128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X700 vs. 128MB ATI Radeon XPRESS 200M with Hypermemory

Hi Everyone,

I am currently shopping around for a laptop and have a few questions regarding the various hardware and gaming. I think I have it narrowed down to a couple different models of Compaq Presarios, because it seems like those provide the most bang for the buck. I travel A LOT for work and would be using the laptop primarily for gaming, in particular World of Warcraft. I also do play other games such as Far Cry, Call of Duty, etc...most of todays high graphic games. So here are my questions.

Video Card
This is my main concern. I read the very informative article on this site that talks about dedicated vs. integrated graphic cards, and from it I gather that in order to play some of the higher end games I will need a dedicated video card. I am considering getting the Compaq v4000t with the 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X700, but my friend says I could get the
v5000z with the 128MB ATI Radeon XPRESS 200M with Hypermemory for a couple hundred $$ cheaper and get the same graphics quality.
Is this true?
What exactly is the difference in these two cards since both have 128MB dedicated memory?
Or would there be a considerable difference in graphic quality and performance between the two since one is a dedicated card?
Also, I read that the 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X700 only supports DirectX 9.0b, not c. Is that a bad thing?

Hard drive
Would there be a noticeable performance difference in a 4200 RPM, 5400 RPM, and 7200 RPM hard drive (another brand)? If so, would it have any effect on gaming?

Memory
If i get 256MB DDR2 SDRAM (1x256MB), is there an extra slot to add a 1GB stick? I assume adding it on my own would be cheaper than getting it factory installed.

Processor
When it comes to gaming, is there significant performance difference between a 1.6 GHz and say a 1.73 GHz processor. Is it worth it for the $$ to get a faster processor?

Thanks in advance for everyones help. I hope to get some of your input before I go ahead and buy anything.

And if anyone has any other recommendations for a comparable laptob for around the $900-1200 range feel free to let me know.
:decision:

 

The x700 is superior by far.

The 200m is a shared memory version of the x300 card.

 

Check out my video card guide for the answer to your video question.

The hard drive has nothing to do with the in-game performance; it will only help levels load faster.

1.6 vs. 1.73 - not much of a difference. If you are doing heavy gaming, I would go for a Pentium M with a 533MHz FSB vs. one with a 400MHz - data transfer will be faster.

Practical difference between the processors - probably only a few frames per second.

 

I'd opt for the 5400RPM hard drive over the 4200RPM...but doubt you'd need the 7200RPM drive, really. And to be perfectly honest...the speed increase from 4200 to 5400 is modest, too...but enough for me to notice.