Gateway Parts

Which laptop is the better deal?

Gateway MT6452 for $700 or MT6821 for $900? the spec differences I'm concerned with are: system bus - 533MHz (6821) vs "up to 1600MHz" (6452) L2 cache - 2M (6821) vs 1M (6452) hard drive type - SATA (6821) vs Parallel ATA (6452) RAM - 2G (6821) vs 1G (6452) - looks like I can upgrade to 2G later for about $130...) I've read reviews of both the AMD and Intel processors but still can't make up my mind - any advice? Thanks!!

Public Comments

1. L2 cache big advantage system bus of 533 to 1600 doesn't seem like you're reading the specs right, there is the front side bus speed usually around 533mhz, 877mhz or such then there is the processor speed something like 1600mhz otherwise labeled 1.6ghz. SATA always better then PATA, PATA is basically the old IDEs renamed to follow a naming convention RAM for laptop is usually filled with 2 slots, occassionally but rarely they use 1 slot giving you a chance to upgrade. So if you bought 1Gig of ram they would fit in 2x 512meg chips so if you wanted to upgrade later you would have to take a chip out and not 1x 1gig chip and add on another chip later. You sould definitely check that out first, more ram always better but between 1gig and 2gig not as important as all the other features.
2. mt6821 im on it now and my bro has a gateway it broke down 3 times
3. SATA is faster, but you might not notice it. I like my AMD, battery life is awesome. I've read that the Intel processors are also very efficient, so it's a toss up. I like AMD though... What kind of video? Onboard with shared memory? That may be OK, are you planning on doing any gaming with it? 1GB of RAM should be fine. 130 is a little steep for an extra gig of ram in my opinion. Check out pricewatch for memory deals.
4. The MT6821 is the better deal. Even though the FSB speed is slower than the 6452, It will run faster because it has more cache memory which allows the processor to handle twice as much data at any given time, and a faster hard drive interface. The ATA harddrive transmits at 100mbps and the SATA is 133mbps. AMD processors are better suited for gaming but for office work INTEL all the way. Office applications have problems with AMD processors.