Notebook speed issue I think data bus speed is the culprit here.
The Front Side Bus (FSB) is the data channel that connects the processor, other chips, memory, and the video circuitry. The motherboard in this HP laptop runs at a pokey 100MHz FSB. A comparably-priced Toshiba (A45-S121) runs at 266Mhz FSB using the same 2.8GHz Celeron. The processor can support up to a 400MHz FSB.
See this HP laptop series specs at --------------- To date, all Celeron 2.8GHz processors have had on-die L2 cache of only 128KB. The Pentium 4 versions have L2 cache of up to 512KB and run at a 533MHz FSB. This includes HP ZE5xxx series notebooks built with Pentium 4 CPUs.
Lastly, when running on battery, the power saving setup of most notebooks will throttle back the CPU speed to increase battery life. You might be able to override this by adjusting the settings in software or just keep the notebook plugged in when doing heavy CPU stuff.
If you're doing graphics-intensive work, like gaming or multimedia, the Pentium 4-based machines are a better choice, all other things being equal.
More details
Memory / capacity
Satisfactory
Ease of use
Easy
Range of Extra Features
Good
Instruction manual
Satisfactory
Manufacturer Support
Good
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