AboutKarl Zick Expertise I am very familiar with all brands of computers and computer components and the best places to purchase them. Can also provide a lot of help to the 'build your own PC' folks.
Experience over 20 years experience as a computer systems consultant and PC builder/user/trouble shooter.
Education/Credentials BSEE from VMI and CIS degree from El Camino.
Question Hi Karl. I hope you can help me. I am in the process of narrowing down my list of used laptop choices on ebay. One area where I am stumped is Processors. I am not even sure where to start, so let me ask this first: If you were to give someone a quick crash course on Processors (Intel and AMD processors and stack them side by side ex what is the AMD equivalent of a Pentium 4) what would you say? One thing I can tell you is that I dont like Celeron processors because they are slow and working with them is depressin
The other area I can use some help is in understanding the series the manufacturers use. My list is made up of Dell's and IBM/Lenovo's. I dont know the different between a Dell D series and a C series (ex D610 and C840) and IBM's different series (ex IBM X41 andT30 and T43). Can you help with this?
Thank you for your time. I look forward to your response.
Answer Hi Ash,
First, I would never buy a used laptop of any brand. You are purchasing another persons cast-off and if you get a lemon, they are VERY expensive to repair.
Second, you can purchase a new hi-end laptop for under $400 these days, so why mess around with a used one.
My favorite bang for the buck is a Toshiba Satellite and I have seen them recently at Office Depot for $370. I also like Lenovo, and Newegg.com just had a special on them for the same price with free shipping and no sales tax.
To answer your processor question, it is almost impossible these days to make a side-by-side comparison between an Intel and an AMD because of the very confusing nomenclature both companies use. The most important factors are whether they are 64 bit and dual, tri, or quad core. You are right about a Celeron. I cannot understand why Intel still makes such a dog. As far as performance, Intel and AMD are both good and I would not let that be a governing factor.
The last thing to look at is RAM. If you are running Vista (which most new laptops come with) I recommend at least 3GB of RAM. Notebook RAM is cheap these days (around $15 a gig) so make sure you get one that is expandible to at least 4GB if the basic unit comes with 1 or 2 GB.
Sorry about the slow response - I have been tied up all week in a big church project.
