I don't really understand the CPU technology where there are different CPU speeds. I feel it is hard to compare them nowadays. For example, I have been using my laptop with Pentium (R) 2Ghz. Now, I am thinking about buying a new laptop with Intel I5 1.33GHz (Tablet/laptop). Is my new laptop going to be slower than my current one? I hope someone can explain this to me.

I'm not really a hardware guy, but here's my take on it, based on 30 years of messing with computers.

The #GHz figure has to do with the computer's clock speed.

When you say the old laptop has a Pentium 2GHz, which generation of Pentium? A P4 with 1 GHz might well be faster than a P3 with 2 GHz (though I'm not sure there ever was such a creature).

A P4 with 1GHz will be slower than a P4 with 2 GHz, but likely not noticeable in home use.

So to get your answer, you need to start by comparing the "Intel 15" with the Pentium, then factor in the clock speed.

Wikipedia has a good, if somewhat dense, article on this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_rate

For all practical purposes, unless you are doing high-end scientific math or gaming, any differences you notice will probably have more to do with the CPU itself than with the clock speed. For home use, except as noted above, given adequate clock speed, the amount of RAM is probably a more significant variable (and the cheapest one to improve).

Over time 2 key areas have changed impacting performance


-Cache on the CPU ( Memory)

-Number of Cores

So even a CPU at a lower clock speed can actually push through more cycles of instructions.

With that said I would still research current state to potential future state to be certain it is worth the investment. The other thing to consider is what you are using it for. You can buy the best , fastest work horse on the market but if you are only doing basic computing you would be wasting your money. You don't by a Formual 1 car to go grocery shopping....

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This is most likely a good source of info for one to compare. http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

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I plan to use a new computer to do some software development work. I am deciding if i should buy this computer with I5 CPU. Any suggestion?

The CPU freq doesn't matter much anymore. Instead look at FSB speed and CPU cache, because CPUs are very powerful now, and it is more important to get data to them fast, so they can process it. I too was gonna buy an i5, but it's still a bit expensive for me.

AMD has been a solid performer for me for the past 15 years at a fair market price.

AMD > Intel for the same price. I am using AMD Phenom X2 550.

I don't think that's true, especially with the newer Intels, like i5-i7.

I am very happy with my Phenom II X6 1055T, and if I want a Intel CPU with six cores I would pay much more for that.

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It's hard to say since the CPU is just one component in a system that can contribute to better performance. With a newer system, you might also be buying faster RAM, a hard drive with a newer interface and higher spindle speed, a faster graphics card, etc. The only way to truly tell is to benchmark your system against the system you intend to buy (but even that is difficult since benchmarks themselves get updated and you might not be able to compare numbers year-to-year). Generally speaking, though, if your laptop is over three years old, you'll probably notice a speed increase, either that or you'll be able to turn on more bells and whistles in your window manager...

There are also a lot of technologies that make it harder to rely on the internal processor clock speed as a gauge of performance between different processor families (such as i5/i7 vs. Core2 vs. Pentium). Clock speed can be ramped up or down depending on the work load presented to the CPU. Maximum clock speed may be higher for a single active core than for two or four active cores (this is the 'Turbo' function of the new Intel 'Sandy Bridge' CPUs). Microarchitectures can vary - especially apparent when comparing the Pentium 4 and the newer processors such as Core i3/i5/i7. Other functionality can be added to CPUs that may increase performance for certain applications such as Intel's Quick Sync, which accelerates transcoding of video streams.

In any case, here's another site that does some benchmarks that hopefully you'll find helpful:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2

It depends on what kind of software development you're doing - but if you're moving from a Pentium to a Core i5, you're definitely going to notice a speedup at compile time...

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You simply cannot compare 'pure' GHz figures of various types of CPUs. If you could, the fastest CPUs around would be ancient 3.8GHz P4s...so far they are the fastest clock speed x86 CPUs ever released. (the fastest i7 is 3.73GHz turbo, the fastest AMD is 3.7GHz turbo).

Its not that easy to compare CPUs now, but it can be done. There is quite often a little guesswork involved though. You really should tell us the exact model CPU you are using, and the same for what you considering upgrading to. There are 2 'i5 1.33GHz' CPUs-

i5-560UM-
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=49665

i5-470UM-
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=50026

The main difference is 'turbo' speed (560UM = 2.13 GHz, 470UM = 1.86 GHz) and teh 1.86 GHz has a few virtualisation features disabled.

If you use passmark (which jefro linked you to) then its fairly easy to compare the i5-470UM to 2GHz P4s (which you might not be the CPU you currently have)-

Intel Pentium 4 Mobile 2.00GHz- 249 passmarks-
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_look...Mobile+2.00GHz

i5-470UM- 1565 passmarks-
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_look...70+%40+1.33GHz

Thats a lot more CPU power.

BTW, pasmark isnt exactly a great test, but at least they have a lot of CPUs up. Its fairly easy to find comparisons between desktop CPUs, find comparisons between desktop and laptop CPUs is much harder. Even then they dont have the 560UM listed, but being a 'UM' (ultra-low power) model they are not common, and most people buying ultra-low power versions dont rcare a huge amount about raw CPU performance.

BTW, if its for software development have you considered buying a desktop, and just keep using your current laptop for mobile computing?

Its true, and pretty much always has been. Not that its as simple as I'm making out in a oneliner reply...

No, 1GHz P4s and 2GHz P3s never existed. BTW, you almost have it backward....a 1GHz P3 is almost as fast as a 2GHz P4. A 1GHZ P4 would be a lot slower than a 2GHz P4, because of the architecture of the P4 chips.

I'd disagree, generally. But its a very complex statement considering how simple it looks.

Not that its worth worring about clock speed that much for desktop use. Sure, it makes a difference but so does half a dozen other things.

Certainly the i5 is way better, but I must say that this passmark benchmark looks pretty questionable to me, to put it lightly.