I am going to be taking a class online in prep for achieving my bachelors degree. I'll need it to reach the internet and will have Office on it for Word, Access and EXCEL. I won't use it for much else. I ORDERED an HP laptop last night that has Celeron M 360.  This seemed to be a good inexpensive choice and would be sufficient for my needs. Now in looking at dell site, I can get similar laptop for about the same $$ but w/Mobile AMD Sempron 3500+. Would one be better than the other? I could cancel the order. It will take a little doing so if they are close or the Celeron is better, I'll stick w/that one. Thanks so much for your help. I have done some reading on this topic but still don't know which is best!Either would be satisfactory. Older Celerons were not too great, but the newer ones are OK, especially for your needs. It will probably run cooler as well.thanks for your help. I didn't want to make a mistake. Not something I want to buy again too soon!My school suggests Pentium 4 or better. Where does the Celeron M fit into that specification? How about the AMD Sempron? Celeron-M is a mobile version of the Celeron (so lower power consumption=lonnger battery life), which is a Pentium-4 variant.so this Celeron M 360 would be what they want...Pentium 4 or better? I wish I knew more about this stuff. It's just so overwhelming!!!  What's your budget?
Is this just for Office/internet use?
Think about what screen SIZE you want too, as well as battery life.

The Celeron is a budget P4, it's not very powerful but will suffice for Office use.
The Sempron is more powerful in this case, but may not be the better choice overall.I wanted to stay no more then $500-$600. I've already ordered the one w/celeron but then was second guessing it. Saw the dell w/sempron for about the same $$. So was wondering if I should switch. The BIG thing is I don't want Vista but XP. This one has the XP. I really only need for doing a class online. Then I'll have Office on it. No music, pics, gaming etc.If the other specs are the same, the Sempron is more powerful, however you will not really notice the difference unless you do more than office work.Let me ask then about AMD Turion 64x2 Mobile. Would this be more powerful then the AMD sempron and the celeron 360? I might be able to go through Dell Business and get one w/the turion for about the same price. Thanks. Yes, that is much more powerful than either of them - probably.
Which version/model?the inspiron 1501. My son has a dell and for the most PART I like them. The girl on the phone told me they didn't really sell laptops to private citizens. But I might be able to get around it online. Only thing is it wouldn't be shipped til the 17th which I guess is ok. Maybe I'll call best buy and cancel the HP 305Any of the Turion CPUs offered is more powerful.