What Exactly Is Centrino?

[SingaBoiy]

Whenever I read about it or hear about it, they never talk about specifics. Is it just integrated 10/100 networking? So that you dont have to buy a wireless card?

Doesnt seem tu smart to spend more money on something like that.

[bob_the_alien]

Bascially it's just all intel hardware, and it's suppose to make the battery last longer, also has the built in wireless card,
but basically it's just a bunch of intel hardware. That's all it means.

[tesco]

its intels laptop package, it includes a bunch of hardware from intel as bob_the_alien has said, which includes an intel pentium M processor, integrated wireless networking, and some other stuff. And it uses far less battery than the competitions hardware, so centrino is currently the best solution for laptops.

[lynx]

Have Intel come up with a radical new chip design with the Pentium M?

The fastest seems to be 1.7GHz yet they are claiming it is their fastest mobile chip, but I've seen plenty of laptops with 2.8GHz processors or better.

Actually, the Pentium M chip looks remarkably like an Athlon Mobile chip, I wonder if AMD are making them for Intel? :rolleyes:

[Cyonic]

If I was to get a laptop for gaming would I be better of getting a Athlon XP-Mobile or just a normal Athlon XP laptop?

[monkeyhead]

do be honest laptops arnt designed for games.They designed for "on the move capapilates" :)

[100%]

The Centrino also is supposed to make sure laptops dont heat up like with pentium4
so less fan noise

[fred devliegher]

Originally posted by lynx@30 April 2004 - 22:14
Have Intel come up with a radical new chip design with the Pentium M?

The fastest seems to be 1.7GHz yet they are claiming it is their fastest mobile chip, but I've seen plenty of laptops with 2.8GHz processors or better.


It is their fastest mobile chip. The more powerful laptops simply use the desktop CPU - faster but it needs a lot of cooling which the diddy laptop fans aren't exactly providing. I've got a 2.66 P4 in my laptop and it's noisy as hell - my sister has a 1.7 M and you can barely hear it because the fans rarely have to rev up.

So yes, unless you want *the* fastest laptop, or a specific package that only comes with the desktop CPU,, get an M.

[lynx]

A friend recently got a Sony Vaio notebook with a 2.8 processor. It is almost silent, and doesn't appear to get particularly hot. A lot cheaper than the models with the Centrino chipset, yet it has a much larger display and built in wireless networking too.

[fred devliegher]

This (http://vaio.sony-europe.com/PageView.do?site=vaio_en_GB&page=ProductHome&section=en_GB_Products&productmodel=%2FComputing%2FVAIO+Professional+Notebooks%2FVPN+K100+Series%2FPCG-K195BP&productcategory=%2FComputing%2FVAIO+Professional+Notebooks%2FVPN+K100+Series)one ? Is it really that silent ?

[atiVidia]

search pricewatch long enuf and u can find pentium M chips randomly floating around.

the great part is that they fit into socket 478 so if i ever get the chance i want to OC one (im not into the M chips that much... whats the latest core revision? Dothan? i dunno... but i think the latest 1 is pretty much a dimmed down prescott...)

damn either that or just bench it and see how well it does. if it does well enough then i can slap on a passive heatsink and just use pentium M chips instead of the standard p4s.

[atiVidia]

here (http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=942&NoNav=NO&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&MfgTech=ALL&step=ALL&cache=ALL&PkgType=5882&btnFOS=Filter+on+selections)

i updated it: these chips will fit in a desktop socket. however, i will not guarantee that it will work (altho there is the chance... :-)

if i try it and i pull it off then i will tell evry1 and give screenshots & benchies...



but i didnt yet. btw if u want to try it make sure u pick up a 478 pin and not the 479 pin.

[lynx]

Originally posted by fred devliegher@1 May 2004 - 14:10
This (http://vaio.sony-europe.com/PageView.do?site=vaio_en_GB&page=ProductHome&section=en_GB_Products&productmodel=%2FComputing%2FVAIO+Professional+Notebooks%2FVPN+K100+Series%2FPCG-K195BP&productcategory=%2FComputing%2FVAIO+Professional+Notebooks%2FVPN+K100+Series)one ? Is it really that silent ?
No, that's a Celeron. I'm not sure, but I think it is probably this (http://vaio.sony-europe.com/PageView.do?site=vaio_en_GB&page=ProductHome&section=en_GB_Products&productmodel=%2FComputing%2FVAIO+Professional+Notebooks%2FVPN+GRT800+Series%2FPCG-GRT896SP&productcategory=%2FComputing%2FVAIO+Professional+Notebooks%2FVPN+GRT800+Series) one.

Yes, it is that quiet.

Superb 16" TFT display.

[lynx]

Originally posted by atiVidia@1 May 2004 - 16:18
here (http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=942&NoNav=NO&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&MfgTech=ALL&step=ALL&cache=ALL&PkgType=5882&btnFOS=Filter+on+selections)

i updated it: these chips will fit in a desktop socket. however, i will not guarantee that it will work (altho there is the chance... :-)

if i try it and i pull it off then i will tell evry1 and give screenshots & benchies...



but i didnt yet. btw if u want to try it make sure u pick up a 478 pin and not the 479 pin.
You probably need to watch out for the core voltage, they are a lot lower that standard chips.

And they don't have a heat spreader so getting a heatsink to fit could be a problem too.

[atiVidia]

Originally posted by lynx+1 May 2004 - 11:22--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (lynx @ 1 May 2004 - 11:22)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-atiVidia@1 May 2004 - 16:18
here (http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=942&NoNav=NO&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&MfgTech=ALL&step=ALL&cache=ALL&PkgType=5882&btnFOS=Filter+on+selections)

i updated it: these chips will fit in a desktop socket. however, i will not guarantee that it will work (altho there is the chance... :-)

if i try it and i pull it off then i will tell evry1 and give screenshots & benchies...



but i didnt yet. btw if u want to try it make sure u pick up a 478 pin and not the 479 pin.
You probably need to watch out for the core voltage, they are a lot lower that standard chips.

And they don&#39;t have a heat spreader so getting a heatsink to fit could be a problem too. [/b][/quote]
lol yah id have to be careful bout that

but the heatsink issue isnt that bad
i need a 1u rackmount solution (or a sexy heatpipe rofl)

[j2k4]

Hey lynx?

As re: speed, I just read a blurb about P/M vs P/4 chips.

P/M has a slower clock-cycle (to enhance battery-life greatly) but is somehow configured to get lots more done during each cycle; this article equated a 1.6G "M" processor with a 2.2G P4, speed-wise.

Now I can&#39;t find the link, but that&#39;s what it said.

I&#39;m kicking this around &#39;cuz I&#39;m looking at laptops-if I buy one, I&#39;m thinking of an "M" equipped machine.

It&#39;s quandary-time&#33;

Any thoughts?

[atiVidia]

lol i remember that link

it was the comparison between aXP chips and p4 chips. i can explain it rite now (tho i dont remember all the technical terms :))

the pM has to go thru less "rounds" (forgot technical term) with each cycle than the p4. the longer the "rounds" the more prone the processor is to making a mistake guessing a certain value, the harsher the speed penalty. pMs and aXPs share the fact that they both have shorter "rounds" per clock. whereas the p4 has longer rounds. (the prescott made that even longer too <_<)


i tried my best. hope u understood it :-)

[lynx]

I think you are talking about processor pipelining and work done per clock cycle. They are not the same thing, although one can have an effect on the other.

AMD processors (and I assume from j2&#39;s comments the Intel M chips) do more work per cycle, so they can do the same amount of work with lower frequencies. This is what I was querying about the M chips, but I haven&#39;t seen anything about it.

The pipelining issue is different. Pipelining allows the processor to "look ahead" and preload the next instructions and data into a pipeline. But of course they can only predict one route through a program so any variation from the predicted route means the preloading of instruction/data is wasted. This is called pipeline stalling. Pipeline stall also occurs when the pipeline simply runs out of information.

P4&#39;s need longer pipelines because they are running at higher frequencies, and the consequence of pipeline "failure" is consequently more severe. I believe hyperthreading is intended to help this by having more than one pipeline, but it doesn&#39;t seem to have as much effect as Intel might have hoped. Of course the more pipelines you have the better the chance that you&#39;ve got a successful pipeline preloaded, but the downside is extra heat. Prescott anyone?

[harrycary]

Back to the original question...

Centrino is a marketing ploy for a bundled set of technologies... Intel Pentium M processor
Intel 855 chipset
Intel Pro Wireless 2100 Wi-Fi card

For a laptop to be Centrino-certified, it must have all three Intel components. Truth be told, the Wi-Fi card doesn&#39;t have to be an Intel card to take advantage of the technology. It&#39;s just that Intel won&#39;t let you certify the laptop as a Centrino laptop unless you include all three Intel components.


Just remember that these specs can be had from different manufacturers and not just Intel...

Shop around.