The Pentium-M is a much more efficient processor than the Pentium-4. Figure on a Pentium-M 2.13 running near a 3.4 GHz P4 overall, while producing far less heat, allowing much better battery life, and a small, cooler-running, likely longer-lived chassis than a desktop P4 in a notebook chassis (which is what the original XPS and Alienware systems use).

Before you buy from Alienware, I'd seriously check out their reputation, which is not the best - and the reputation of the Clevo notebook systems (Clevo builds the Alienware systems, along with others for third-tier brands like Sager-Midern).

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@Painkilller wrote:

I'm either getting a new Alienware laptop or, the new Dell Gen II. The Alienware uses the standard pentium IV chip, running up to 3.6ghz.

 

The new Dell Gen II has the (M) chip running at 2.0 or, 2.13ghz.

 

Is there some drastic difference in chip architecture that allows the M to be rated at much less ghz but, have the equivalent processing power/speed at the regular p4?

 

I heard someone on these boards saying that M chips are the equivalent to much higher rated ghz on the p4 chips. Is that true?

 

Hopefully so, otherwise these new Dell gen IIs are quite a bit behind the Alienware's cpu. As far as the Gen II's being alot easier on the battery due to it's M chip, that's not something I care about.

 

When buying a gaming laptop, performance is king.

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I think i saw somewhere on another post, you should add 1 ghz to a (m) chip to get the desktop

Well; for the first time in years, it looks as if Dell has finally come up with a winner. I just wish I had the $3000CDN to buy this beast! Judging by the specs alone; the Gen2 is competition for just about any desktop machine (high-end)!:smileywink:

just my 2cents, but if it's not going to be a mobile machine at all I'd prefer the p4 -- they will generally be cheaper per the power they offer and one would hope that any high-end desktop replacement would be able to cool the thing adequetly (the original and bigger XPS for instance)

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@NemesisDB wrote:
just my 2cents, but if it's not going to be a mobile machine at all I'd prefer the p4 -- they will generally be cheaper per the power they offer and one would hope that any high-end desktop replacement would be able to cool the thing adequetly (the original and bigger XPS for instance)

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