Whats the point in the 8400GS

Just curious as it cant really play any (new/recent) games properly (as in moderate res and gd gfx), and the onbourd intel can run aero etc, doesnt it just ruin battery life.

I asking because i am planning on getting the 1399 M1330 deal but i dont really plan on playing games.

 

Okay well i fell stupid, i did a search and this is quite an old discussion, sorry. Guess it is better to go with it then. Also do you get headphones with all us bought m1330

 

Its ok, at least you realized.

 

yes, comes with creative's ep630 earphones

 

Well the 8400GS can handle older games much better then the Intel 3100 card. Also its an XPS, and the 8400GS is the best a 13inch can handle. Many who have a nice desktop, the 1330 compliments very nicely. small, powerful, a dedicated card, good battery life. As a computer this notebook can last 3-5 years easy. These Core 2's are very nice.

 

If you're not interested in games at all (or Blu-Ray), then I'd save money and battery life and get the x3100.

 

you can't with Dell's current 799$ off deal.

 

Ah... Well, in that case, you're still saving money at least.

 

'What's the point in buying the M1330 to play games?'

That seems the more appropriate question, and the answer is simple: There isn't one, the M1330 isn't and never has been a gamers machine.

The 8400GS is useful if you intend to work with video or three dimensional content.

 

I see the 1330 as a really nice compliment to a nice desktop gaming system. I view the 1530 the same way, it's just slightly more capable.

 

exactly my thoughts. I got a W2jb Asus pretty nice desktop replacement with some good graphics. But the M1330 is for lugging around and taking notes in class. And not meant to play crysis on . And besides if it could play crysis what the **** would i be doing in class?

 

That doesn't mean it can't
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXzsXFAm4To

So much for taking notes during class...

 

After comparing two M1330 systems, one with the Intel integrated graphics and the other with the 8400GS, I have to admit the Vista Aero performance on the Intel solution is better!

Yes, Vista runs more smoothly overall with the Intel integrated solution than the Nvidia option. As far as gaming is concerned, the Intel loses by a large margin, but Aero seems sluggish in comparison on the machine with the Nvidia graphics.

Do Nvidia's Vista drivers suck? Is the 8400GS really just that weak? I'm not sure what's going on here, but it's night and day. It makes me wish my otherwise more powerful M1330 had the Intel graphics, as I won't be using my M1330 for gaming and the battery life being better plus the smoother operation would be nice.

 

The "less smooth" performance you are getting has to do with the fact that the nvidia drivers lower the clocks on the 8400gs to save power. however this feature can be disabled and played around using rivatuner. good luck

 

I don't know that this is due to any power saving functionality, as it occurs even when the M1330 is plugged into AC power.

 

I know, but trust me, i have a 1420 and when comparing my pc with a friend with an intel x3100, mine also looked sluggish on vista aero. Then i tuned the settings using rivatuner so that i forced the video card to work on its standard performance clocks all the time and not to downgrade the clocks, and everything was fixed and now my pc works even better than the x3100 on the aero interface.

greetings

 

Could you go into some more detail on how to do this, IE what settings to change in Rivatuner and what to change them to? I'm interested in trying this out but I don't want to screw anything up. =P

 

I think it's safe to say that the M1330 isn't a "hard-core" gaming machine, but it is a "light" gaming machine. For instance, playing the Godfather on the 8400M GS is very nice. The same I'll be expecting from WoW, which will really be the only game I'll play on my m1330 (except maybe Oblivion, which also plays quite well.)