2 NOtebooks to choose from

I am trying to find a notebook for christmas that i will be able to do a bit of gaming on (with UT3 and/or COD 4 online). I don't have a huge amount of money but have enough for a fairly decent notebook.
I've managed to narrow it down to just two laptops, the Packard Bell MB88-P-003 which is as follows:
* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5450
* (1.66 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB Cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista (R) Home Premium
* 2 GB Memory
* 160 GB Hard Drive
Graphics Card Type Nvidia GeForce 8600M To enable images to be displayed on your monitor
Graphics Memory 512 MB (1279MB Turbocache) MB The higher the memory the better quality images you are display.
Thats costs £700

But then theres the HP DV9646EM:
* AMD Turion 64 x2 TL 58 Processor
* (1.9 GHz, 1600 MHz FSB, 1 MB Cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista (R) Home Premium
* 2 GB Memory
* 160 GB Hard Drive
with the nVidia Ge Force 8400M GS
Which is £600.

Obviously the Packard one is better, but it's £100 more expensive, i only wan to be able to play a few games online, not bothered about resolution that much as long as i get playable frame rates online. So my question is, is the extra £100 for the Packard Bell worth it or not? (Sorry for long post)

 

You will see definitely a lot of change with a 8600m GT than the 8400m GS. I'd say go for the 8600m GT.

 

thans lozanogo, yeah i expected so, the difference would be worth the £100 then

 

For £100 extra, yes the 8600gt is the better deal. If it was closer to £200 then it gets tougher. Otherwise the laptops specs are pretty much the same (from what you've given us), processors are about same speed. For UT3 and especially COD4 you really need that 8600gt. I have a 8400gs and can't even play COD2 in dx9 at low settings and even though COD4 is really well optimized if you want to play it an reasonable res (1024x6??+) then it's gotta be the 8600gt. Battery life will take a hit but the core 2 is more efficient that the amd processor so it may even up even then.

Dave

 

My Vostro is similarly specced as the 8600GT you have configured. I can run all the current games without any problems. I'd say go for 8600...its worth the extra dough.

 

If you're intending on gaming the better gfx and cpu are worth £100. If you're not gaming or playing older games only you could get the 8400/Turion, but if you can afford the 8600/C2D I'd go for it.

 

C2D and 8600m GT most definitely!

 

gaming - 8600
not too much - 8400 + 100 pounds for beer, etc.

 

If you want to play newer games the 8600M-GT is almost a must. The 8400GS is a very weak card and will not play newer games with satisfactory performance.