Member Avatar for chadwick123

I need help deciding between two 13-in laptops to buy:

- HP Pavilion
- Toshiba Satellite

Laptop price and warranty are about the same ($650 Ca). The Toshiba has more L2 Cache, but the HP seems to beat it in everything else (CPU Speed, RAM, Hardrive size and speed, etc...). Based on my research the HP also appears to have a better graphics card.

So am I making too big a deal about the Toshiba having 4 times the Cache? Or is it important enough to ignore the other benefits of the HP?

Here are all the details of the two (HP on left, toshiba on right):

HP PAVILION vs TOSHIBA SATELLITE


CPU MODEL:....... AMD Athlon Neo X2 L335 vs Intel Pentium ULV SU4100

CPU SPEED:........ 1.6 GHz vs 1.3 GHz

L2 CACHE:.......... 512 KB vs 2 MB

RAM:................. 4 GB vs 3 GB

GRAPHICS:.......... 1928 MB ATI Radeon HD 3200 vs Intel GMA 4500MHD

HARDDRIVE:........ 320 GB Serial SATA vs 250 GB

HD SPEED:......... 7200 RPM vs 5400 RPM

USB Ports:......... 4 vs 3

OTHER PORTS:... Same on Both Laptops

SCREEN:............ 13.3 In, 1366 x 768 (native) (Both Laptops)

OS:................... Win7 Home-Prem 64 Bit (Both Laptops)

BATTERY............. 6-cell lithium-ion (Both Laptops)

WEIGHT & SIZE:.. About the same for both laptops

Thanks!

- Chad

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Bob_180_Bob

Dani AI

Generated

Quick summary: don’t pick a laptop because of one single number. A larger L2 cache helps in specific, cache-sensitive workloads, but real-world laptop performance is set by the whole platform — CPU microarchitecture (IPC), power tuning, GPU, memory and storage, plus how the OEM implements cooling and drivers. Also factor reliability, warranty and upgradeability before you decide; independent warranty data from the period shows clear brand differences. (squaretrade.com)

Why cache isn’t always decisive: cache helps when a program repeatedly re-uses the same small data set; otherwise the CPU will wait on main memory and drivers. In practice, two CPUs with different designs and clocks can behave very differently even if one has more L2 cache. Treat cache as one tie‑breaker, not the headline. (intel.com)

Practical trade-offs to weigh right now: onboard graphics quality matters if you plan to game, edit video, or use hardware-accelerated playback — integrated GPUs from different vendors can differ a lot in real tests. Storage speed matters more than small differences in platter RPM; mechanical drives with higher spindle speed do give measurable throughput and latency gains, but swapping the HDD for an SSD is the single upgrade that will make the largest, most noticeable difference in daily responsiveness. (notebookcheck.com)

Action checklist: (1) Decide your priority — battery/quiet, portability, graphics, or snappy app launches. (2) Inspect upgrade paths (can you add RAM or swap to an SSD?) and read the warranty fine print. (3) Test a demo unit for video playback and multi‑tasking, and ask about return policy. You’re already on the right track: noticed a tempting metric, flagged reliability, and ’s advice to match the choice to your needs is exactly the right final filter. Choose the machine that aligns with how you’ll use it, and plan an SSD upgrade if you want the biggest day‑to‑day speed boost.

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Member Avatar for chrishea

You might want to consider reliability as well. Use the link below for a page that provides some comparisons. Toshiba is one of the best, HP is the worst. I have an HP laptop that is almost three years old, has already had a number of repairs and is currently dead. Not sure if I can revive it one more time or not. I would not buy another HP laptop.
http://www.geckoandfly.com/2009/11/18/the-most-reliable-laptop-survey-best-netbook-reliability-comparison/

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

What car should I buy, the one that has a lot more room in the back seat or the one with more room in the glove compartment?
Whichever one you buy with someones recommendation will always be the wrong one. Select the one you want based on your needs and buy it and be happy with your decision.

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