256mb quadro 570m vs 512 mb geforce 8600m gt

I'm comparing these two cards:

Quadro FX 570M 256MB (Thinkpad T61p)
GeForce 8600M GT 512 MB GDDR3 (Macbook Pro)

Both of these cards are GDDR3... I'm leaning toward the quadro, b/c it seems much more cost effective for me.

I don't game a lot, and even if I did, running on medium settings is perfectly fine for me... I do plan to use Compiz/beryl (or w/e other compositing there is now) on Linux, as well as occasional video editing and photoshop work.

Which one of these would you recommend? Is there a performance difference since the 8600 has twice the memory... I've heard that the card isn't powerful enough to use the second 256 mb anyway, but does this also apply to GDDR3?

Thanks for your help.

 

They'll run about equal. The 512MB isn't limited by the RAM, but rather the bus, which is still 128.

 

thanks for the prompt reply... is it safe to say that they're both about equally future-proof (i'm buying a laptop for college, and i really don't want to replace it for the next four years at least)

 

Yep. The T61p will be cheaper too. Another option is the HP8510P, which comes default with 3 year warranty. It's slightly weaker than the two though, since it uses the HD2600 GDDR3.