IG on Vostro 3350, 3340

Hi

Thinking about placing an order for either a new 3350 or 3450, both with i52410M.

Currently, it's quite a bit cheaper in the UK to opt for integrated graphics rather than the HD6470.

Just how capable is the i5's IG? My needs are quite modest. I don't watch Blue Ray and barely use photoshop, if at all (just very occasional, light use). But I do stream TV (BBC iplayer) and download movies, sometimes in hi res. Will playback via IG be smooth and glitch-free? This is very important.

My other question is will I be able to link up to my external Dell 22" 16:10 monitor without any problems? (the 3350's now include HDMI).

In practice, does the 3350 feel significantly more portable than 3450? (The 3340 is £40 cheaper than the 3350 in the UK). It's a tough decision without being able to see a machine in the flesh.

Thanks

 

Should be no problem. The Sandy Bridge IGP is about 3 times more powerful than the previous generation IGP. photoshop won't be GPU accelerated with the IGP (currently not supported as far as I know). Playback should be smooth and glitch-free. There is quite some info on Intel HD3000 graphics around the web.

Yes, it supports up to two monitors. 1 internal and 1 external works without any problems. A dell rep also told me two external monitors works if you can disable the internal monitor somehow (my question was about using a dock to achieve dual external monitors on the latitude series).

I have no on-hand experience with the vostro's, so can't comment on th is.

 

1. The previous generation of Intel graphics can handle your tasks without difficulty and the latest version is even faster (see notebookcheck for some benchmark results).

2. Does the monitor also have HDMI? If not, but it has a DVI port then you may need something like this?

3. The 3450 is 14mm wider, 16mm deeper and about 3.5mm thicker than the 3350. Those differences don't look big but multiply them up and the 3450 is over 25% larger. Dell's advertised weights make the 3450 about 11% heavier, but if you put a 6 cell battery in the 3350 then the difference drops to about 6%. Given that both have the same resolution display I would be more tempted by the smaller machine.

John

 

Thanks both of you for that. The fast track 3350 seems to only come with the 8-Cell battery, which will make it a bit heavier.

On a side note, I've just noticed that you can get a 3550 with i7-2620M and HD 6630M for around £30 LESS than the 3350 with i5-2410M and IG, making it better value if you don't need the portability. Still the same 1366 x 768 screen though

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/vostro-3350/fs

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/vostro-3550/fs

Cheers for the dvi to hdmi converter link!

 

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