Processor-illiterate: Can Someone Please Help Me Compare A Couple Processors?

[Ashkin1194]

Hey there,

I'm in the market for a MBP. Haven't decided whether I'm waiting for the redesign or not, but that's not my question.

Whichever MBP model i get (current or redesign), the processor will be generations ahead of my current desktop's. Could someone please explain the specific improvements i would see switching from my current processor to a MBP? I'm not sure which configuration I'd get, so if your answers vary that much between models, i'll try to decide.

My current processor is an Intel Core2 Quad Q8200 @ 2.33GHz




If you have time:

Will I see noticeable improvement from switching between my desktop and a current MBP and my desktop and an Ivy Bridge MBP (of the future)?

 

[outz]

imo the Q8200 is still a great cpu for most tasks. you might want to list the software/type of work you usually do with your mbp.

 

[macmastersam]

Hey there,

I'm in the market for a MBP. Haven't decided whether I'm waiting for the redesign or not, but that's not my question.

Whichever MBP model i get (current or redesign), the processor will be generations ahead of my current desktop's. Could someone please explain the specific improvements i would see switching from my current processor to a MBP? I'm not sure which configuration I'd get, so if your answers vary that much between models, i'll try to decide.

My current processor is an Intel Core2 Quad Q8200 @ 2.33GHz

what exactly do you do in the computer? the specs give us some idea as to what you do, mentioning the word 'quad', but not enough info. what you do on the computer will help us to pick out a MBP model that you need/want?


If you have time:

Will I see noticeable improvement from switching between my desktop and a current MBP and my desktop and an Ivy Bridge MBP (of the future)?

what exactly do you do on the computer? the specs give us some idea as to what you do, mentioning the word 'quad', but not enough info. what you do on the computer will help us to pick out a MBP model that you need/want

 

[shootist]

The new processors do Process much faster then the C2D models.
But that is not the overall speed of any computer.
That lies with HDD speed and the OS along with the speed of the CPU and the amount of RAM.

Will you see the same programs process data faster on a new computer with a modern CPU, Yes you will. Whether it is a Mac or a PC. Will you notice a difference going from your current PC to a Mac notebook, Some but not a lot, IMHO.

All Mac notebooks come with a slow 5400RPM HDD and Lion uses a lot of the standard 4GBs of RAM which does not leave much for programs.
So if you are going Mac you should look into upgrading the HDD to a 7200RPM model or SSD and putting at least 8GBs of RAM in it. That can be done after you buy it as Apple give instruction in the user manual to do both those upgrades.

Or you could just buy a Win PC for less money and more power, faster HDD and more RAM to start with.

 

[Kauai]

From what I understand a dual-core i3 SB will beat out your Core2 Quad at the same clock speed.

 

[Cliff3]

http://ark.intel.com/compare/53474,36547
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core2+Quad+Q8200+@+2.33GHz
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-2760QM+@+2.40GHz

The current mobile CPUs are substantially faster than your old desktop CPU. Performance will be significantly greater with both single- and multi-threaded applications. Performance of virtualized environments (VMWare, Parallels, VirtualBox) will be substantially improved as well since your old CPU lacks support for a key technology (VT-x).

 

[Ashkin1194]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Sorry everyone, here are some of my normal tasks. If it changes anything, I'll be getting a MBP with an SSD.

Photoshop, Xcode, moderate gaming, maybe some AutoCAD

 

[MartyF81]

1. It is faster than your old.
2. Unless you are editing mass quantities of HD Video.... it doesn't make a difference at all.

Processors we have available to us today are way faster than any normal person could use. It is basically a "1 better than the other guy" match right now where everyone keeps boosting their processors to be better than the competition.

Most common people use their computer for:

1. Email
2. Facebook
3. Surfing the Net
4. Mild "Office" or "iWork" documents. (99.99% of the world is doing Mild work in this stuff).
5. Photo Editing. (Even if you are doing Photoshop stuff it is likely mild).

Your computer you have now can do all of the above just fine.... probably way more than fine actually. Your new computer will be the same.

It's like giving a Ferrari to my Grandmother. 364 days of the year it never gets over 35mph... 1 day of the year I sneak it out of the garage and push it to 130mph.... but even still the Roads (applications) aren't capable of me getting it to its 220mph limit.

Get whatever the base model processor is. Worry about RAM, HDD/SSD, or Screen Options that suit you.