Ranking of mobile processors

[u0206397]

What are the common mobile processors used in laptops these days and how do they rank? What are each used for?

From most to least powerful?

1. Core i7 - For gaming/multimedia?
2. Core i5 - For gaming/multimedia?
3. Core i3 - For office productivity?
4. Core M - ???
5. Pentium - For office productivity?
6. Celeron - For office productivity?
7. Intel Atom - For web browsing?

How to know the minimum processor I need when choosing a laptop?

Can enlighten me?

 

[PC_Dreams]

What are the common mobile processors used in laptops these days and how do they rank? What are each used for?

From most to least powerful?

1. Core i7 - For gaming/multimedia?
2. Core i5 - For gaming/multimedia?
3. Core i3 - For office productivity?
4. Core M - ???
5. Pentium - For office productivity?
6. Celeron - For office productivity?
7. Intel Atom - For web browsing?

How to know the minimum processor I need when choosing a laptop?

Can enlighten me?

Why not you let us know what do you intend to use the laptop for? Then we can tell you which is suitable....

 

[u0206397]

Usage

1. Planning to use it for programming/ software development, office productivity (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and web browsing.
2. Will run Visual Studio.
3. Will run 2 to 3 VMs to simulate Linux servers (web server, database etc.).
4. Going to use it for daily programming during office hour (9am - 6pm) at hot desk. Need to bring along when out to lunch.

Came up to this specs:

CPU: (ideally quad core since running VMs?)
RAM: 8GB
HDD: 320GB/500GB or above (SSD not enough for VM)
GPU: Integrated Intel HD Graphics (not gaming, or 3D rendering, no need Nvidia/AMD discrete GPU like 920M/930M)
Display Size: 14.0" / 15.6". For long programming hours, better to get bigger or smaller screen for comfort?
Resolution: 1366x768 (OK to be stuck at lower resolution to conserve battery usage)
Battery: The longer the merrier. So stuck in a dilemma between getting a overly powerful processor that eats battery and getting a overly slow one.
ODD: DVD Drive Not important.

Budget: No $$$ , to be as cheap as possible.

 

[walkwaffle]

Asus UX303LN

I have the UX32LN (previous model, except for battery life and better graphics card, should be similar)

CPU: i5
RAM: Can upgrade to 10gb?
HDD: Just buy 500gb SSD about $400
GPU: have but u dont need
Display: 13.3"
Resolution: FHD. I don't know how useful to vm to a small resolution screen
Battery: Mine is ~4h if surfing, 3h for programming. Broadwell should be much better

 

[ch3ster]

get a business class notebook

my Elitebook HP820 G1
CPU: i5 4300u
RAM: 8GB, (upgradable to 16GB)
HDD: 500GB 7200RPM (with msata slot to add SSD, 250GB SSD enough to speed OS and still got plenty of room in your HDD)
Screen: 12.5in 1366x768 TN panel
Battery life: more than 5hrs
Weight 1.45kg
spill resistant keyboard
tough and excellent build!

you can also check Thinkpads.
Seriously, for work use better get a business class notebook, they are built to last

 

[Intrinion]

Processors themselves, apart from what you have mentioned, is further split into different sub catagories.

Take for example:
i5 4200U vs i5 4200M

it may seem to look the same, however there are differences and similarities

Similarities:
They are both i5 dual core variants ( i5 processors for laptops are dual core)
They are both 4th Gen intel i5 processors (seen with the "4" numbering)

And now for the differences

Differences:
U refers to ultra low power and it's more often than not found in most laptops especially ultrabooks.

M refers to the mobile variant or specifically just a normal powered version, as compared to the U series.

---------
For i7 processors there's 2 main variants
i7 4500U vs i7 4700MQ

The U variant as I have explained above is the ultra low power series which also means it's a dual core i7 processor.

While the MQ = mobile quad core.

 

[Norman Chan]

Intel i7 cpu suppose to be 4 cores but some notebook only got 2 cores , so pls check first before buying...

Example like below this HP notebook...

http://h20386.www2.hp.com/Singapore...spx?id=L1L66PA&opt=&sel=PCNB#merch-tech-specs

 

[MoneyFace =p]

What are the common mobile processors used in laptops these days and how do they rank? What are each used for?

From most to least powerful?

1. Core i7 - For gaming/multimedia?
2. Core i5 - For gaming/multimedia?
3. Core i3 - For office productivity?
4. Core M - ???
5. Pentium - For office productivity?
6. Celeron - For office productivity?
7. Intel Atom - For web browsing?

How to know the minimum processor I need when choosing a laptop?

Can enlighten me?

For mobile:

Core i7-QM: Hardcore gamers, VMs, professional photo & video editing
Core i7-U/Y: Got money dunno where to spend
Core i5: Mainstream ideal for most
Core i3: Mainstream lighter usage
Core m: Light usage for expensive notebook/tablets
Pentium/Celeron: Light usage for cheap notebooks
Pentium/Celeron N & Atom: Netbook grade crap. For moderate web surfing and office usage.

 

[u0206397]

For mobile:

Core i7-QM: Hardcore gamers, VMs, professional photo & video editing
Core i7-U/Y: Got money dunno where to spend
Core i5: Mainstream ideal for most
Core i3: Mainstream lighter usage
Core m: Light usage for expensive notebook/tablets
Pentium/Celeron: Light usage for cheap notebooks
Pentium/Celeron N & Atom: Netbook grade crap. For moderate web surfing and office usage.

Like that means for programming laptop should have Core i7 at least? Since may be running VM for testing.

For virtualization, should choose a more powerful processor (i7 or i5), or more RAM better?

If intending to run IDE like Visual Studio/Eclipse and 2 Linux VM (1 core, 512MB ram) for development/testing concurrently.

Also, is bigger screen 15.6 inch better than 14 inch for programming?

 

[davidktw]

Like that means for programming laptop should have Core i7 at least? Since may be running VM for testing.

For virtualization, should choose a more powerful processor (i7 or i5), or more RAM better?

If intending to run IDE like Visual Studio/Eclipse and 2 Linux VM (1 core, 512MB ram) for development/testing concurrently.

Also, is bigger screen 15.6 inch better than 14 inch for programming?

My laptop is Mac OS X with Core 2 Duo slower than the latest Intel Core M and I have been doing full fledge programming on 8GB of ram. I uses Eclipse too. Seriously, what kind of project are you performing that requires i7 for development ? Aerospace industry ?

Nowadays I find the machine sizing sounds like magic to me

 

[fxsg123]

My laptop is Mac OS X with Core 2 Duo slower than the latest Intel Core M and I have been doing full fledge programming on 8GB of ram. I uses Eclipse too. Seriously, what kind of project are you performing that requires i7 for development ? Aerospace industry ?

Nowadays I find the machine sizing sounds like magic to me

I think what thread owner means is VM rather than programming. Programming then deploy output into VM for testing.

 

[davidktw]

I think what thread owner means is VM rather than programming. Programming then deploy output into VM for testing.

I have been running ubuntu inside Parallels, Windows XP inside Parallels. Actually you guys really underestimated machines nowadays. I have been doing these for the last 5 years using this machine.

What kind of development machines you guys are running that need 2GB or even 4GB for testing ? I'm curious seriously....

If TS or anyone can afford better machines, go ahead get the machine you want. But do understand the capability of your machine. It's not making sense development requires need a quad core or what. I highly doubt the discussion here is creating hadoop or doing anything so fanciful that you need all the quad core working for you ? I have been compiling codes of open source projects from Java, C, or even Python on my dual core machine for years, or even from machines slower than what I have today.

Nowadays end-users are over estimating the machine sizing like they need a super computer to just start development

 

[fxsg123]

I have been running ubuntu inside Parallels, Windows XP inside Parallels. Actually you guys really underestimated machines nowadays. I have been doing these for the last 5 years using this machine.

What kind of development machines you guys are running that need 2GB or even 4GB for testing ? I'm curious seriously....

If TS or anyone can afford better machines, go ahead get the machine you want. But do understand the capability of your machine. It's not making sense development requires need a quad core or what. I highly doubt the discussion here is creating hadoop or doing anything so fanciful that you need all the quad core working for you ? I have been compiling cones of open source projects from Java, C, or even Python on my dual core machine for years

Actually, you are not wrong for CPU. Any project that one can compile and deploy in a personal laptop is too small to reap the benefits of multiple cores. Cpu is rarely a bottleneck.

However, memory and disk I/o is a common bottleneck. And usually a high end personal laptop itself walread come with better CPU, aka I7.

I list an example of normal 'small' scale development deployment that's achievable in a personal laptop.

. One UNIX based VM for java application running on WebLogic with db2 database will require at least to be meaningful 4GB.
. Another VM with windows server for active directory LDAP services and ca for security and cert will easily take up another 4GB.

In both case, I'm not talking about clustering and not including Middleware components which will need higher setup.
I'm also combining application with db which usually in production is not the case.

 

[davidktw]

Actually, you are not wrong for CPU. Any project that one can compile and deploy in a personal laptop is too small to reap the benefits of multiple cores. Cpu is rarely a bottleneck.

However, memory and disk I/o is a common bottleneck. And usually a high end personal laptop itself will come with better CPU, aka I7.

I list an example of normal 'small' scale development deployment that's achievable in a personal laptop.

. One UNIX based VM for java application running on WebLogic with db2 database will require at least to be meaningful 4GB.
. Another VM with windows server for active directory LDAP services and ca for security and cert will easily take up another 4GB.

In both case, I'm not talking about clustering and not including Middleware components which will need higher setup.
I'm also combining application with db which usually in production is not the case.

I have ran the whole setup of a Oracle IAM with Oracle DB, Weblogic, OID(enterprise ldap), OAM, inside a 4GB windows laptop running only Dual Core on normally 5400rpm harddisk So I know how much drag we are talking about

So unless TS is performing such advance setup, then we need to talk about performance. Having nowadays laptops comes with SSD, much of the bottlenecks of starting up these components from a freshly startup system is alleviated.

If one is a software developer, then clearly one need to think out of the box. If you want to squeeze everything into a box, I give you the best laptop in the world, you will still trap with performance issue.

What I'm talking about is not how much comfort you need in your development environment, what I"m talking about is what you need to even get started to work with common development environments nowadays. If you want to quote in such heavy weigh environments, I would have advice you shift these into the cloud.

Clustering may need extra resource. In a development environment, you don't even have sufficient traffic for clustering to come into discussion. It's just a simulated setup. Don't mind me, but I have setup 7 redhat clusters before in production environment, so I don't see where the loads are.

In any case, my case here is not to discuss how much power TS need to feel comfortable. I'm sure there are developers that find waiting 30s for the Java tomcat to startup is too slow for them. What I'm just sharing is if you want a i7 machine, sure go ahead. If you just wanted to get started with software development, <8GB on even a Intel core M can already been doing things I have been doing for years. An i5 has good headroom. An i7 would have a lot of headroom. That's what I'm talking about.

If I have been running simulations so often in my machine with only 8GB, SSD and Core 2 Duo, I wonder what kind of sizing is this

 

[fxsg123]

I have ran the whole setup of a Oracle IAM with Oracle DB, Weblogic, OID(enterprise ldap), OAM, inside a 4GB windows laptop running only Dual Core on normally 5400rpm harddisk So I know how much drag we are talking about

So unless TS is performing such advance setup, then we need to talk about performance. Having nowadays laptops comes with SSD, much of the bottlenecks of starting up these components from a freshly startup system is alleviated.

If one is a software developer, then clearly one need to think out of the box. If you want to squeeze everything into a box, I give you the best laptop in the world, you will still trap with performance issue.

What I'm talking about is not how much comfort you need in your development environment, what I"m talking about is what you need to even get started to work with common development environments nowadays. If you want to quote in such heavy weigh environments, I would have advice you shift these into the cloud.

Clustering may need extra resource. In a development environment, you don't even have sufficient traffic for clustering to come into discussion. It's just a simulated setup. Don't mind me, but I have setup 7 redhat clusters before in production environment, so I don't see where the loads are.

In any case, my case here is not to discuss how much power TS need to feel comfortable. I'm sure there are developers that find waiting 30s for the Java tomcat to startup is too slow for them. What I'm just sharing is if you want a i7 machine, sure go ahead. If you just wanted to get started with software development, <8GB on even a Intel core M can already been doing things I have been doing for years. An i5 has good headroom. An i7 would have a lot of headroom. That's what I'm talking about.

If I have been running simulations so often in my machine with only 8GB, SSD and Core 2 Duo, I wonder what kind of sizing is this

A VM with an application server, program and db is not an advance setup, its in fact minimum to simulate most enterprise environment.

Cluster is not so much about traffic, its more of ha. Testing for ha environment might be a requirement in most development.

Db2, especially v10 itself will complain of insufficient memory given 4GB.

Lastly, development will usually involve performance test, where a developer would like to, as much as possible match production environment. In this case, we will increase our VM resource to perform load test.

So much said, ts understand his requirement best. Its up to him to define his most comfortable setup

 

[Kyo_kusanagi86]

I remember the sales gal at the PC show was telling me the Intel Core M is the latest and more POWERFUL processor then the i7. I didn't check back then and took her word. I bought the Asus UX305 with the top end (Intel Core M 5Y71 processor). $1199.

 

[davidktw]

A VM with an application server, program and db is not an advance setup, its in fact minimum to simulate most enterprise environment.

Cluster is not so much about traffic, its more of ha. Testing for ha environment might be a requirement in most development.

Db2, especially v10 itself will complain of insufficient memory given 4GB.

Lastly, development will usually involve performance test, where a developer would like to, as much as possible match production environment. In this case, we will increase our VM resource to perform load test.

So much said, ts understand his requirement best. Its up to him to define his most comfortable setup

Why should you be having HA in a development environment ? I can understand the need to establish a similar setup to the production, but 90% of the time, it does not require for HA in development environment. The environment that should be closest to the production is the staging environment. Why should one be performing performance test on a development environment ? Are you sure these are the industrial practices when you discuss them ?

I have been working for so many enterprising environments from Telco, Financial, MNC, public sectors, and large media and press, and it is the first time I come across mentioning of HA testing and performance testing in development environment. In all these occasions, development environments are found either with clients or with the developers, and none of these cases ever have such requirement. It must be a rare industry you are in.

If there is such a hard requirement for 4GB for IBM DB2, then perhaps one can opt not running on the very same laptop ?

Anyway, you are right. TS should have the best understanding. My recommendation is not to be over zealous with the specs of a development environment.

 

[micheloving]

I remember the sales gal at the PC show was telling me the Intel Core M is the latest and more POWERFUL processor then the i7. I didn't check back then and took her word. I bought the Asus UX305 with the top end (Intel Core M 5Y71 processor). $1199.

Mesmerize by her pretty face obviously .

I haven't met a IT sales gals that have even decent IT knowledge ..... maybe its just me

Never let the third leg do the thinking for you XD>

 

[Kyo_kusanagi86]

Mesmerize by her pretty face obviously .

I haven't met a IT sales gals that have even decent IT knowledge ..... maybe its just me

Never let the third leg do the thinking for you XD>

She mentioned to me, she will only be there for the first two days of the PC show, as she cant commit the weekends then also informed me the her commission only Single digit per laptop. Poor thingz

 

[fxsg123]

Why should you be having HA in a development environment ? I can understand the need to establish a similar setup to the production, but 90% of the time, it does not require for HA in development environment. The environment that should be closest to the production is the staging environment. Why should one be performing performance test on a development environment ? Are you sure these are the industrial practices when you discuss them ?

I have been working for so many enterprising environments from Telco, Financial, MNC, public sectors, and large media and press, and it is the first time I come across mentioning of HA testing and performance testing in development environment. In all these occasions, development environments are found either with clients or with the developers, and none of these cases ever have such requirement. It must be a rare industry you are in.

If there is such a hard requirement for 4GB for IBM DB2, then perhaps one can opt not running on the very same laptop ?

Anyway, you are right. TS should have the best understanding. My recommendation is not to be over zealous with the specs of a development environment.

Alot of developments are design with HA for uptime and/or load balancing in mind.

Staging environment is usually platform whereby final or near complete deployment take places. It usually involve not just application teams but infra, network, security and db teams for example.
One would prefer to be as perfect as possible before entering staging.

Anyway, its down to individual preference. My personal view is just to highlight in today competitive market, especially development there's no need to be restricted by hardware specs.