What is the Best Laptop Processor

By far the most frequently asked question by our readers is which is the best laptop processor. The answer depends on a variety of factors mainly what you wish to use your laptop for.

These days there are only two major processor manufacturers: AMD and Intel. Both make good processors and there is usually little to choose between the two brands in terms of performance so do not get caught up on choosing between the two brands. Instead, you will need to compare performance levels of individual processors to determine which is the most powerful. This can be done fairly easily by searching for processor benchmarks and reviews showing you performance results in nice little charts.

A few years ago you could get a good idea of processor speed based on its specification, most importantly the clock speed which is measures in gigahertz i.e. 2.1Ghz. These days there are more influential factors for determining speed so the clock speed is not a good measure to go by. It should only be used to compare processors in the same product line i.e. a 1.5Ghz Core 2 Duo would be roughly 25% slower than a 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo processor.

For those of you that have no interest in understand processors and just want to know which to get follow this rough guide. First determine what you want to use your computer for. If you only need to surf the internet or use it for office applications, listening to music, instant chat programs and webcams then even the most basic single core processor like the AMD Sempron or Intel Celeron will do.

Those of you that want to do all of the above but have many of the programs running at once for instance watching a movies which having your webcam on with instant chat to a friend while having many internet explorer or Firefox tabs open will want to get a basic dual core processor such as the Intel Dual Core or AMD X2. You will not have to worry about clock speed as even the slowest of todays processors will handle all those programs without a sweat.

The laptop gamers amongst you will need to get there hands on the best processors they can afford to be able to play the latest games on the highest settings. You should be looking for the fastest dual cores you can afford at least over 2Ghz. Of course dont spend all your budget to get the best processor if it means sacrificing buy a power graphics card as the graphics card in your laptop will be even more important for playing games.