Laptop CPU question

[chanchan05]

I was just wondering about the Laptop CPU. I currently have a laptop that runs on 2.1ghz intel core 2 duo with 3mb L2 cache. im planning to buy a laptop with 1.6ghz amd neo 512kb cache. i know that it would be slower, but its about a kilo lighter, so thats just fine.

My question is what does the L2 mean? my friend said that it means that the cpu is running at times 2 speed (the 1.6ghz is actually at 3.2ghz, while the 2.1 is at 4.2ghz). is that true? and what about the 3mb and 512kb part?

i need to know this since I may need to install applications which require higher speed procs. Thanks in advance.

 

[KSoD]

No it does not mean that it is running twice as fast.

CPU cache - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It means Level 2 Cache for the CPU to access the RAM. Simple definition but that Wikipedia article has a ton more info about it.

 

[chanchan05]

Does that mean I can't use apps on the 1.6ghz AMD Neo like the way I could with my 2.1ghz intel? oh bother. I though I could since I saw vids of people playing left4dead on the dv2 with that proc and it worked fine.

 

[SirCyber]

you can use apps just the same, it's mearly a way that the cpu accesses ram, L2 Cache has been around a long time

 

[Lexluethar]

As others have said, it has NOTHING to do with running twice the speed. It is just a second set of memory that is faster for your processor to access then ram. So repetative tasks are stored in your L2 cache so they are accessed faster making response times better.

The larger the cache the more data that can be stored (as you can see from the size there isn't a lot of room).

 

[KSoD]

Does that mean I can't use apps on the 1.6ghz AMD Neo like the way I could with my 2.1ghz intel? oh bother. I though I could since I saw vids of people playing left4dead on the dv2 with that proc and it worked fine.

As stated it doesnt mean that. As long as you meet the minimum requirements for the applications you can run them just fine.

Left 4 Dead System Requirements - Left 4 Dead 411

I would wager to guess that the AMD CPU will be dual core which can handle the game just fine. As long as you meet the requirements you can do everything on the laptop that you can do on the desktop.