Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 30340
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2025/04/04 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
4/4     

2004/5/21 [Computer/HW/Laptop] UID:30340 Activity:insanely high
2/21    I just upgraded a very old PIII to an AthlonXP. I used the cheapest
        CPU and a rather cheapie MB with only 256 megs of RAM (I just wanted
        to do something with the extra box and drives I had lying around.)
        It seems to run a LOT faster than my laptops running a Celeron 1.5
        gigahertz with 256 megs of RAM and seems comparable with a 3.2
        gigahertz P4 laptop with 512 RAM I have on loan from the company I
        work for. It's especially noticable when running stuff like 3D games
        (I'm not a gamer so the stuff I run is 3 years old). I stuck in a
        cheapie Radeon 9600 and it seems to run a lot faster and smoother
        than even the higher rated laptop (which has a mobile Radeon builtin).
        Has anyone had similar experiences
        before? Do laptops really suck that much vs. desktops? The memory and
        the drive I suppose really do affect performance (I turned off cpu
        throttling on the mobiles but it didn't make much difference).
        \_ You're looking at a few things here.  1) the bus speed on the
           laptops is probably dirt.  2) celerons suck.  3) mobile video is
           always "teh suk!".  mobile video vs desktop: even when it has the
           same model # is never as good as the desktop version.  they cut
           out extra performance bits and often lower the clock to save power
           and heat.  4) laptop video is lcd and probably set to a lower
           refresh rate than your desktop default on a crt.  5) the bus speed
           and ram on your desktop is also probably set lower than desktop.
           6) the laptops probably have some power saving mode on which is
           keeping your cpu from burning itself up and not telling you.  this
           is all in no particular order, btw, and without knowing more about
           your particular setup it could be any or none of these.  -amc
           \_ oh yeah, the hard drives in laptops are usually slower, too. -amc
           your particular setup it could be any or none of these.
           \_ I am a EE idoit, so, forgive me.  Does LCD has "refresh rate"
              as well?  For CRTs, I can literally see the electron guns
              and imagine it sweeping back and forth 60 times a second.
              \_ Systems have refresh rates that determine how often updates
                 are sent to the monitor.  Refresh rates for LCD monitors
                 usually don't mean too much, though; there's no electron
                 gun for LCDs, so there's no flicker, which is usually why
                 people want high refresh rates in the first place.  LCD
                 monitors do have response times though, which is the amount
                 of time it takes for a pixel to completely change states.  A
                 high response time leads to ghosting.
              \_ In effect, yes.  The on/off time for an lcd pixel can be
                 mostly equated to the refresh time on a crt.
        \_ I have an Alienware 51-m laptop (for work).  It has a 3.2 GHz HT
           CPU, 1 GB RAM and a 7200 RPM drive, Mobility Radeon 9600.  It's just
           as good as a desktop (with the possible exception of the video--I
           have a Radeon 9800 at work, so I can't easily compare it to the
           Mobility).  It also has a 8.8 Amp-Hr battery and 160 W power supply,
           and weighs 10 lbs.  But it's a pleasure to use.
2025/04/04 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
4/4     

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