Better GFX vs. better CPU

[Demonic Goldfish]

Hi all. I'm thinking of getting myself a laptop in a few weeks. I intend to use it for gaming and general video-watching, mostly to get my fix when I'm on holiday Also as a spare machine, and for general LANning (if I want to bring it over to a mate's house or a mate is at my place they can use it, etc). I don't want to be playing new games at highest settings etc., but I would like to be getting playable framerates at native resolution. My budget is really about £800, although I can probably stretch it a bit, but really I should keep it under £1000.

First I looked at a Dell Vostro, and keeping relatively within budget I can manage the following specs:
T9300
17" 1440x900
8600GT
320GB 5400RPM HDD
3GB RAM (I don't really need more as I'll put XP on it as soon as I get it, most likely)
9 cell 80Whr battery

for £810.

Then I looked at a Dell XPS, the only laptop I've seen with a card better than an 8600GT that doesn't go over £1000 (I don't know if I can stretch to this):
T7200
2GB RAM
250GB 5400RPM HDD
7950GTX
9 cell 85Whr battery

for £999

So my main question is this: is the trade-off for processing power worth the more powerful GFX card? I was also wondering what sort of battery life I could expect from both of these machines during light-moderate use (i.e. watching stuff from the HDD - I will probably have it plugged in when I'm gaming)? A relatively long battery life would be nice, and could be a bit of a deciding factor here.

If anyone knows of any other laptops that fit the bill, recommendations are welcome

Thanks in advance, DG

 

[theworminator]

You say you're playing games, so in this case, a beefier video card will benefit more than a beefy cpu. However, for everything else, the CPU has more of a benefit. Which one will you do more?

As for battery life, the Dell XPS is about the same setup I have, and it's around an hour and 45 minutes on light work.

 

[lostandwandering]

If gaming is your biggest concern, go with the stronger 7950GTX. The Dell is pretty much what I have in my Sager and I am able to play games in pretty good detail. For the Dell I would expect between 1.5-2 hours and the Vostro would probably get a little bit more. And yes, I would keep it plugged in when gaming since everything clocks down when on the battery.

Now the flip side of this is that with the Vostro you get DX10 "performance" where as you are stuck with 9 on the XPS. The other factor is that if you want to make upgrades to the XPS (the CPU specifically) they are going to cost you a bit. A new T7600 (only CPU that you could use thats worth it) is going to run you about 600 (USD) for a 330 mhz increase.

As I type this, I am second guessing myself all over the place. Each system has trade offs that make it a close call. Personally, I am having a tough time making a definitive decision. I will say this though, for the money the Vostro is the better deal (faster CPU, more RAM, more HDD space, and a mildly weaker GPU).

 

[Demonic Goldfish]

Thanks for the help Mildly weaker, you say? Any idea what exactly the perf difference between the two cards is? I mean if the 7950 absolutely spanks the 8600, then I may go for the XPS (or hunt around and look for a similarly priced, similarly spec'd laptop), but if the difference is relatively small, then the Vostro may be the way forward...

[EDIT]: DX10 doesn't make much odds for me, as I'll stick XP on it and use that for pretty much all applications. In DX9 performance, how do the two cards match up?

 

[Maziar]

7950GTX destroys the 8600M GT in every single game by a large margin

definitely go for the XPS if u want to game

 

[Demonic Goldfish]

OK thanks, I've been doing a bit of research and even though most reviews are at least about 15 months old for this laptop, it appears to be the best in my price range for gaming. Thanks for your help everyone

 

[Maziar]

No problem mate glad we could help u

Yeah its an old laptop but its a beast and still beats lots of todays laptop

remember the 7950GTX is the 3rd fastest card, its like this :

8800MGTX>8800MGTS>7950GTX