Urgent Decision - 1691 or 5021 ?

I’m thinking about getting a Laptop to see me through the basics of computing – I just want something that I can surf wirelessly with, something that’ll get me through typing long documents and a little bit of gaming on the side. I’m now faced with a decision that needs to be made pretty quickly. Here are the two candidates:

Click here
This one is Centrino, with an 80 GB HDD, and a PCI-E X700 mobility.

For around 50 pounds more, I can go for AMDs attempt at the mobile laptop scene:

This one sports the Turion 64 chip, around about the same speed as the Centrino above, a 100 GB HDD, and the same graphics card.

The Centrino’s mobo chipset, apparently, is an Intel 915PM where as the Turion 64 model has an ATI Mobility Radeon XPRESS 200, which sounds cooler, but I’ve no idea which one will be better. I’d imagine that Turion 64 should be better at playing games due to the 64bit processing, combined with that chipset – am I right in saying this?

50 pounds more buys me 64bit, which will allow me to run Windows x64 at a later date, but it will probably loose in the battery war against the Centrino. The other benefits include a larger HDD, but I could manage nicely with the 80GB so this isn’t an issue really. (I have no idea what the RPM is on these models.) So do we know if the Turion is any good? Any advice would be welcomed! :decision:

Side notes:

I'm new, so please be gentle! I've been looking at these forums quite a bit in the last few days, but i figured it would be easier to find my answer by actually asking the people that know!

The only place that seems to issue the X700 128mb with the Aspire 1691 is Comet. All the other retailers have 64mb versions of either X700 or even the X600. This worries me. Do you think Comet might have made a typo - is the 1691 even supposed to come with this card? If anybody has purchased the Aspire 1691 with the X700 128mb then please let me know!

Also, both Laptops here should be able to run games on the lower settings, shouldn't they? I do plan to upgrade RAM in the near future, once funds have been recovered from the initial Laptop purchase!

Lastly, is there another Acer (or other brand) i might have overlooked which offers more or less the same thing, at more or less the same price?

Thanks for your time!
Dex.

 

I should have that very laptop by comet in a few days time, it is not only described on the website as a 128mb X700, but in their centralised computer system it says '128mb ATI graphics card'. Another thing to point out is that the 1691 offered by comet is actually brand new, they took their first stocks of it last friday, so 128mb x700 wouldn't suprise me.

64 bit won't take off to a point in the next 3 years, where you HAVE to have 64 bit to run an app. By that time, its likely you will buy another laptop/computer.

I'd go with the centrino, due to its 2mb level 2 cache, which really speeds up most things. Of course, you also get the battery life, and the better supported platform (you've got the setfsb and centrino hardware control programs for a start)

Its really a tricky choice, do you want the extra battery life and speed provided by the 2mb level 2 cache, or do you want that 64 bit futureproofing, but probably runs 32 bit apps slower than the P-M?

 

Fantastic, that's great news!

Do you know if your order has been dispatched? When you receive it, make sure you drop a post or two in these forums!

Its looking like Comet then, if it really does come with a 128mb X700 then for that price, I'd be a fool not to buy it! With the 50 pounds saving, i can buy more RAM!

If anybody has anything to add, then feel free to post! :centrino: