Laptop processors

Hey all...

What is a P-M? Is it different to a Pentium 4 - Mobile? I'm looking to buy a cheap laptop, and am slightly confused by the specs on ebay.

I've been advised to go for a P-M if at all possible, due to them being pretty fast for the clockspeed, and the P4's are power-hungry and get hot easily... how true is that?

Also, what clockspeed do the P-M's range from? I guess I'm pretty safe if I go for a Centrino, right?

Pentium M's are between 1,3 and 2,2ghz I belive. They are considerably better than any Pentium 4. A 1,5ghz Pentium M should perform better in a laptop than a 3ghz pentium 4, and I mean overall.

That's good to hear. A couple of Centrinos I've seen on eBay are marked as having P4-M processors... is this wrong? I thought Centrinos only had P-Ms.

I've also heard something about how Pentium M proccessors have a built-in function to actively seek out any nearyby wireless signals, is this true?

>>4
Probably not. Part of the Centrino standard is built-in wifi though.

The Centrino name refers to a package deal with the chipset, intel wifi and the pentium M.  The Pentium 4 Mobile IS NOT A PENTIUM M.  Do not buy one.  The pentium M is radically better with power consumption and nearly equally fast in everything.

The Pentium M is actually a heavily revised pentium 3, with a shitload of cache.  It doesn't use the netburst architecture (which is why it performs so well at low speed).  If intel ever dumps netburst like they've been promising they will, the new desktop chips will be Pentium-M based.

Fun fact:  the Pentium M can trace its beginnings back to the old Pentium-pro of ages past.  The P2, P3 and the Pentium M are all derived from that original design.  Netburst sort of came out of left field, and still continues to blow nuts to this day.

>>6
That's just what I was after... thanks :D

So, my laptop of choice (being within my pitiful budget of £400) is going to be a Thinkpad T40 (unless warned otherwise). I hear good things about the Thinkpads, and you've sold me on the Centrino. Yay indeed.

So if I wanted to connect using wifi, the Pentium 4 Mobile is the best choice?

>>8
Wifi is wifi... You will struggle to find a laptop that doesnt have it.