XPS M1330 - 128MB NVIDIA vs Integrated chip

HI,

I am planning to use my laptop for development/webdesign and not really for any gaming.

The only graphic design i might have will be photoshop of web related images which are not realy heavy.

I got the following spec (which I was told is powerful enough to carry the system even with integrated graphics for these purposes)

XPS M1330, Intel Core 2 Duo T8300(2.4GHz, 800Mhz, 3M L2 Cache)
4GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm, for XPS M1330
13.3 Inch Wide Screen WXGA TL WLED Backlit LCD with Camera, XPS M1330
Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 3100, XPS M1330
320G 5400RPM SAMSUNG Hard Drive
8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive for XPSM1330
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy
Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini Card
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, for XPS M1330
Fingerprint Reader
Dell Wirless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR)
Dell Bluetooth Travel mouse
Slim and Light LCD with TuxedoBlack Casing and Camera XPS M1330
Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor

Should I get the Nvidia for the extra 100$ or this should be fine.

Another question I have after reading alot of the posts is :
Does the integrated graphics have less heat emissions/less power use then Nvidia?

 

Welcome to NBR!
Photoshop doesn't utilize the GPU at all... it's more CPU intensive more than anything else. And you're absolutely correct. Having integrated graphics should lower the total amount of heat produced in your notebook and increase your battery life somewhat. If you have the budget I'd go with a slightly better CPU (maybe the T9300) since your main line of work will require significant CPU power.

 

reports(or rather leaks) that later versions of photoshop may use GPU-acceleration, making it faster(or easier) to open 500megapixel file

there are heating issues with the 8400 on m1330..... just a heads up, theres a huge thread on this overheating problem

 

I would go with the integrated chip on the 1330 or wait for its replacement with a cooler-running GPU.

 

See this thread about for integrated x3100 info

 

Sorry but you have been gravely misinformed thus far. Always go for the non-integrated discrete graphics solution. Otherwise your CPU will be in competition with your integrated graphics card for accessing your memory thereby starving your cpu as it has to idle by and wait for its turn to access memory. Would not be such a big deal if you have at least 4 meg L2 Cache. Having a discrete graphics card is faster than upgrading CPU and Next version of Adobe photoshop does utilize the GPU. Last note, the GPU is the only thing you can't upgrade on a Laptop (there are few exceptions).

 

Bandwidth compared:

FSB800 = 200 MHz quad pumped 64 Bit = 200 MHz * 4 * 8 Byte = 6,4 GB/s
DualChannel DDR2-667 = 333 MHz double pumped 128 Bit = 333 MHz * 2 * 16 = 10,7 GB/s

The effect you describe is true, but in practise can be neglected. Especially if you take prefetch and caches into account.

While working I can play 1080p @23.976fps, which consumes 200MB/s bandwith. Just to give some relations.

Discrete graphics is always superiour to integrated. No question.

From the previews I found CUDA in Photoshop CS4 is used for some filters like zoom on extremely large images (2 Gigabyte). I don't have these kinds of images. And I'm not using Photoshop anyway. Gimp does already feature a 64-Bit version for Linux, which Photoshop CS3 doesn't.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys,

I read the link that flipfire provided (which made me very confident in the decision to stick to with 3100); it seemed very thorough and the results seem pleasing - especially compared to all the long threads complaining about the m1330 overheating because of the gpu.

I guess for games it tripples the "joy" to have the nvidia but for my needs this should work.

I ordered the 4GB setup and i think that for my development tasks i will be forced to stick to the 32 bit version for at least another year - and the 128MB dedicated memory is going to be take address space anyways so...

I feel much better with this decision - I am suppose to get it in the end of the week so i'll post a review as to how it performs with my web-design graphic software (photoshop, flash, visual studio...)

 

thanks for all the help - I got my laptop and it responds very fast and i'm really happy with the graphics - i watched movies and opened some intense graphic files - zoom zoom - realy fast.

i took some pictures and posted them here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3624900#post3624900

 

Thats good to hear

The x3100 is quite a gem for non gamers. I have both 8400m GS and integrated. The only real difference between them is one can play games.

 

I do like to play on my desktop from time to time - my favorite game is guild wars - just for kicks i put it on the lappy to see how it goes - and its not bad at all - Although i use mid-low settings - but its still runs well with 1280x800.

I played my ranger and I did get great interrupts (where you have to be quick enough to react to another players move) on 3/4 second spells which say good things about the way the game runs.

I guess its not about if you can play or not - it's more like weather your textures will be nicer or not