I want to buy a new laptop, but not sure which processor (and graphics) would be the best.

I want to buy a new laptop, but not sure which processor (and graphics) would be the best.

The 1.4 GHZ AMD Quad-Core A6-3400M APU processor with the AMD Radeon HD 6520G Dual GPU (up to 2.98 GB) graphics
Or
The 2.2 GHz Intel Core i3-2330M processor with the Intel HD (up to 1.92 GB total memory) graphics

Here are the specs for the AMD laptop: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=uk&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c03072318
Here are the specs for the Intel laptop: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=uk&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c03120825

The rest of the laptop is exactly the same. They are nearly the same cost and I will be using it for graphic design, web design and development (so it needs to run Adobe CS5 comfortably), watching films, office work etc… (all at the same time!)

It doesn’t have to be one of these laptops but I’ve seen them and like the look of them. I want a laptop for under £500, 17” screen (or 15” with full HD), HDMI, VGA, USB’s etc… and low fan noise (as my current one is very loud) especially when I am using lots of processing power!

So, which processor is best or does anyone have any other suggestions?

Anyone?!

It's kind of a trade off here, the AMD has far more superior graphics then Intel's solution but the processing performance of the Intel is much faster then the AMD's.

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your reply.

Would the Intel HD graphics be better than my current laptop "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 - Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family"

If the Intel is much faster than the AMD and the graphics aren't worse than I have already then I might get the Intel.

But what about the AMD being a quad core? Doesn't that make that faster?! I don't really know much about quad core!

Thanks

Would the Intel HD graphics be better than my current laptop "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 - Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family"

I believe Intel HD Graphics are superior, but please don't quote me on that as I'm not that familiar with integrated GPUs.

But what about the AMD being a quad core? Doesn't that make that faster?! I don't really know much about quad core!

AMD's CPU has 4 cores as opposed to Intel Core i3's 2 cores and this by itself might give AMD an advantage, the important thing to keep in mind here however is that each of the i3's cores are faster-per-core than AMD's: Each core in the i3 will process more data than an AMD core will within a set span of time. Consequently, unless you multitask a lot (and I mean a lot!) and/or run software specifically designed to take full advantage of all 4 cores you are much more likely to find the Core i3 faster for general performance needs.

An easy to understand analogy is whether you'd like to have 2 sports cars (Intel Core i3) or 4 sedans (AMD). You can haul much more stuff with 4 sedans, but unless you actively use that capacity you'd have been much better off with the 2 sports cars for their better speed.

The HD3000 graphics is definitely faster then the X3150. Generally, the more cores sometimes doesn't translate into faster performance then a dual core. It's just Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture is a lot more advanced.

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Louis

After all this I decided to get an Intel Core i7!

Thanks for all the help though!

After all this I decided to get an Intel Core i7!

Thanks for all the help though!

Nice!