Notebook graphics card doubt

[mageshgv]

Hi frnds...... This is my first post here though i have been following this forum for more than a year. I am going to buy a new notebook. The use would be programming , watching movies ( very often ) , surfing and occasional gaming.

I was about to buy a sony vaio cr14G thinking that the ati radeon x2300 it has is a dx10 based card . Luckily i searched its review and to my horror found it to be a dx9 card ( renamed 1450 or something ) . I really liked that model except for that feature and i personally would want a 14" model with a dx10 card. I have another option of dell vostro 1400 or inspirion 1420 with a geforce 8400gs with 128mb video memory( no turbo cache ).

1.Would this geforce8400gs with 128 mb video memory sufficient under vista for movies and light games ?

2.Or is the x2300(316mb with hypermemory) better when compared to geforce 8400 with 128 mb vram even though x2300 is not a dx10 card?

3.What would be the video quality while watching movies under both these cards ?

4.Or should i dump these and go with a sony vaio 15" MODEL(forgot the number ) that has geforce8600GT even though its somewhat heavier and reduced battery life ?

Personally i would like to go with a sony just for its design and dell is much bulkier. All these differ in price only by about 150 us dollars. (I live in India and only a few santa rosa based models are available here . Also sony is reasonably priced whereas all other brands are much costly here than in international market ) ...

THANKS FOR UR REPLIES.......

 

[phamily]

I would strongly discourage you to buy a sony laptop and lean towards the vostro. This isn't because i hate sony, its just the dell is customizable. And as for the price, you would be getting a lot more out of the dell for the same price that the sony is rated at.
For the video quality, any onboard video card plays videos flawlessly. So for a thirdparty video card, you wouldn't experience any quality difference between the onboard and the third party video card.
Now if you're going to opt for the 15inch laptop.. go for the vostro. The 8600gt is a nice video card for a mobile device. If you were to pair it with a 2.2 ghz core2duo proc. you would be able to play fear on high settings on a decent resolution (20-55 fps).

You mentioned you would prefer the sony because of the looks. That is a very big mistake people make. ESPECIALLY for laptops. And sony ISN"T reasonably priced. It is OVER priced. The dell vostro doesn't sport a bulky look. It sports a business class look.

For your money's sake.... get the dell.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Hi frnds...... This is my first post here though i have been following this forum for more than a year. I am going to buy a new notebook. The use would be programming , watching movies ( very often ) , surfing and occasional gaming.

What programs and what games will be a big point.

1.Would this geforce8400gs with 128 mb video memory sufficient under vista for movies and light games ?

Yes, and while they don't mention it the GF8400GS also has something similar to HyperMemroy called TurboCache which will give you access to more RAM if needed by using system RAM, not the best solution, but it's helpful when needed and you can control the amount or let the system dynamically do it.

2.Or is the x2300(316mb with hypermemory) better when compared to geforce 8400 with 128 mb vram even though x2300 is not a dx10 card?

GF8400M will outperform the X2300 more often than not, and often significantly.

3.What would be the video quality while watching movies under both these cards ?

That it's not an HD2300, only an X2300, you won't get the improved video/movie playback so the GF8600M will be better at HD movie playback, but they will be close to each other for normal SD video playback.

4.Or should i dump these and go with a sony vaio 15" MODEL(forgot the number ) that has geforce8600GT even though its somewhat heavier and reduced battery life ?

Well for the gaming the GF8600GT is significantly better than the others, and while unlikely it's the only possible hope for actually playing DX10 games in DX10 mode, and likely the best option for games like Crysis in DX9 mode.
If the programming you do has anything to do with 3D then go with the GF8600 again, otherwise for compiling and such it'lll be CPU and memory that play the biggest role.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

For the video quality, any onboard video card plays videos flawlessly. So for a thirdparty video card, you wouldn't experience any quality difference between the onboard and the third party video card.

Not true, not by a long shot the Purevideo and AVIVO feature do much better than running weak onboard video, and intel still hasn't figured out their driver issues to challenge these two with their own solutions.

And sony ISN"T reasonably priced. It is OVER priced.

Maybe where he lives it is reasonably priced, he said they're close in price. Depends on features, but not every Sony is overpriced.

The dell vostro doesn't sport a bulky look. It sports a business class look.

No it's bulky with a poorly designed chassis, like most DELL's. You as a recent HP buyer should know better.
There's a few 'business class' looking computers out there, and that's ones like Apple, ASUS A series, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, IBM, LG, etc.

Dell and Toshiba are bulky, no two ways about it, both could stand to take some plastic of their chassis, and a few mm off their bezels.

 

[phamily]

ooh, really? i've compared my friends vostro with 8600gt to my onboard mga950, i wasn't able to witness any video quality difference.... unlesss some special nvidia function wasn't turned on?

 

[lostandwandering]

If I understand it correctly, dedicated cards do a better job of taking the load off of the CPU while playing video content. Either way, the 8400GS isn't an expensive upgrade and it would give him more flexibility than any integrated solution.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

ooh, really? i've compared my friends vostro with 8600gt to my onboard mga950, i wasn't able to witness any video quality difference.... unlesss some special nvidia function wasn't turned on?

Well depends on if he knows how to enable PureVideoHD and then the content that you're watching. However features like the noise reduction alone for intel (I assume that's a GMA950) is going to be too taxing especially on HD content whereas the GF8 midrange series and HD2K will do a much better job. The GMA950 is nowhere near the 965 and X3 series from intel for video playback, and even they lag the GF8 and HD2K series. That you notice a difference or not doesn't change what simple objective tests can clearly show.

Now that's not the same as saying for some people it's not worth getting more than onboard because they wouldn't notice the difference, which is the same as saying for some people HD vs SD or AA vs no AA isn't worth it because they wouldn't notice the difference either.

So while there is also the benefit of the CPU offloading, and thus fluid playback of the GF8 and HD2K series mid-rangecards, there's also the quality differences. The ability to appreciate, or 'experience' it as you say, is all in the eye of the beer holder.