1330 VS 1530 and the nVidia Card

I'm in a dilemma on whether to buy a 1330 or a 1530. My only reason to go for a 1530 would be the 8600M GT.

But all that I have heard about the grainy screen makes me reconsider my options.

My question is.. Is it possible to order a new 8600M GT or a 8800 for that matter from DELL within the 2Yr In-Home Service period and have it installed by their so called techies? I'm planning to get a Penron T9300 on the 1330. So I guess there should be no compatibility issues..

Can you please help me out?

 

Can anyone here tell me what would be the Vista Score on a 1330? I'm not a compulsive gamer and I would be

This is the configuration that I'm looking for..

 

The 1330 has intergrated 8400 and the 1530 the 8600GT intergrated. They are not discrete - they are soldered onto the board and non upgradable.

You'll have to buy the machine you want now

 

Thanks SteveJonesy. I figured that out after I posted it here. Would someone here be able to give some numbers comparing the 8400 GS and the 8600 GT?

 

Depending on whether you want to OC your GPU or not...
With the stock speed, the M1530 will get a 3DMark06 score of around 4300, but you have not idea how overclockable the 8600 really is...

the default clocks are: 425/850/650, but I have seen people go as far as 700/1400/1000, which would, especially for the memory clock, easily add another thousand or two to the 3DMark score, and go well into the 6000 range. Pretty damn good i have to say.

For me, my m1530 is not as OCed, but I still get more than decent FPS (25-30) for my games, such as CoD4 (with everything on max) and Crysis (with most on high)...

As for the 1330, however, things are not looking so good, in terms of gaming performance; you can get just as good a processor, hardrive, and ram on the 1330s, but the GPU is a HUGE bottleneck. You think there wouldn't be much of a difference between the 8600 and the 8400? well, think again! 8600 uses DDR3, while the 8400 has only 128mb DDR2, which effectively renders it USELESS in gaming and 3D rendering. It is not at ALL overclockable, but can certainly handle the Windows AERO without breaking a sweat (after all, it is a Nvidia, so it IS better than the x3100...). If you are not such a gamer like I am, then you shoule be fine with the 1330, but if you do play games, even casually, then you might have to think twice before buying the laptop with a 3DMark rating of 1408...

Detailed performance reviews here:

M1330: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3826

M1530: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4135

 

Check my sig for my 8600 that i OC'd

 

@shawnhao : Definitely the 1330 and the 1530 are not comparable. But still, IMHO the 8400 is sufficient for all practical purposes. I'm not a compulsive gamer and I suppose that it must be okay.

 

Well, if you are not such a gamer like i am, then the 1330 is DEFINITELY enough for you. No the 8400 is not bad at ALL as a graphics card (way better than the integrated at least), so if you just want to use it as a tool, then it will probably be the most powerful one you will ever have.

the problem i am having with the 1530 is that the laptop is HEAVY, and definitely not something you would want to carry around with you everyday. If you are more of a on-the-road person, then I would actually recommend you getting the 1330. They are both great, but are for people of different needs...

 

Dude, you can easily stretch that 756 to 850 without a problem, and the 1000 to 1300. You have NO idea how overclockable the 8600 is! I'm actually surprised at how Dell ships their cards so Underclocked (to play safe, maybe?)...but yeah, who cares about the 2-3 years that you might be losing on your graphics card due to OC, you'll probably be getting a new lappy in another 2-3 years anyways, so better get the best of it (while it is fresh...)...hehe...

(Exploitation? Anyone? )

 

I wish i could OC it that much, but once i hit 765/1030 i get artifacts in 3d marks. and if my gpu does die, ill get a replacement, dell isnt going to go through all the trouble to see if i OC'd it or not.

 

Really? hehe...maybe you got one of those earlier models in the hardware "Stepping"...anyways, a 5864 in 3DMark06 is not bad at ALL, you probably can play crysis on med-high without breaking a sweat, which is pretty good for a laptop.

BTW, ever tried to OC your CPU? It seems to me that the Penryn is actually the bottleneck here (according to the vista experience index). I got 5.6 for my HD, 5.7 for my RAM and 5.9/5.7 for my video card, but 5.4 for the new Penryn 9300???!!!....Dell's gotta be kidding me...I spent almost 200 bucks on that upgrade...Going to sniff around in the new BIOS to see if I can somehow increase the FSB...hehe....

 

whats your specs?