Could a 1.6 processor be faster than a 1.8?

[jimflint1]

Here's a question a friend of mine asked this morning: "My daughter bought her laptop from the Bookstore over a month ago. She got a call today from the Senior Buyer of the bookstore, who told her that HP had accidentally sent them 10 laptops with 1.8 speed processors rather than the 1.6 called for in the specs. They are giving her two options: (1) keep the laptop she has with 1.8 processor and they will send her a check for $200, or (2) send it back at their expense and they will send her the correct laptop with the 1.6 processor.

She asked the difference between the 1.6 and the 1.8 and the Senior Buyer told her the 1.6 processor is faster. That seems counterintuitive to me, but I know next to nothing about the innards of a computer. "

Well, I know a little more than my friend, but that just sounds weird to me. Unless it has something to do with something other than the CPU?

[Accessless]

Is the Processor the only difference between the laptops? Some laptop providers tend to offer laptops with faster processors but lack other resources i.e. higher or lower hard drive or RAM memory capacities.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Yes, knowing the RAM of the laptops would be useful in the decision here but it really depends on what you are planning to do on the laptops.
If you are working with Videos, Image Manipulation or Games, you will need all the processing power you can get.
If you are just planning on use the Internet word documents or mspaint, 1.6 GHz would be all right.
I myself have a 1.7 GHz laptop (I'm using it right now) and it works pretty well with games. 

[drmsucks]

She asked the difference between the 1.6 and the 1.8 and the Senior Buyer told her the 1.6 processor is faster. That seems counterintuitive to me, but I know next to nothing about the innards of a computer. "

Everything else equal and assuming that 1.6 and 1.8 refer to processor speed, and, further assuming that the senior buyer said that the 1.6 processor (not the 1.6 computer) is faster than the 1.8 processor, it's not only counterintuitive, but wrong. Having said that, my hunch is that the story got twisted in the re-tellings and HP shipped 1.6 processors and sold them as 1.8.

Seems to me that the question is: "Does this laptop do everything that I want it to do and quickly enough that I am satisfied with it?" If the answer is, "Yes," I would take the money and run! The speed difference between the 1.6 and 1.8 will be almost imperceptible doing most tasks.

Best of luck to your friend's daughter!

[jimflint1]

Thanks for all your comments!

[Calum]

In addition to the above comments it depends on the actual CPUs . . . HP may be offering a 1.8 single core or a 1.6 dual core.
If they only mentioned the CPU, the logical conclusion is that the rest of the hardware is the same.

[drmsucks]

In addition to the above comments it depends on the actual CPUs . . . HP may be offering a 1.8 single core or a 1.6 dual core.

Good point, I didn't consider dual core 1.6 v single core 1.8.

Somehow, I still think that the story got twisted by the time it got to jimflint1, however.