Hi,

I'm trying to decide between two laptops. The slighty cheaper one has the following specs:
HP RQ260AA 500 series,
Intel Pentium M 740, 1.73GHz (90nm, 533fsb, L1: 64K, L2: 2mb),
512mb DDR2-533, Intel 910GML chipset, Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (128mb UMA),
14.1inch LCD (1280x800 WXGA),
60GB HDD, DVD+/-RW drive,
Built-in dual-band WiFi, 10/100 LAN, 56k modem, PCMCIA type I/II, Windows XP Home

The only slightly more expensive one (price difference translates into buying one 512mb DDR2 module) has the following specs:
HP Pavilion dv6204 AMD Sempron™ Processor 3400+
1024 MB (2 x 512 MB)
80GB Hard drive
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6150 up to 128 MB (shared
15.4” WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen
Super Multi DVD Writer (+/-R +/-RW) with Double Layer support
HP Mobile Remote Control
Firewire 1x IEEE 1394 port
Memory Card Reader 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards

Reason I'm hesitating is because the Sempron has a much smaller L2 cache (2mb vs. 256kb). Will that make a difference? Or do all the other pluses make up for it?

Also, which is best for linux

I would say go for Pentium M. It runs cooler then sempron and less in power consumption.

Ok, but the Sempron comes with an extra 512 mb of RAM, has a bigger screen, an extra 20Gb hard drive space and an Nvidia graphics card.

Is the fact that it runs cooler and has less power consumption that important? Will I get annoyed in the long run with a hotter laptop?

Well, it depends on what you want to do.The bigger screen must not be an advantage.All in all I would buy the pentium M book, because Intel is better at notebook-computing, and pentium M is a good choice, I think.Furthermore, Sempron is a low-cost processor series.If you need more ram, you may add it by yourself...

hope I can help you.
jff

Thanks for the advice! It does help

Well, in case anyone was wondering , I decided to go for the Sempron. What swayed me was the larger screen size and the extra RAM (plus the extra USB port, firewire port and card reader.) I'm going to be watching DVD's and series on it, so larger screen is a big plus.

The NVidia graphics card was also a big selling point.

What did make this a difficult decision was the amount of L2 cache, with sempron only having 256kb, compared to 2Mb(!) for the Pentium M. However, Sempron has a L1 cache of 128Kb compared to 64kb for Pentium M. Sempron also has a higher clock speed, 800Mhz vs Pentium M's 533Mhz.

Anyway, hope everything installs nicely

HI the comments were very useful but no-one mentioned anything about the compatability of Linux with either machine.
What kernels do they each have and how well do they run Linux?
Thanks