AMD Athlon Notebook okay?

hello

i've been away from the PC scene for several years now and i just realized i'm almost a computer illiterate! :)

anywayz, i'm buying a notebook computer so took a short trip to local Bestbuy...

they had few Compaq notebooks that have AMD Athlon - one model I liked had Athlon 1.6+...it was really 1.4 so i was told...

I liked AMD cuz they seemed to be cheaper by 100-200 bucks compare to the same Intel models... I'm buying this for school work and i don't really need any fancy gizmos...

my question is, the current AMD Notebooks as good as Intel Notebooks? can u comment on Reliability, battery life, etc compare to Intel?

thanx in advance

Reliability should be similar. Battery life depends a great deal on the technology in the notebook. the less expensive notebooks have older technology and as a rule have a shorter battery life. Likewise, AMD procs use the battery faster than the mobile proc from Intel. You need to look at the specific models you are considering for comparison. I lived on the battery for 15 years of air travel. My motto - take plenty of spare batteries with you, recharge a battery at every opportunity even if only for 15 minutes standing by a wall outlet in an airport concourse.