Specification comparisons (All)

[Terry_Collier]

Hi
In the process of getting a new laptop. Can someone clarify a few differences for me please ?

1) Is there anywhere I can see a benchmark test showing the difference between an AMD Athlon XP-M 2600+ , and an Intel Cenrino (Pentium M 1.4ghz) ?

2) What is the difference between DDR SD-RAM 333mhz, and DDR SD-RAM 266mhz ?

3) What is "AC '97" (shown in the audio compliance section)
as opposed to DirectSound ?


P.S. The laptop I'm thinking about is the Acer Travelmate 291xci :-http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/acersite/asp/product.asp?product=130&ph=search&keywords=291xci&recor=1&SearchFor=any&PT_ID=all

OR...

The Acer Aspire 1355LC (bottom of this page) :- http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/acersite/asp/product.asp?recorprod=1&product=136&cat=79&ph=&keywords=&recor=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=

Any advice (Is it any good !) ?
Much Appreciated

[blownengine1990]

1. Both processors are intended to extend battery life. The Centrino will do better in this than the Athlon (according to the Intel propaganda!) The Athlon is a faster processor; you really need to decide on what you are going to use the machine for.

2. 333 DDR is a "faster" RAM.

3. No clue...but I will check back in the hopes that someone will be able to explain the difference!

Regards.

[Terry_Collier]

Cheers !
The processor speed is more important to me than battery life so I was able to make my mind up from that.

Thanks again !

[tom_keefer]

Here's the scoop on AC'97:

Integrated AC'97 Sound on the
Intel D815EPFV Mainboard
By Maksim Lyadov

"Today we are reviewing AC'97-sound integrated into a motherboard. The board we have taken for this purpose is the D815EPFV from Intel. It is explained by an increased interest to integrated sound, which has been taking root more and more in a personal computer, thus forcing out cheap sound cards. But it doesn't want to stop and successfully competes against even expensive sound cards! Just look at the specs of the nForce APU. The NVIDIA engineers have succeeded to provide the characteristics of this sound system comparative to those of modern sound cards.

But if a revolution lover - NVIDIA - has everything only on the paper and without mass production of certain models, Intel shows some heredity and chipset mutations. And if a couple of years ago, looking at mainboards with an integrated i810, we could only say that the sound was just provided, today the situation is much better.

The functional power of the nForce APU is provided with several specialized DSPs. And Intel offers a program AC'97 based solution which doesn't yield to many HSP based entry-level sound solutions in specification.

What is AC'97 sound
Today this name is not very correct from the technical point of view but it is already a stable statement which means that sound corresponding to the AC'97 specification is integrated into a motherboard. Due to a scarce program support at the driver level this statement is often associated with something crippled on a software level.

AC'97 is a concept which is not connected with a motherboard. It is a specification from Intel for an audio codec architecture (AC - Audio Codec) and digital interface AC-link, which connects this codec with Digital Controller. The latter can be realized in different ways: on a program level (only a bus controller is integrated into a chipset), on a soft hardware level (HSP, DSP), on a hardware one (DSP). In this case a controller or even the whole sound card are said to be implemented in the AC'97-standard (AC'97 compliant). The most of modern sound chips correspond to it: EMU10K1, CS46x0, FM801AU, YMF7x4, SSA7785, ES1970, AU88x0 etc. (The specification also contains a description of DAC/ADC of the modem codec MC'97. But the modem manufacturers doesn't feel a strong desire for hardware support of this specification together with a great deal of AMR/CNR/ACR-slots.)

At the same time, I can't say that mainstream chips which do not correspond to the AC'97 specification are of low quality. I can say only that in case of integrated chips (EMU8K1, ES18XX, CM8738) in ISA-solutions nobody guarantee high quality and functionality required today.

So, what can we get from a mainboard with a high-integrated chipset such as i815 which has integrated sound? Let's look at the scheme of "AC'97-sound" integrated into a chipset:



Instead of loading a CPU with operations with audio streams just partially, as it takes place in not expensive HSP-solutions (YMF7x4, FM801AU), in case of the "AC'97-sound" a central processor implements the function of a digital controller on the driver level completely! And an ICH (ICH - I/O Controller Hub) integrated into a chip of a motherboard by means of an AC-link bus controller controls data exchange with an AC'97-audio codec on a hardware level. So, instead of a bit strange term "AC'97-sound" it would be more correct to say "AC'97 codec based integrated sound with a program digital controller", or just "integrated sound".

But all these peculiarities are not necessary for an ordinary user to know. It is enough to install drivers and you can apply to the integrated sound as to a usual sound card. But you should know what advantages and disadvantages such sound solution has."



<font color=purple>Tom</font color=purple>

ya'aa'tey

[beerman]

in other words. "AC'97" it is to intergrated sound as soundblaster once was for dos, and early windows.. :-) simple...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
i don't complain. i just tweak until my arms
fall off.... tweakability is the code name of windows.
if it 1st down work. tweak it out until it does.