Pentium M & P4 Mobile Processors Compared
The Pentium 4 Mobile processor runs at a higher clock speed than a Pentium M - that means it's better, right? Not so fast! Faster doesn't always mean better.
The Pentium M is designed to run efficiently with lower power consumption for longer battery life. So what's attractive about this to the audio engineer who will never (knowingly) record 24 tracks of audio running on battery power? Whether you're on battery power or not, the efficiencies that enable longer battery life also enable higher throughput, lower heat, and lower failure occurrences.
Although the Pentium 4 Mobile runs at a higher clock speed than the Pentium M, the Pentium M runs cooler and is thus able to take advantage of a more advanced cache. The L2 cache is where data is briefly stored while the CPU processes. Whereas the Pentium 4 Mobile has a 512 KB Level 2 cache that runs at half the speed of the processor, the Pentium M has a 2 MB Level 2 cache that runs at the same full speed as the processor.
Furthermore, the wafer has been made smaller with 90nm (nanometer) architecture compared to 130nm with the Pentium 4 mobile and an increase in the FSB (Front Side Bus) from 400 to 533 MHz. All these advancements allow the Pentium M to achieve higher data throughput at a lower clock speed, lower voltage, and lower heat.
Data throughput was not an issue years ago because there was less data to put through. Now with so many data-intensive applicationsñaudio and video being among the most demandingñthroughput is the name of the game. How much you get from point A to B is more important than how fast you get it there.
As processor speeds have increased, heat has become a critical issue. The practical limit of processor speeds has led to innovations in multi-core processing. In fact, the new Pentium D dual-core processor is actually two Pentium M chips on one wafer. Thus, the Pentium M is the product of a shift in design from sheer processor speed to a "let's reduce the sweat" approach that focuses on efficiency and throughput. And when it comes to throughput, in almost all instances a Pentium M 1.6 GHz CPU will beat or match a Pentium 4 Mobile 3.2 GHz. All our LiveBook models use the cool, quiet and powerful Pentium M processor technology.
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Last Modified: July 19, 2007
