[John95]

I'm buying a used laptop and have to choose between a Toshiba Satellite or a Compaq cq56. Toshiba has a 1Ghz amd dual core processor with 1Gb of vram (e-300), and the Compaq has a 2.4GHz single core amd processor with 256 vram (V140). Which of the two have more power, and has a better build quality?

[etaf]

do you have the exact models
vram = video ram
whats the main ram ?

whats the laptop going to be used for
its possible the 1gb vram is shared with the main ram
the 256 vram maybe a dedicated memory and still also be able to use memory from the main ram - But that may depend on exact model and looking at the pcs listed - that does not seem the case and 256 is not quoted - but not looked at all the models

see here
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...resario%20CQ56

[John95]

Hp Compaq cq56

• AMD V Series Single Core V140 Processor 2.3GHz (64bit)
• 2GB DDR3 RAM
• 250GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
• 15.6-Inch Screen, ATI Radeon HD 4250
• ATI Radeon HD 4250

Toshiba

• High-definition widescreen LED-backlit TFT-LCD with TruBrite technology (1366x768)
• 320GB HD
• AMD dual-core E-300 1.3GHz accelerated processor (64bit)
• 4GB DDR3 memory

My uses: light 3d graphics, basic photo editing, and light/med gaming



Sorry, I was a little off on the specs

[etaf]

running windows ? what
do you have the actual cpu models - you can do a check on performance there
but i would prefer the 4GB RAM to 2GB memory

if on vista - thats easy - do not get the 2GB
Windows 7 - i would say 2GB is minimum

a screen of 1366x768 is not great for photo editing - again depending on the resolution you have the images at and if for printing or electronic display (web/screen) use

but a lot of machines now have that screen resolution

[John95]

Toshiba is dual core APU processor (is both CPU/GPU) and the Compaq has a single core CPU separate from the GPU. Do you know of any websites that compare processors?

Btw, I use Linux

[etaf]

Do you know of any websites that compare processors?

yes

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

but you need the model number
then look at the numbers to compare
NOTE where its better if higher and better if lower

[John95]

Thanks etaf!

AMD V140 683 927
AMD E-300 APU 595 959

[etaf]

there are two sets of numbers

.............................. higher lower
AMD V140................ 683 927
AMD E-300 APU....... 595 959

nothing in it

Btw, I use Linux -

what memory would be better - i would think 4gb better than 2gb - but dont play withlinux

unless theres other features you need - like firewire, express slot, pcmcia slot, usb