_Tek]

Don't really have the cash to spend to get an i7. The i5's I've seen are the 450M which do have the Hyper-Threading technology so it's 2 cores which can handle two simultaneous threads effectively making it quad.

But I've been reading up on the triple and quad AMD's having real good graphics ability with the AMD vision chips compared to the intel graphics.

Either way they'll come with 3 - 4 Gigs of RAM

There's normally only around £70 difference at most between the two so picking has been difficult

[MK999]

seems the range varies slightly from desktop to laptop, I thought they were all 4 core. I only looked briefly at the desktop range of i5's

The speed comparison in intel vs AMD goes beyond the ghz value though, cache sizes and other supporting technology generally make the intel the better chip.

Oh and you wouldn't want an i7 in a laptop anyway, it would melt lol

[MK1_Ben]

I've used AMD for years and until recently they wiped the floor with Intel.

My latest laptop however is using the I5, and it's converted me from being an "AMD Fanboy", playing games the I5 is incredible, and multi-tasking I can have Black Ops on max settings, with Firefox + Media player on my other screen (dual screen when at my desk) and it still doesn't stutter.

[Nova_Tek]

^ sounds impressive mate. Hmm, beginning to lean towards the i5.

[Jack]

Same here, I was an AMD fan until recently as their latest processors are a bit poop in comparison to Intel.

i5 760 here and its very good.

[hendrix]

Cyrix ftw lol.

I'm running an AMD Dual core on my latest laptop that I got in December. Tbh I think its the mutts but I haven't had a new computer since 2001 lol. Anything is better than Duron 1300mhz I was running lmao.

[hendrix]

Cyrix ftw lol.

I'm running an AMD Dual core on my latest laptop that I got in December. Tbh I think its the mutts but I haven't had a new computer since 2001 lol. Anything is better than Duron 1300mhz I was running lmao.

[Southie]

Sorry I only use childrens computers and you've lost me, I'll leave now to my macs lol

[Nova_Tek]

Same here, I was an AMD fan until recently as their latest processors are a bit poop in comparison to Intel.

i5 760 here and its very good.

^ Is that on desktop?

The stuff I've been looking at has been i5-450/460M.

Everything I've had since 2001 has been Intel. The iMac is also Intel and considering that the new iMac's are using i5 has also made me think. There aren't many Athlon Phenom X4 laptops around only one or two models.

[Jack]

Yais, sorry desktop. I thought AMD were supposed to be updating their lines at some point early this year

[Welsh Dan]

Intel every time. AMD had the upper hand when it was Athlon 64 versus Pentium 4, but other than then they've been just a cheaper, lesser alternative.

[Nova_Tek]

Went and got the new laptop. Decided to go for the i5. So far so good, seems to be quick and effortless with everyday stuff. Tomorrow I'll be loading up my usual software and see how it performs with some proper work.

Although, I can't seem to sign into Skype :(

[andy_mk3]

My laptop has the i5-430, runs at 2.27ghz. It's a fantastic processor, runs reasonably cool too :)

[Nova_Tek]

Mines the 450M @ 2.46 (2.66 with TurboBoost). Runs real well and now that I've disabled the Windows and gone for a 3rd party one, It logs on in an instant.

Just now setting it up to how I like it.

[C612DNM]

If you want to do games, then the AMD is still the best processor for the job. The Phenom "Black Edition" two core processors are actually four core processors with the other two "sleeping!". Some motherboards can unleash it via a "turbo" button, sometimes you need to run a software utility to turn the other two cores on.
I've just built a machine for one of my brothers with a AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition 3.2GHz Socket AM3 6MB Cache (for full spec) processor, and 4Gb of RAM, and it flies.

[Nova_Tek]

That's one thing that most people said about the AMD was it's gaming ability. Most of the AMD systems had a good ATI graphics card too. But I got an XBox for games etc so games aren't really on the to-do list.

Main thing is performance when it comes to Music/Video editing/production.

[MK999]

The reason AMD's are recommended for gaming, is most games are far far far from processor limited and the AMD processors are cheaper...

[Welsh Dan]

The reason AMD's are recommended for gaming, is most games are far far far from processor limited and the AMD processors are cheaper...

I couldn't agree more. I was about to call bull**** about AMD being better too! :)

[MK999]

Well actually, the bigger factor is the motherboard/memory on an i7 as AMD are a huuuge technology leap behind and still using dual channel :p lol