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Laptop GPU ATI or Nvidia decision

ATI

ATI

ATI

Associate
Joined
9 Aug 2005
Posts
1,015
hello all

i,m looking into getting a laptop.

either a mac pro or dell alienware m17x both around £1700+

the question is the macpro you only get nv 9400gt.

but the dell is giving me a choice out of:


  • Single 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
  • Single 1GB ATI® GDDR3 Mobility™ Radeon™ HD 4870

which one to go for battery consumpation and offcourse performance and other issues like heat etc?

which one is better card to have :)

thanks
 
The MBP at that price point has an 9400 and a 9600, the 9400 for running on battery and 9600 for when you are on mains. It's due a refresh soon tho.

How portable do you need it? 17" Mackbook is 3KG, that Alienware is a back breaking 6KG.
 
A mobile 4870 is far faster than a GTX260M.

The GTX260M is in fact just an 8800GT where as the mobile 4870 actually uses the RV770 GPU.

I think you should wait a little while until there are DX11 laptops though, they shouldn't be too long I'd imagine?
 
hey

thanks for the info

when is the refrsh due?

i,m happy with macbook in terms of size and weight but lacks value for money compare to the XPS in terms of cpu, gpu memory etc.

and yep i,m reading this now about the XPS damn thats heavy.

i,m just tired of desktops plus i tend to move around quite abit and you understand the hassle of the desktop.

i dont really have plans to take it everywhere with me but if id then it will be a lot easier then the desktop.
 
hey

yep i would normally but i need a machine now to do the uni work, i,m using an athlon 1400 desktop so you can imagine what a nightmare that is at the mo. cant install anything on it with out killing it.

any news when these dx 11 laptops are due?

surely the alienware is upgradeable?
 
I think MSI's laptops are much better value personally though, they have quadcore CPUs with 4850/4870s and are a lot closer to the £1000 mark.

I doubt the Alienware would be upgradable in the graphics department. I'm not sure when ATi will have mobile GPUs ready, but it's their chance to take a massive chunk of the mobile GPU marketshare.
 
if i can find them that would be great as i,m looking for 19*12 res, 9 hr battery and 7200 rpm disk i cant find an msi where i can customise this.

can you pm me please kylew on the msi lappy?
 
ATI said:
if i can find them that would be great as i,m looking for 19*12 res, 9 hr battery and 7200 rpm disk i cant find an msi where i can customise this.

can you pm me please kylew on the msi lappy?
Click to expand...

Good luck 9hr battery on performace laptop....

while playing games you will be lucky to get 1hr tops as they are just portable desktops
 
these MSI aint half bad tbh:


Asus G71Gx - decent spec but pricey £1700+

Asus G60Vx - shame about the screen res.

gaming wise will probably when its at home hooked up to the speakers not when its out and about.
 
markiejt said:
Good luck 9hr battery on performace laptop....

while playing games you will be lucky to get 1hr tops as they are just portable desktops
Click to expand...

+1

The 9hrs battery is if you just boot into windows and dont actually do anything, soon as you start doing any sort of work that gets cut in half/thirded, and yeah gaming yoou really want to be plugged into the mains
 
cheers, will be using word, cad and desktop work mostly if i do take it out, i need it to last at least 1.3 hrs but i was expecting 3 hrs from 9hrs batt and gaming thats def plugged in.
 
this is what the spec is:


Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9000 (2.00GHz,1066MHz FSB,6MB L2 Cache)
Alienware M17x Gaming Laptop - Lunar Silver
Single 1GB ATI® GDDR3 Mobility™ Radeon™ HD 4870
2 years Next Business Day service + 2 years Accidental Damage Support
17-inch Wide UXGA 1920 x 1200 - Beyond HD (1200p) Display
4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
500GB (7,200rpm) Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive
DVD+/-RW (DVD, CD read and write) Optical Drive
9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion battery

Accessories
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English
Alienhead 3D(Widescreen)
Standard
Alienhead 3D


Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module - Europe
Dell Wireless 1510 Half Mini Card (802.11n) European
Services & Software
No Accidental Damage Support
Also Includes
N11W1701
Alienware M17X Order - UK
English Documentation
Alienware M17x Resource DVD
240W AC Adaptor
UK 2M 250V Power Cord
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
1 year of coverage included with your PC
AutoMatic updates - On
Balanced
Generic Name Plate Engraving

total - £1781.65
 
ATI said:
9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion battery
Click to expand...

You are misreading this, this is a 9-cell battery that can deliver 85 watts for 1 hour.

I'd be very surprised if this machine would even last an hour on battery, it certainly wont once the battery has been through a few duty cycles.

Have you not considered maybe getting a laptop that is portable and runs a few hours to have for mobility and a desktop for gaming on?

For £1700 quid i'm sure you can get a laptop that works properly as a laptop AND a desktop that works properly as a desktop, and not have to put of with some obscenely overpriced, heavy, unportable, compromised gaming mongrel.
 
sldsmkd said:
You are misreading this, this is a 9-cell battery that can deliver 85 watts for 1 hour.

I'd be very surprised if this machine would even last an hour on battery, it certainly wont once the battery has been through a few duty cycles.

Have you not considered maybe getting a laptop that is portable and runs a few hours to have for mobility and a desktop for gaming on?

For £1700 quid i'm sure you can get a laptop that works properly as a laptop AND a desktop that works properly as a desktop, and not have to put of with some obscenely overpriced, heavy, unportable, compromised gaming mongrel.
Click to expand...

Best suggestion yet. I'd spend £4-450 on a laptop, then the rest on a high-end gaming PC, you'd get so much more for your money really.
 
I have a mid 2007 Macbook Pro with the 8600M GT

I am now on my third system board as the GPU keeps frying itself. I will NEVER buy another laptop with a Nvidia GPU after going through all this hassle.
 
thanks for the suggestions.

is there any you can recommend please:

- must have 19*12 17in screen
- 7200 rpm HD
- and now from what everyone else said about nvidia, an ati 4850 or similar.

Thanks



sldsmkd said:
You are misreading this, this is a 9-cell battery that can deliver 85 watts for 1 hour.

I'd be very surprised if this machine would even last an hour on battery, it certainly wont once the battery has been through a few duty cycles.

Have you not considered maybe getting a laptop that is portable and runs a few hours to have for mobility and a desktop for gaming on?

For £1700 quid i'm sure you can get a laptop that works properly as a laptop AND a desktop that works properly as a desktop, and not have to put of with some obscenely overpriced, heavy, unportable, compromised gaming mongrel.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
hey

all i want is justa single machine, it would be ideal for it to be light and portable which is why i orginally started with the mac pro, but all machines so far some with a nice hefty price.
 
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