Laptop processors I7 v quad core? and what is 'turbo mode'

[Rudyard]

Am paying attention to computers in the junk mail as I will be doing some major upgrading next year which will include a decent laptop.

All of the higher priced ones come now with a 1.6ghz intel I7 and then it says in brackets (up tp 2.8ghz turbo mode)

What does that mean? and if you were looking for a laptop with the aim of doing 3D CAD and rendering work meaning the CPU is going to get a workout what sort of laptop processor should I be thinking of?

CPU: Core i7-720QM (1.6GHz), is what I can find online but without the (up tp 2.8ghz turbo mode) marketing.

Im a little confused as to weather a lower clocked i7 is better in a laptop than a higher clocked quad such as 'Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000. PROCESSOR: 2GHZ.' which is also advertised.

[edDV]

3D CAD (AutoCAD?) is more graphics card sensitive. Depends what you are doing. Hard to find a laptop with ATI FireGL or NVIDIA Quadro built in.

Start with the software system requirements. Then search for a laptop with the features needed. Check your options with forums dedicated to the software you plan to use.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/hc?siteID=123112&id=6711853&linkID=9240618

Quadro laptops
http://www.cad2.com/workstations/laptop-workstations.html
http://www.bizrate.com/laptop-quadro/

FireGL laptops
http://www.bizrate.com/laptop-computers/firegl-laptop/

Good hunting.

[jagabo]

Turbo mode boosts the CPU clock during CPU intensive applications that don't use multiple cores well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llOXMPXH2VA
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3641

[edDV]

Dell has a good line of mobile workstations
http://www.dell.com/us/en/business/notebooks/precnnb/ct.aspx?refid=precnnb&s=bsd&cs=04&ref=lthp

The i7 + quadro models get fairly expensive.
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/precision-m6500?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04

[greymalkin]

Turbo mode boosts the CPU clock during CPU intensive applications that don't use multiple cores well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llOXMPXH2VA
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3641

wow..is the turbo button making a comeback? I remember it made my dos games go crazy

[aedipuss]

then of course there are also these special reverse turbo dell E6500 and E6400 laptops

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/11/30/1818207/Dell-Defect-Turning-22GHz-CPU-Into-100MHz-CPU

[Rudyard]

3D CAD (AutoCAD?) is more graphics card sensitive. Depends what you are doing. Hard to find a laptop with ATI FireGL or NVIDIA Quadro built in.

Autocad a litle but that is being phased out for Revit, also need 3DS MAX and other similar programs. Geberal use of the programs are ok, its the rendering part that max's the CPU to 100% and can have a huge impact on work times, especially when doing test renders. The desktop will be the main horse, but need decent secondary laptop.

Thanks for the links, will do some reading.

Turbo mode boosts the CPU clock during CPU intensive applications that don't use multiple cores well:

Thanks, that was some good reading, wasnt sure if it was just marketing or something beneficial. So a 1.6ghz processor with 2.8ghz turbo mode, essentially means 1.6ghz for each core when multiple cores are running and 2.8ghz is the clock speed if a single core is running and the others are idle.

wow..is the turbo button making a comeback? I remember it made my dos games go crazy biggrin.gif

haha, I remember that button, what was the point of slowing down my 386sx 25mhz by half its clock speed?

[jagabo]

wow..is the turbo button making a comeback? I remember it made my dos games go crazy biggrin.gif

haha, I remember that button, what was the point of slowing down my 386sx 25mhz by half its clock speed?

Many games used timing loops and ran too fast in turbo mode.

[Rudyard]

Been looking at laptops, am wondering is there any advice over particular brands? Are custom built from a local shop better alternatives to brand names or are HP, Dell, Toshiba etc ok? Previous HP's ive seen seem to come with millions of preloaded junk taking ages to boot the PC. Also why are Sony Vaios so more expensive than the competition, is there something better about them or just over priced? (Ive been looking at Australian prices)

[aedipuss]

laptops just aren't made for highly intensive cpu use. not enough air movement in such a small case. they will all slow themselves down in a short amount of time at 100% cpu use. current best builds are usually listed as asus and toshiba. all need a thorough de-junking at first boot. only custom build worth looking into uses the ocz chassis, but even it's not up to spec with the big manufacturers. sony tends to be overpriced, not better.

[Rudyard]

laptops just aren't made for highly intensive cpu use. not enough air movement in such a small case. they will all slow themselves down in a short amount of time at 100% cpu use. current best builds are usually listed as asus and toshiba. all need a thorough de-junking at first boot. only custom build worth looking into uses the ocz chassis, but even it's not up to spec with the big manufacturers. sony tends to be overpriced, not better.

Thankyou, I will look into ASUS and TOSHIBA and steer clear of SONY if they offer nothing other than a higher price, do you have any opinions on HP laptops, they have some better deals than TOSHIBA at the moment here (havent checked ASUS yet) or DELL (as EDDV mentioned earlier). I was a little put off by them from a relative who has one that has so much junk installed on it, but if I have to expect that from all pre packaged dealers I may change my opinion. Can you buy 'clean' installs?

I understand it cant be as good as a desktop and it is intended to be a secondary PC that allows me to utilise my down time at my other job to make alterations and develop my projects since I can take it with me.

Thanks for your help. Im looking at spending 2.5-3k Aussie bucks.

[aedipuss]

i used to highly recommend dell laptops, but their quality this last year or so has been terrible. hp is ok, right know i'd say a step above dell. the new i5 cpu is where i would be looking. excellent battery life and decent performance.

again, they all come with junk software installed as they are paid to put it on there and it helps keep their cost to the consumer down. take the time at setup to go into add/remove programs and remove all that crap from any computer you buy.