dv5t or xps 1530

With the same proc for about same price, is the 9600 GT of the dv5t slower than the 8600 GT because of the memory difference DDR2 vs DDR3

 

The DV5T has the newer Intel chipsets so I would personally go with that. Dell has not yet upgraded their lineup to Centrino 2. The 9600M GT with the DDR2 is about equal to the 8600M GT GDDR3. My 8600M GT GDDR3 scores a bit higher in 3DMark06 then what I have seen the HP DV5T score with the 9600M GT in various reviews.

 

Where have you seen the score for the dv5t ?

 

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/hp-pavilion-dv5t-entertainment-notebook-pc.aspx?page=2

"This GPU managed a startling 12,550 on 3DMark03 and 3,937 on 3DMark06"

That's a tad slower then my 8600M GT GDDR3 in my XPS M1530 which scores 4186 in 3DMark06 with the default Dell drivers, and a tad over 4200 with drivers from Laptop Video 2 Go. (no overclocking either)

To be fair though the difference is minimal, and the 200 point advantage is probably very little in most games. Some games will probably run faster on the 9600M GT DDR2 and others will run faster on the 8600M GT GDDR3. It depends alot on how the game is coded.

Just as a comparison my desktop (in my specs below) scores about 13,500 in 3DMark06. So the difference between a 8600M GT GDDR3 and a 9600M GT DDR2 is quite minimal. Compare either one to even a budget desktop graphics card like the 8800GT 512MB (which can be bought for $149 now) and it will get owned.

 

Centrino 2 doesn't provide any performance gains at a price point,
extra 3mb lvl 2 cache trump 1066 mHz fsb and Centrino 2.
So when you are configuring systems pay special attention
to how much lvl 2 cache the proccessors have.

 

War, can you elaborate?

 

I think his point is that the new P8000 series CPUs offer little performance gain over their Penyrn T8000 counterparts. The fact is, Centrino 2 is an improvement in battery life, and not really that much in performance.

 

I like the dv5t cuz it's new with the centrino 2 and no worry (maybe) about the graphic card. But I have read on the HP forum that it was running at hot very fast...

 

You should see the actual dv5t at best buy. The design turned me off so bad with its thickness and the cheap shining feeling of plastic.

 

Well, ya the XPS M1530 is no doubt made of better materials, and if it had the "Centrino 2" chipset/cpu/wifi package I'd say no doubt get the XPS M1530.

 

Centrino 2 at this point focuses on lower power consumption rather than large performance gains. That you'll have to wait for Nahalem. I think the main selling point would be the better GPU that, as far as we know, does not have the defect. This is why I wait.