1.8 vs 1.6

hello, Im semi new to this forum but i have a huge question i'd appreciate if answered. I'm debating widely on 2 notebooks i want to buy...I actually own one of the them. One is a sony viao 1.8 intel core 2 duo with 1gb ram, 128mb integrated (dvmt) video, 120gb HD. The other is an HP pavillion 1.6 Intel core 2 duo with 2gb ram, 256mb gforce go 7600 discrete video, 160gb HD. I really like the Sony Viao which is why i bought it, but im afraid the video isnt too great for playing games on it (unreal tournament 2004, Half-Life2, etc...) i was wondering if the 1.6 on the Hp would make a huge difference when playing games or having them run at all? Im debating on returning the sony and getting the Hp if it is indeed well worth the extra dollars towards it. I just dont like the downgrade to a 1.6mhz. Can someone plz answer this soon??? Id appreciate it alot.

 

Welcome to NBR!

I just need one question of you answered, and that question is: Do you play/want to play games at eye candy settings and what games do you want to play?

Look, the VAIO has great looks but the videocard isnt very good. You will run UT2004 and HL2, but not at great settings. But if you say: Well, I also want to play FEAR or Oblivion in the feature, I would say go for the HP.

The 7600Go is around 4x faster then the integrated solution of the VAIO. Another good point of the HP is that it has 2 GB of RAM. You will really need that to run Vista or play intensive games.

If I were you, I would go for the HP. But again, I look with the gamer's eye, that means: which system will perform better in modern games. And that is, without any doubt, the HP.

Charlie

 

You'll notice a huge difference, in favor of the HP. The graphics card has a MUCH larger effect on gaming than a processor does. And todays processors are so fast that it doesnt really matter as much how fast it is. 200mhz here or there makes no visible difference.

 

Go for the HP. Looks aren't everything IMO. The HP will handle games much better.

 

Antoher vote for the hp here, you really won't notice the diference between the 1.6 and the 1.8

 

thanks for the responces... I've comptiplated over and over with tons of research and hard thinking. Which is why i had to get a second opinion and better judgement with ppl who know better. Thanks again. Tho maybe i can be more specific. Id like to be able to run BF 2142 ok and modern games pretty nicely(meaning pretty gorgiously). I also have some emulaters that run pretty well with this Viao so im not so sure iill have the same luck with the Hp. Now that im thinking about it, what would anyone consider of this... Viao 1.8, gforce 7600gt, 1gb ram or Hp 2.0, gforce 7600, 1 gb ram both core2duo and both around the same price??

ps i can always upgrade ram manually.

 

The HP will be able to do all that very nicely. Processors GHZ speed doesnt matter like Intel used to have you think. The 1.6Ghz processor in that laptop performs better than a 3.8ghz Pentium 4.

 

The Sony Vaio with 7600GT is more powerful than the 7600 (I woulf say about 30-40% faster). I would choose the Sony out of these two. Sony also have beutiful screens.

 

I second the vote for the other Sony option (I assume you are referring to the Vaio AR series). The 7600GT is more powerful than any other 7600, and with overclocking, a member on the forums here got performance results closer to a Go 7800. Plus, as ez2remember said, Vaios have beautiful screens. And they have pretty nice looks all around if you ask me.