AMD vs. Intel: 10 notebooks tested

Specifications

Brand/model Acer TravelMate 4150 Asus W5000A Asus A6000 Dell Latitude D610 HP Compaq nc8230
Vendor Acer Asus Asus Dell HP
RRP AU$2299 AU$3299 TBA AU$2816 Up to AU$3795
System weight incl battery 2.84 kg 1.85 kg 2.85 kg 2.42 kg 2.63+ kg
Processor Intel Pentium
1.6 Ghz M		 Intel Pentium
1.86 Ghz M		 AMD Turion
64 Mobile
Technology
ML-40 2.2GHz		 Intel Pentium
1.86Ghz M		 Up to PM 770 (2.13GHz)
RAM installed/max 512/2048MB 512/768MB 1GB/2GB 1024/2048 MB 512 / 2048 MB
Hard drive capacity 60GB 60GB 60GB 40GB Up to 80GB
Display diagonal size 15 inches 12.1 inches 15.4 inches 14 inches 15.4 inches
Display aspect ratio Standard Widescreen Widescreen Standard Widescreen
Native resolution 1024x768 1024 x 768 1024 x 768 1024x768 1280 x 800
Graphics processor and memory Intel 915GM 3D AGP with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 Mobile Intel 915GM/GMS, 910 GML, 60MB SIS M760GX chipset with nVidia Go 6200 256MB Mobile Intel 915GM/GMS, 910 GML 122MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600 64MB
USB2 (number of ports) 4 3 4 4 3
Parallel (number of ports) 0 0 0 1 0
Serial (number of ports) 0 0 0 1 1
PS2 (number of ports) 0 0 0 0 0
VGA 1 1 1 1 1
TV out
(type of port
eg S-Video)		 S-Video S-Video S-Video S-Video S-Video
Firewire (number of ports) 1 1 1   1
PCMCIA card slot 0 1 1 Type II 2 Type II 32-bit CardBus & 16-bit cards
Express card slot 0 0 0 0 0
SD/MMC/MS slot 6 in 1 card reader (SM/MS/MS-Pro/MMC/SD/XD-Picture Card) 1/1/1 SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO 0 1/0/0
Compact Flash slot 0 0 0 0 0
Smart Media slot 0 0 0 0 Smart Card
SPDIF 0 1 1 0 0
Docking port USB Port Replicator 0 0 1 1
Optical drive type Internal fixed DVD Dual (DVD+/-RW) Dual Layer DVD Rom Drive/CD-RW DVD Dual 8x 8X DVD+-/-RW rewritable DVD drive (8X-2X-8X DVD+/- RW/24X-16X-24X CD-RW) DVD+/-RW
Supplied OS Windows XP SP2 (Home) Windows XP SP1 (Pro) Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Windows XP SP2 (Pro) Windows XP SP2 (Pro)
Battery type Lithium-ion (60Wh) Lithium-ion Lithium-ion Lithium-ion Lithium-ion
Battery life 5 hours 3 hours N/A 4 hours 4 hours
Battery rating 14.8 V 4300mAh 11.1V 4800mAh 14.8V 4800mAh 11.1V 4700mAh 14.4V 4800mAh
Integrated sound chip Realtek AC'97 Audio Realtek Realtek AC97 Audio SigmaTel C-Major Audio SoundMax Integrated Digital Audio
Audio ports (input, output, type) Mic, Headphone Mic, Headphone Headphone, Mic, audio-in Mic, Headphones
/speakers		 Mic, Headphones/
line out
Integrated modem Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Integrated wired network (100M or 1000M) Yes 100M 100Mb 100Mb 1000Mb 1000M
Integrated wireless network
(A, B or G)		 B, G B, G B, G A, B, G A, B, G
Integrated Bluetooth No Yes No Yes Optional


Brand/model LG LW60
Express		 MSI Megabook S260 MSI Megabook S270 Samsung m40 plus Toshiba
Tecra M3
Vendor LG MSI MSI Samsung Toshiba ISD
RRP AU$3299 AU$2499 AU$2499 AU$3599 AU$3080
System weight incl. battery 2.925 kg 2.15 kg 1.9 kg 3.04 kg 2.27 kg
Processor Intel Pentium 1.73 Ghz M Intel Pentium 1.6 Ghz M SONOMA Mobile AMD Turion MT-30 Intel Pentium 745 1.8 Ghz M Intel Pentium M Processor 740 1.73AGHz, 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache
RAM installed/max 512/512 512MB/2GB 512MB(Up to 2GB) 512/2GB 512/2GB
Hard drive capacity 60GB 60GB 60GB 80GB 60GB
Display diagonal size 15.5 inches 12.1 inches 12.1 inches 17 inches 14.1 inches
Display aspect ratio Widescreen Widescreen Widescreen Widescreen Standard
Native resolution 1280 x 800 1280 x 800 1280 x 800 1440 x 900 1024 x 768
Graphics processor and memory ATI Mobility Radeon x600 64MB Mobile Intel 915GM/GMS, 910 GML Ati RS480(integrated Graphics) 200M ATI Radeon 9600/9700 Mobility / 64 MB Nvidia GeForce Go 6200 TE 64MB
USB2 (number of ports) 4 3 3 3 2
Parallel (number of ports) 1 0 0 0 1
Serial (number of ports) 0 0 0 0 0
PS2 (number of ports) 0 0 0 0 0
VGA 1 1 1 1 1
TV out
(type of port
eg S-Video)		 S-Video N/A N/A S-Video S-Video
Firewire (number of ports) 1 1 1 1 1
PCMCIA card slot Card Type II 1 1 1 1
Express card slot 1 0 0 0 1
SD/MMC/MS slot 4 in 1 (SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro) 3 in 1 card reader 1/1/1 3 in 1 card reader MMC/SD/MS Memory Stick 5 in 1 SD,SD-IO,MS,MS-Pro,MMC,XD PC
Compact Flash slot N/A 0 0 0 0
Smart Media slot N/A 0 0 0 0
SPDIF Line-in 0 0 1 0
Docking port NA 0 0 Optional external USB 1
Optical drive type DVD/DVD Combo/DVD Super-Multi(DVD-R/RW, +R/RW, RAM) DVD Dual RW DVD Dual RW DVD Super Multi DVD SuperMulti
Supplied OS Windows XP Pro (SP2) Windows XP Pro (SP2) Windows XP Pro (SP2) Windows XP Pro (SP2) Windows XP Pro (SP2)
Battery type Lithium-ion Lithium-ion Lithium-ion Lithium-ion Lithium-ion
Battery life 4.5 hours 3 hours 3.5 hours 4 hours 3.4 hours
Battery rating 11.1V 4800mAh 14.4V 4400mAh 14.4 V 2200mAh 11.1V 4800mAh 10.8V 4700mAh
Integrated sound chip CMI 9880L Realtek AC'97 2.2, SoundBlaster compatible AC'97 2.2, SoundBlaster compatible Crystal WDM Ac'97 SoundMax
Audio ports (input, output, type) Mic, Headphones, SPDIF (all can be reassigned) Mic, Headphones Microphone, headphones Mic, headphones Mic, Headphones
Integrated modem Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Integrated wired network (100M or 1000M) 100Mb 100Mb 100Mb 10/100 Ethernet UTP 1000M
Integrated wireless network
(A, B or G)		 A, B, G B, G B, G B, G A, B, G
Integrated Bluetooth Optional No Yes Optional N/A


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Talkback 7 comments

    hmm lets see he said.......If ...Anonymous -- 26/07/05

    hmm lets see he said.......If you simply need a powerful notebook without too many bells and whistles, such as widescreen display, and more importantly you want to minimise the damage to your credit card then definitely look at the Acer TravelMate 4150 priced at just AU$2299. I believe this is a ridiculous price and I think this article does not do justice considering what has been reviewed. This guy is an intel spokesman!

    How about Clevo D900T ($2999)f ...Anonymous -- 26/07/05

    How about Clevo D900T ($2999)for a barebone system packs a punch with more features than most of what you have evaluated. Please expand beyound your current limited known Companies.

    I know AMD v's Intel but Apple smoke them all Tim Cavanagh -- 18/08/05

    You know a G4 15" is lighter, faster, and has long battery life. Ok it does not run x86 natively and is fractionly more expensive than the editors pick. At $3,649 for a fully loaded (much better graphics than those tested too) or $3199 for a base model. Seriously, for normal business use there is not much it cannot do against XP.

    good review! Anonymous -- 19/08/05

    Well I just bought an LW60Express, not the base model either, and I am very pleased, specially as I paid less than $2400. :)

    LG LW60 Anonymous -- 06/09/05 (in reply to #120120260)

    I bought an LG LW60 with 1Gb RAM for just under $2300 (about 2 days before this review came out), and I pretty much agree with the review of it... The display and keyboard are excellent, and having the keypad is a HUGE improvement over other similar sized laptops.<br/><br/>

    The Instant-On works pretty well, though if you are watching DVD's on the train (on the way to/from work...) I have noticed that if there is too much bouncing around it just hangs and has to be switched off/on, whereas the Windows apps such as Power DVD just skip for a bit. Oh yeah, the remote control that stores in the pcmcia slot is brilliant, it even works with Power DVD, WMP, etc.
    <br/><br/>
    Overall, the review is spot-on with this laptop... I am certainly very happy with it.

    Asus a6000 Joel W Pauling -- 22/10/05

    You need to clarify which model of the a6000 you are using they all come with a letter designation after the a6000 (i.e a6000u/n/k/l etc)

    They are very different machines depending on this letter.

    The nvidia graphics on the a6000 is only available on the very highest spec and is not available everywhere.

    All the other models (infact any amd 64 notebook/setup) using the sis graphics have a MAJOR MAJOR problem.

    The SIS graphics 661/MX (aka mirage series) use the memory controler to allocate video bandwidth. on the SIS m760 setup the chipset memory controller is not present (because of the amd64 intergrated on chip).

    The problem here is that the combination results in a severe lack of bandwidth to the graphics chip (espeically when the cpu is throttled). Meaning simple XV overlay of video etc is corupted alot. It also means that Dual head must be droped in resolution.

    This is a serious bug, and is a testament to ASUStek's engineers (there are also other brands with similar issues) hastily putting together a platform...

    LG LW60 Express Peter Crofts -- 02/11/05

    I went out and bought the LG after reading your comparisons. There's very little information about the computer up here, and I don't think its even available in the U.S. Anyhow I took a chance and I'm very happy with my decision. I can't seem to get the type of battery performance out of it that your reviewer did but other than that I have to say for the price, the look and performance of the machine can't be beat. Cheers for the review, if I hadn't come across it I would have probably gone with a Toshiba.

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