My Laptop vs. Destop. Which is faster?

[VK56VD]

I've recently bought a cheap laptop for surfing the net around the house using a wireless connection. I was wondering how it stack up against my 3 1/2 old Desktop. The specs are below. Which computer is faster in your opinion?

The laptop is a Compaq V3000Z
Mobile AMD Sempron(TM) 3400+ (1.80GHz/256KB)
2GB DDR2 System Memory
40GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

The old Desktop is a Dell Dimension 2400
Intel Pentium 4 Processor (2.4GHz)
2GB DDR SDRAM PC3200
80GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA Hard Drive

 

[Ugly3]

Desktop will win the race. Faster CPU and faster HDD.

 

[JTK]

Based on specs, your desktop should be faster, but that totally depends on what you have loaded on each, what is running in the background, etc..

Joel

 

[T-Keith]

I don't know, how old is the P4? The Semprons aren't that bad of processor, unlike the Celeron.

 

[VK56VD]

the desktop is an older machine that was bought in 2003. The P4 is relatively old and does not have the hyper threading technology (HT)

I've thought these new amd sempron 3400+ mobile processors are way ahead of the older P4 as they are designed around a new technology.

 

[Volvohead]

The desktop will load apps more quickly, but the laptop might do a little better with more CPU/GPU intensive tasks such as video rendering. If the desktop has a strong video card, then it might still be better in many video intensive apps, too.

Most folks never really use all the CPU horsepower they buy. I've got 1 Ghz systems that still move along fine. HDDs and memory are what equate to speedy performance in the typical household computer.

Laptops will always be a compromise performance solution. Really fast laptop HDDs matching desktop performance are battery killers. Lots of extra memory also sucks down power. Pick your poison.

 

[simple_gifts]

I don't think the HD comparison is as easy as RPM, one is SATA the other ATA. Having had a SATA drive for years, I can barely tolerate ATA based machines.

 

[Virtuoso]

I would imagine, with as slow as the laptop's drive is spinning, it comes nowhere near the rates SATA can handle. Disk intensive tasks, I say the P4 wins. Processor intensive? Perhaps the laptop. But I'm partial to AMD

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

I vote your desktop is faster for most things.

 

[Volvohead]

Quote:

---

I don't think the HD comparison is as easy as RPM, one is SATA the other ATA. Having had a SATA drive for years, I can barely tolerate ATA based machines.

---

The other HDD was Ultra ATA. Unless the SATA controller is really good, spindle speed differences of that magnitude become the deciding factor in this instance.

SATA drives aren't all that much better until you move up to a full SATA2 platform, or run RAID 0 configs.

There's a reason power users like Raptors, and it isn't the SATA port.