Visit a website like Dell, where you can customise a computer to your own liking and budget, and you will find that even brand new computers offer a wide variety of the most fundamental component – the processor. The “brains” that drive the computer, the processor does most of the work in getting other components to work together and producing the end results that you see and hear (and maybe feel) when using your computer. Why are there different processors, and what are the differences?
In the early days of personal computers, choosing a processor was simple. It was all about speed – the newer the processor, the faster it was. The 33Mhz processor was developed, then the 66Mhz, then the 100Mhz, then the 200Mhz etc. etc. The newer and faster, the more expensive.
With the spread of computers and the proliferation of uses came specialisation. Laptop computers need low-power processors to extend battery life and avoid heat problems. Home users want economy models, and corporate power users want mathematical speed for extensive spreadhsheets and databases. Along too came competition – no longer one manufacturer monopolising supply, the likes of AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) sprang into existence to offer equally capable processors at more affordable prices.
So now we find ourselves in a market still dominated by Intel, but with viable alternatives from AMD. Each company leapfrogs the other in terms of processor speed, power, and capability. No longer though is the choice simply about getting the fastest processor for your budgetted amount – you need to consider what the processor will be doing and its working environment.
The AMD processor comes in three flavours ; Sempron, Athlon and Athlon X2. The Sempron is the budget model, the Athlon the full-power model, and the Athlon X2 the screamingly fast 2-into-1 double-processor model.
Intel on the other hand also come in three flavours ; Celeron, Pentium and Core. These are pretty much analgous to AMD's families of processors ie. budget, full-power, and screamer. Intel in fact have just launched a quad-core version of the Core ie. 4 processors combined into 1. Expect to pay handsomely for such amazing computing power.
Within each flavour of any processor, there are variations in terms of speed, amount of onboard (ie. immediately at hand) memory and other factors, but you would be hard pressed to see the difference. Note that some processors are specifically geared to laptops, where they drop down in speed (and therefore power requirements and heat production) while on battery.
The arguments for and against each can be fairly esoteric, and which is better seems to depend on what is being measured. All the same, when presented with a choice of processor, follow the budget/full-power/screamer guide and decide how much you want to spend (and how long you think you will keep the computer before upgrading). And multi-core (ie. multiple processors in one chip) is definitely the way of the future.
Questions? - Merlin Pacific IT provide effective & efficient business IT. Join VIGNET (Vanuatu Internet User Group) email discussions, register at tinyurl.com/zcusl
