Quick question regarding this machine + X3100 (vs. 8400M GS)

Hey Everyone,

First off I want to thank you all for such an informative community. I have been here for a little while now lurking (and occasionally posting) and it has really been helpful.

To get to my question, I have just placed an order for the following laptop:

Quantity Item Number Description Unit Price

1 223-6992 XPS M1330, Intel Core 2 Duo T8300(2.4GHz, 800Mhz, 3M L2 Cache) $1103.50
1 310-9240 Matte Black Casing XPS M1330 $0.00
1 311-7310 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm, for XPS M1330 $0.00
1 320-5583 13.3 Inch Wide Screen WXGA TL WLED Backlit LCD with Camera, XPS M1330 $0.00
1 320-5602 Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 3100, XPS M1330 $0.00
1 341-6242 160G 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor $0.00
1 412-0946 Dell Travel ExpressCard Remote Control, IR $0.00
1 420-5769 Internet Search and Portal $0.00
1 420-5924 Icon Consolidation Application $0.00
1 420-6436 Vista, PC-Restore, Dim/Insp $0.00
1 420-8566 Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition, English $0.00
1 420-7098 Media Direct 3.5 $0.00
1 420-7387 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP XPS-M1330 $0.00
1 420-7622 DELL SUPPORT CENTER 2.0 $0.00
1 463-2282 Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access $0.00
1 420-7468 ADOBE ACROBAT READER 8.1 DIM/INSP $0.00
1 313-5361 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive for XPSM1330 $0.00
1 420-8183 Roxio Creator DE 10 $0.00
1 313-4783 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0 $0.00
1 430-2577 Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini Card $0.00
1 461-8389 No Virus Protection Requested $0.00
1 312-0562 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, for XPS M1330 $0.00
1 412-0148 No Internet Service Provider Requested $0.00
1 420-8051 Microsoft Works 9.0, English For Inspiron $0.00
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty $0.00
1 987-6347 Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year $0.00
1 983-3700 Type 3- Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year $0.00
1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3 $0.00
1 412-0360 Soft Contracts - Banctec $0.00
1 960-8710 Warranty Support,Initial Year $0.00
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks $9.00
1 430-2566 Dell Wirless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR) $20.00
1 310-9273 Fingerprint Reader $.00
1 310-9348 Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor $.00
1 310-8628 You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System $.00
1 320-5771 Slim and Light LCD with TuxedoBlack Casing and Camera XPS M1330 $.00
1 310-8939 Dell Slim Auto/Air/AC Adapter for Inspiron $69.00
1 420-7091 DataSafe Online Dim/Ins/XPS $.00
1 420-7092 DataSafe Online Dim/Ins/XPS 1YR-FREE $.00
1 987-4817 Insp Datasafe 3GB,1YR(Incl in price),DHS $0.00
1 988-0099 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online $.00
1 464-9572 No Entertainment software pre-installed $.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sub-Total : $1201.50


*I will be replacing the 2 GB with 4 GB of RAM immediately upon receipt.

I am simply curious about whether or not my choice to go with the X3100 was a good one. You see, I will not be playing any games, however, I do a lot of photo editing, some movie watching, and that sort of thing. I suppose my major questions are:

- Will everything still run very smoothly in Vista?
- Will the integrated graphics affect system performance much at all?
- Will it actually be cooler and offer substantially extended battery life?
- Does the choice of an X3100 eliminate the problems that have been known to occur with the 8400M GS?

I have never ordered a laptop with integrated graphics, and on one hand, I feel as though it is taboo or counterintuitive to place an integrated graphics chip in such an otherwise ridiculously powerful machine. However, considering my needs, I think this might have been a good decision. Please give me your thoughts.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer!

-Steve

 

Sorry i didnt read that massive list....

And yes everythin shud run smoothly in Vista

X3100 wont affect system performance except playing games and will lack HDMI output....(dunno if 8400M GS supports HDMI) The X3100 will however play older games around the time 2005 or so....or the newer ones with software emulation but the quality wont be good....

X3100 will run cooler, keep temps low and increase ur battery life significantly....dunno the probs with 8400M GS but if u dont play games then there is no need for discrete graphics

If u ll be watching dvds in ur laptop itself, X3100 is more than enough and my old acer 3680 with 2gig ram and a celeron easily copes up with hardcore photoediting in Photoshop and ripping DVDs....so the 4gig ram u will order will carry out the job just fine....and u ve got the T8300 so I dont think there will be much of a problem in doing photoediting and stuff....

 

again... x3100 handles HDMI outputs w/o problems

the x3100 is more powerful than what people think. it was gma 950 that was crap

 

Thank you very much for the feedback guys. I seem to be working hard to validate my purchase here; I suppose I just hope I receive my laptop and am happy with all of the choices I've made. I think the Penryn processor will probably prove to be worth the investment over the T7250 I had picked previously, and the more I research the more it seems that the X3100 might actually be a better choice if you aren't planning to game.

I just certainly hope I do not have to deal with any of the ubiquitous heat issues that we've all heard about. Hopefully this particular configuration will reduce the chances of any such issues.

Anyone out there sporting the same general configuration as myself wish to comment on your performance and heat?

Thank you all once again!

-Steve

 

Yes

No. Not unless you decide you want to run 3D games or do 3D modelling.

The graphics will run cooler.
Battery life will be better, though it's still pretty good with the Nvidia card with the power saving on.

No one with Intel X3100 graphics has had the vertical lines/video card/motherboard problems that are described in this thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=204772

 

Chelet,

Extremely helpful response. Thanks very much for taking a couple of minutes!

I suppose this brings me to my (hopefully) final question: the palmrest heat issues that everyone references; are they related to the wireless card then mostly, or the GPU? If the wireless card is to blame, will the Intel Wireless-N card I ordered hold up better than the alternatives? Or has this not been determined?

I am terribly sorry for all of the questions, but throughout all of my research on this forum and elsewhere, I was still unable to come up with any answers about these topics.

Thank you again!

Steve

 

The heat from the left side of the palmrest seems to come mainly from the hard drive. The right side doesn't get as warm as the left. The middle, where the touchpad is, seems to heat up from the southbridge and/or the wireless card. If you use ethernet instead of wireless, the area still gets a little warm, but not hot. I don't know that one wireless card is cooler than another. Maybe someone who's tried more than one card can tell you.

 

Does anyone have any input on this? I would love to know if one wireless card runs significantly cooler than another.

I ordered the Intel Wireless-N card, so hopefully that one isn't too terribly scorching. But I have a feeling many others here have that exact card as well and experience the issue.