128MB vs. 256MB dedicated - much difference?

I am looking to purchase an ultraportable laptop (<5 lbs) for doing some light 2D CAD work (Vectorworks) and work in the Adobe Suite.

I've been told I need a minimum of 128MB dedicated graphics for Vectorworks, ideally more.

The Dell XPS 1330 has 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8400M GS, with 128MB dedicated + 128MB integrated. I'd get it with an Intel T9300 (2.5 GHz) and 4 GB of RAM.

The LG P300 has a NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GS 256 MB dedicated, but is more expensive, and I'm not as impressed with the warranty/service I'd get from Future Shop (... yes, I live in Canada where the LG P300 is available). I can get it with Intel T8100 (2.1 GHz) and 3 GB of RAM.

All that said... I'm wondering if I'd really notice a big difference between the two in terms of their graphics capability

 

you probably mean 128 dedicated and 128 shared.
the shared vram does NOTHING so don't worry about that.
I would go for the xps for the better cpu, I think that would be your limiting factor.

 

There would be a reasonable amount of difference b/w the 1330 and the P300.. and it's not just because of the video memory. The 8600GS is almost twice as powerful as the 8400GS, and has a 128bit memory bus opposed to the 64 bit bus on the 8400GS.

 

but he's not using it for gaming. and that app doesn't look too demanding on the graphics side.

 

yeah as long as you are doing some graphics applications but not actual 3d gaming, the xps m1330 is your best bet.

 

Agreed. The better CPU and more RAM will improve the performance of those apps more than the better graphics card.

 

Although it should be pointed out that the gpu can't be upgraded, the cpu can. So if your app supports gpu acceleration the maybe you should go for the 8600

 

How would I be able to tell whether the application supports GPU acceleration?

 

Wow, looking at the poll results I'm not seeing any clear direction!

Anyone else want to share their 2 cents?

 

newer version of photoshop is reported to have GPU acceleration

and you might run into overheating problems with m1330+8400 if u stress it too much, though it seems like you wont run into this problem
wats the price diff?

 

the LG will be even hotter with a 8600m gs!

 

true, but if properly cooled it should be no problem, they wouldnt put it in there if it was to have overheating issues.

 

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4296

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3826

In those reviews the P300 has a better CPU, but a better CPU doesn't account for a more than doubled 3dMark06 score. If the pricing is similar, the P300 is a much more powerful system. You never know how much more demanding graphic applications will be, but then again, your CPU will be doing most of the rendering anyway so the T9300 would be nice.

 

Can you elaborate on how it is the CPU that does most of the rendering?

 

$1900 for the XPS 1330
$2250 for the P300

...both including warranties

 

Programs that render images (Photoshop, Solidworks, etc) generally use the CPU, not the GPU, to render the images.

 

Oh and another point. Unless you purchase Vista 64-bit, go with 3 GB of RAM. OEM companies rip you off on RAM upgrades anyways. You can save a good deal of money if you upgrade your RAM yourself.

 

remember that the LG doesn't have a built in optical drive, take that into consideration.

 

the xps 1330 is just a better system overall.