Is this laptop a bargain for £60?

[Rob_B]

I've got the chance to get the below laptop + a Wireless N USB adapter (that I don't need) for £60, reckon it's worth it? (You can probably guess what I want to do with it! )

Dell Inspiron 1200
1.3Ghz Celeron M
256mb RAM
25GB HDD

Reckon that CPU with a bit more RAM will run iPlayer ok? Celeron M's look quite poor chips (compared to a Duron 1.2Ghz?)

EDIT Hmmm, answered my own question I think! http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel,406-4.html

I can't check eBay (at work) & it might go quickly so would appreciate your views

Cheers folks!

Rob

[jim]

(You can probably guess what I want to do with it! )

Drop it in LN2 and smash it to pieces?

[Rob_B]

Drop it in LN2 and smash it to pieces?

Hmmmm...tempting, but damn, I'm all out of LN2!

[Phage]

Couldn't find any on ebay - lots of parts, but npot a whole machine.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I've got the chance to get the below laptop + a Wireless N USB adapter (that I don't need) for £60, reckon it's worth it? (You can probably guess what I want to do with it! )

Dell Inspiron 1200
1.3Ghz Celeron M
256mb RAM
25GB HDD

Reckon that CPU with a bit more RAM will run iPlayer ok? Celeron M's look quite poor chips (compared to a Duron 1.2Ghz?)

I can't check eBay (at work) & it might go quickly so would appreciate your views

Cheers folks!

Rob

You could probably upgrade the processor to a Pentium M and add some more RAM for around £20 to £30.

I upgraded my Medion SIM2000 notebook from a Celeron M to a Pentium M for not much money and there was a big performance increase coupled with better battery life and the fact that it ran cooler when not stressed.

[dangel]

Well you say celery Ms aren't good but my laptop runs windows 7 really well, albeit with a good radeon chipset and plenty of memory. EDIT: actually i think it was a Pentium-M so that's me shut up

[scaryjim]

OK, first up don't mistake the 90nm Celeron M 350 @ 1.3GHz for a 130nm desktop Celeron 1.3GHz. They're very different processors. The Celeron M you're looking at is a Dothan based processor, derived from a Pentium 3 core (and the direct precursor to Core / Core 2), and is very efficient in terms of work per clock cycle. It also has a much bigger L2 cache - 1MB. A 1.3GHz Dothan Celeron M will pound a 1.2GHz Mobile Duron to dust...

[Rob_B]

OK, first up don't mistake the 90nm Celeron M 350 @ 1.3GHz for a 130nm desktop Celeron 1.3GHz. They're very different processors. The Celeron M you're looking at is a Dothan based processor, derived from a Pentium 3 core (and the direct precursor to Core / Core 2), and is very efficient in terms of work per clock cycle. It also has a much bigger L2 cache - 1MB. A 1.3GHz Dothan Celeron M will pound a 1.2GHz Mobile Duron to dust...

Looks like you're right http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_look...eron+M+1.30GHz

So...hmm..to buy or not to buy? Want to wait & see what Student computers come up with but if I wait too long this one will go!

[MadduckUK]

i sold a PM1.5/1.25GB/80GB/Radeon9700m for £100 before Christmas, so this certainly isnt a deal really

[richy19]

it depends what you want it for
if its just for internet you could intall googleOS and it would be fine
but 60quid for that isnt anything special i think

[Rob_B]

OK, first up don't mistake the 90nm Celeron M 350 @ 1.3GHz for a 130nm desktop Celeron 1.3GHz. They're very different processors. The Celeron M you're looking at is a Dothan based processor, derived from a Pentium 3 core (and the direct precursor to Core / Core 2), and is very efficient in terms of work per clock cycle. It also has a much bigger L2 cache - 1MB. A 1.3GHz Dothan Celeron M will pound a 1.2GHz Mobile Duron to dust...

Are the Celeron M 1.5Ghzs the same core? ie not a bad processor?

[MadduckUK]

Are the Celeron M 1.5Ghzs the same core? ie not a bad processor?

yup just less cache and lacks power saving features, the lack of power saving was the stupid bit though because it ended up quite noticeable

[Tim Rogers]

Doesn't seem bad to me...the Celerons are pretty poor but you don't need much, and you definitely won't get much for what you're paying.

If you can get the RAM up it will probably do most things, albeit at a reasonably slow speed A hard drive upgrade might also be warranted, depending on what you wanna do with it.

Tim