2010/06/20 Laptop Snapshot: Introduction: This is a small sample of the laptops in the $500 Cdn. price range on 2010/06/20 (Father's Day Sunday) in Toronto, according to the Website of a particular vendor (Future Shop). I did not check the individual availability of each product in the stores, but I am confident that all have been available in the recent past, if not on this particular day. When I check "in-store" availability, there are two branches that are close to where I live, and those are the branches I check. The Conclusions: There are a lot of things I can say about the market, but the most conservative thing I can say is that clearly, the AMD products presented the better buy in this small grouping. This is actually what I have generally found in the lower price ranges over many years. Intel does not generally get competitive until you are up in the "middle" ranges, which these days start in the $800 - $1200 ranges. Well above $1500, one needs to do very detailed comparisons to decide, and quite often Intel can be better -- though usually with nVidia or ATi graphics added. The Data: The following data was mainly taken from the Future Shop website. I have noted some errors, and may have made a correction or two. The Performance Data that follows is taken from "NotebookReviews.com" and likewise has not been checked by any testing of my own. This material should NOT be taken as having been full researched and checked for accuracy. I did NOT have the time. I am confident that what I have provided gives a generally accurate picture of the current market. That is all. The contemporary $500 laptops are: Future Shop: HP Pavilion G62-224CA - Silver $529.99 + taxes - AMD Athlon II Dual-Core P320 2.1 GHz 1 MB L2 cache - 15.6", 1366 x 768 screen LED Backlighted display HDD 320 GB 7200RPM 8X DVD+/-R/RW DL With LightScribe 3GB DDR3 RAM ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4250 w/Integrated Video Memory Video Memory: Up to 1405 MB Audio Chipset Altec Lansing (wrong?) Integrated Microphone Multi-Card reader "HDCP Compliant" HDMI Port - 56K Modem Touchpad USB ports 3 VGA Output 1 Webcam Yes Ethernet Port 10/100 Bluetooth No WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Battery 6 cell, Li-Ion System Bus Up to 3.2 GT/s Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (with additional software) 37.29 x 24.64 x 3.66 cm 2.49 kg. --- Gateway NV5321H - Blue $529.99 + taxes - AMD Athlon II Dual-Core M300 2.0 GHz 1 MB L2 cache - 15.6", 1366 x 768 screen Approx Batt Life Up to 3 hours HDD 250 GB, 5400RPM - 15.6", 1366 x 768 screen Florescent Tube backlighted LCD 8X DVD+/-R/RW DL 4GB (DDR2?) ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4200 w/Integrated Video Memory 256 MB Video Memory (not quite right) Audio Chipset AMDM880G Chipset Hardware Volume Control Integrated Microphone Speaker Wattage 2.0W Card Reader (Type?) 100 Key keyboard 56K Modem Touchpad USB ports 4 VGA Out 1 Webcam Yes Ethernet port 1000 Bluetooth No WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Battery 6 cell, Li-Ion System Bus Up to 667MHz (wrong) Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (with additional software) 37.2 x 25 x 3.7 cm 2.65 kg. --- Toshiba Satellite C650D-004 - Black $479.99 + taxes - AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core P320 2.1 GHz 1 MB L2 cache - 15.6", 1366 x 768 screen Florescent Tube Backlighted display HDD 320 GB 5400RPM 8X DVD+/-R/RW DL 3GB DDR3 RAM ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Integrated Video Memory Up to 1405 MB Video Memory Audio Chipset: Conexant CX20671-11Z Hardware Volume Control Integrated Microphone SD-Card reader (SD, SDHC, MMC) Keyboard "Bilingual" - 56K Modem Touchpad w/Gesture USB ports 2 VGA Output 1 Webcam Yes (Spec?) Ethernet Port 10/100 Bluetooth No WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Battery 6 cell, Li-Ion System Bus Up to 1.6 GHz Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit?) (with additional software) 38.0 x 25.0 x 3.79 cm 2.4 kg. --- Gateway NV5470U-US - Black $479.99 + taxes Intel Pentium T4400 2.2GHz 1 MB L2 cache - 15.6", 1366 x 768 screen Florescent Tube Backlighted display Approx Batt Life Up to 3 hours HDD 320 GB, 5400RPM 8X DVD+/-R/RW DL 3GB (DDR3?) Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD Integrated Video Memory 0 MB Video Memory (not quite right) Audio Chipset: Intel GM45 Express Chipset Hardware Volume Control Integrated Microphone Speaker Wattage 2.0W Multi-Card Reader HDCP Compliant HDMI Port keyboard 101-Key Compatible (w/sep keypad) 56K Modem Touchpad USB ports 4 VGA Out 1 Webcam Yes Ethernet port 1000 Bluetooth No WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Battery 6 cell, 4400mAH Li-Ion System Bus Up to 800MHz Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (with additional software) 37.2 x 25 x 3.7 cm 2.65 kg. --- Performance Data: I could not get directly comparable stats but looking at the following: [According to NotebookReview.com] Lenovo IdeaPad U330 (2.0 GHz Intel P7350, Intel X4500) PCMark05 "4,224" 3DMark06 score "851" HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1 GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD3200) PCMark05 "3,994" 3DMark06 score "1,599" Dell Studio 15 (2.0 GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100) PCMark05 "3,998" 3DMark06 score "493" The Intel T4400 CPU would be lower than the Dell Studio 15's (PC Mark well below "3,998"), but the graphics would be about equal to the Lenovo IdeaPad U330 (3DMark06 "851"), putting performance in both areas well below the various AMD/ATi products in this price range.