Dell Precision M6600 VS. HP Envy 17 Ivy Bridge

I'm just curious as to what the differences are in terms of performance. I know what is already on paper but, how do the graphic cards compare?

I know you can softmod the M8900 to act like a 6950(?). And both are ranked higher than the 7850M on notebookcheck.

What do ya'll think? I googled but could not find any sort of benchmarks for the M8900 (gaming)

Here are the specs for both:

HP ENVY 17
3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
• Radeon(TM) HD 7850M Graphics 1GB GDDR5 Memory [HDMI, DP]
• 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery - Up to 5.25 hours of battery life +++
• 17.3-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920x1080)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• 720p HD video streaming webcam supports Skype
• Intel 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN + Bluetooth(R)
• Full-size Radiance backlit keyboard with numeric keypad

Dell Precision M6600
Intel Core i7-2720QM (2.2-3.3GHz, 6MB Cache)
Memory
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
AMD FirePro M8900 Mobility Pro Graphics with 2GB GDDR5
17.3 HD+(1600x900) AG LED-backlit with Prem Panel Guarantee
Hard Drive
320 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Genuine Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit
8X Slot Load DVD+/-RW Drive
Intel Centrino Advanced-N+ WIMAX 6250
9 Cell Primary Battery

 

Well, the M8900 ships with identical specs and clocks to the 6970M, while the 7850M is only ~15 percent slower than said 6970M.

So there's no major gap to expect in gaming performance. It really comes down to which notebook chassis you like more, and whether you actually need that FirePro.

 

iirc the Envy has the Enduro issue. It's a tough choice though because the M6600 has last gen tech.