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Comparison: Intel Centrino 2 vs AMD Puma

Laptop Magazine compares current laptop platforms: Intel’s Centrino 2 and AMD’s Puma. Some points of the comparison method are debatable, such as the HD video transcoding test, because Intel Penryn processors have some optimizations specific for HD video transcoding (probably the difference would have been small in non-HD video transcoding or audio transconding), but the comparison is in general alright, because it compares laptops with processors at the same frequency (2.26 GHz). But The Inquirer compares an AMD processor at 2.00 GHz against an Intel processor at 2.53 GHz (!!!), so logically in their tests the Intel processor is clearly superior.

The main conclusions of the Laptop Magazine comparison are:

  • The processor from Intel offers a higher performance. The difference is small in some tests (Windows boot time and program startup time) and large in others (HD video transcoding), but both platforms offer a good performance for the average user.
  • The graphics card from the AMD platform offers a better gaming performance. Anyway, it is not powerful enough to play many current games.
  • The Intel platform offers a longer battery life (up to 40 additional minutes).

Overall, both platforms are good for the basic computing needs, but if you need good performance or long battery life you should go for the Intel platform. But keep in mind that the differences between laptops can be huge, so it is good to look for reviews of the laptops you are interested in.

Related posts:

  1. AMD Puma by June 3rd and Intel Centrino 2 by August
  2. Issues with Centrino 2 (Montevina)
  3. Laptop processor benchmark comparison (Intel Core 2 X9100, X9000, T9600, T9500, P9500, T9400, T9300, P8600, P8400, T8300, T8100, P7350, Atom N270)
  4. Sony and Lenovo present new Centrino 2 laptops
  5. Intel Core i7 (Nehalem) performance

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 10:42 and is filed under hardware, laptops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Comparison: Intel Centrino 2 vs AMD Puma”

  1. Laptops with AMD processors (Athlon X2, Turion X2, Turion X2 Ultra) | towards the optimal laptop says:
    February 12, 2009 at 12:04

    [...] optimizations for HD video encoding. These factors give an edge to Intel processors. I found some benchmarks comparing AMD Puma vs Intel Centrino 2 platforms months ago. There are also some interesting benchmarks at Notebookcheck: I’m summarizing the [...]

    Reply

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