TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Celeron vs Pentium for a TWer's laptop? From:jsmith -at- informatica -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 12 Dec 2000 14:15:01 -0800
Geoff wrote in response to Milan Davidovic:
> Milan Davidovic is <<...considering my first purchase of a
> Windows machine.
> For my purposes, a laptop is better than a desktop. Windows
> laptop with
> Intel processors feature either a Celeron or a Pentium
> chip... what are the
> important
> differences between these two processors?>>
>
> Assuming you're buying current versions of both processors (a
> Celeron faster
> than 400 MHz vs. a comparable Pentium II or even a Pentium
> III) and that all
> else (particularly cache memory, RAM, video chip, and hard
> disk size) are
> comparable, then the Pentium's the better chip. Although both are
> relatively good choices for basic word processing, anything
> graphical should
> run faster on the Pentium at equal clock speeds. The Pentium
I recently asked this question and I heard the most specific answer ever.
The Celeron processor *is* a Pentium processor (whether you're talking about
P II or III) except Intel has "crippled" it. Intel cripples it by giving it
a slower bus. The computational aspect of the chip is exactly the same, but
the bus is smaller/slower.
What that means is that graphic manipulation is theoretically the same on a
Celeron as on a Pentium because graphic manipulation is all mathematical
computation. What *does* get crippled by having a smaller bus is the rate
of I/O, input/output. So, if you are moving large amounts of data, for
example with a database, you will see a significant difference in speed.
This is, of course, assuming all else is equal. If, however, you don't have
enough RAM for your graphics, then you start swapping to disk. In that
case, you are impacted by having a slow bus and you will definitely see a
difference with the Celeron processor.
I would imagine a Celeron processor-based computer would be definitely
adequate for a tech writer. If price has become an issue for you and you
really want a laptop instead of a desktop, then I would get the Celeron.
Here's my caveat: I have never used a Celeron processor-based computer, so
I don't speak from experience. =} I am only repeating what a couple good
computer geeks told me... (Also, there are minor differences between the
two chips but I forget them and I think they were relatively minor.)
Jennie Smith
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Develop HTML-based Help with Macromedia Dreamweaver! (STC Discount.)
**NEW DATE/LOCATION!** January 16-17, 2001, New York, NY. http://www.weisner.com/training/dreamweaver_help.htm or 800-646-9989.
Take XML and Tech Writing courses online! Our instructor-led courses
(4-6 hrs/wk) give you "hands on" experience at your convenience. STC members
get 20% off! http://www.online-learning.com/index.html.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
