which one to get?! v. slight differences

hey guys, firstly awesome forum here it has helped me alot in understanding different components of laptops, in particular graphics cards.

anyway, my dilemma is choosing between 2 ASUS notebooks which differ in price by ~$400.

Option 1: ($1499)
Cpu: Core 2 Duo T7300 2ghz
Ram: 2gig ddr
HD: 160gig
Graphic: nvidia 8400M 896mb turbo cache

im not exactly sure what 8400M it is, as it's not specified (as in GT,GS or G) and whats the turbo cache mean?

Option 2: ($1929)
Cpu: Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2ghz
Ram: 2gig ddr
HD: 200gig
Graphic: nvidia 8600M 1gb turbo cache

I want to use it over the next 4 years, as i am just starting uni in a few months. i want to be able to game on it, not extensively but games such as counter strike etc.

wondering how would COD4 run on both these laptops? would the 8400M be able to handle it? even at low settings? would the 8600M be able to handle it?

the main differences that im torn over are; the T7300 2ghz vs the T7500 2.2ghz... is their a noticeable difference in the two? would the T7300 be able to handle say itunes, firefox, photoshop, msn at the same time and still run relativly fast(when i say fast, i mean not lag when switching between tasks)

i know the differences between graphics cards but say down the line i want to upgrade the 8400M to say a 8600M GT... is this possible? would it be hard? also how much would a 8600M GT cost for a laptop?

how many years do you think each one would be 'good' for?

note: prices are in Australian dollars ( 1AUD = .85US)

thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to the forum =)

ill go with option 2 because it has 2.2ghz although it isnt much difference, it also has 40gb more space and the graphics card is better..its DDR3 right? and btw its 200gb not 2000gb, 2000gb is 2TB..lol, but not quite sure yet..do u have any links to the notebook where they show the specs and stuff?

 

haha yeah that was a typo, cheers.

nah i dont have a link i only have brouchoure's, but thats pretty much all it says.
with the DDR3 are you talking about the ram? if so its DDR2

of your sig, you have a T7300.. how is it? can it handle multiple tasks well (tunes, firefox, photoshop, msn)

 

oh im asking if the graphics card is a DDR3 or DDR2 card. well yea its running great.

 

oh ok, it doesn't say what it is... ill have to ask. is there a big difference between the two?

 

even though 256mb DDR2 and 256mb DDR3 are both 256mb but DDR3 is more powerful because it has higher clock speeds.