Which is best, AMD or Intel?

[iansheff]

Have been looking at laptops and see that PC World are doing a HP laptop with AMD A8-6410 APU, an Acer with Intel® Core™ i3-4005U processor and Argos are doing an Acer with an AMD A6 A6-6310 quad core all within £30 of each other. Which is best Intel or AMD? all my other laptops have been Intel.

[AlexAtkin]

It depends what you are using it for.

 

I believe the i3 4005U is faster for single-core software but the A8-6410 is potentially slightly faster for good multi-threaded software and likely has a better GPU, so would be better for games. The A6 is slower than both.

 

They seem to be pretty close (although I cannot vouch for the authenticity of this site, its just a guide):

http://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-intel_core_i3_4005u-16-vs-amd_a8_6410-431

 

The above doesn't seem to compare the GPUs though.

Edited April 12, 2015 by AlexAtkin

[Obelix]

This is a war that's been fought to a draw for the last twenty years :-)

 

Intel tends to be just that little more compatible for really esoteric stuff. AMD tends to be a little faster for the money. For laptops Intel seems to be a bit more economical on power meaning battery life is better.

 

For all intents and purposes though, it really doesnt matter. Get which laptop has all the other stuff you need, and for games, a decent video card is way way more important than the processor.

[Dude111]

I think both AMD and Intel are about the same....... What ya use it for really determines it I think...

[jake19]

Intel is better, but more expensive

[Zedders]

Intel is better, but more expensive

 

This, though in laptops for just the usual browsing etc there's not much difference.

[The Joker]

What happened to AMD in the last decade?

 

They shipped 64-bit chips before Intel, so what happened with that head start?

 

Was it a wise decision to merge with ATi? Or did they become like Symantec, and do everything badly?

 

Last time I was in the market for a high-end video card, the Radeon 9800 Pro was a generation ahead of the Nvidia 5800/5900 series and that's all I remember (yes, it's been quite a decade).

[geared]

Intel chips have out-paced AMD's offerings for ages now.

 

AMD still produce decent chips though, and the Fusion line of processors is one of them.

They're really good on Laptops.

[Ghozer]

Last time I was in the market for a high-end video card, the Radeon 9800 Pro was a generation ahead of the Nvidia 5800/5900 series and that's all I remember (yes, it's been quite a decade).

 

the 5000 series nVidia weren't the same level - the nVidia equivalent Radeon 9800 was the 7xxx/8xxx series nVidia cards....

[The Joker]

the 5000 series nVidia weren't the same level - the nVidia equivalent Radeon 9800 was the 7xxx/8xxx series nVidia cards....

 

Really? I'm sure that nVidia's response to the Radeon9700 and 9800 AGP cards were the GeForce FX 5800 and 5900 series. I did not know the nVidia 7 or 8000 series was available that long ago. . .

 

I had (probably still have in a cupboard somewhere . . .) a GeForce 5800/5900 Siluro card with enough copper piping to fit a central heating system, that was purchased around the same time as our Radeons.