Do I really need the dedicated graphic card for notebook ? (Software Developer + Multimedia)

I'm going to purchase new light weight and professional look 13.3" wide screen portable notebook which choices are scope down to Sony Vaio SZ7, Fujitsu S6510, Dell XPS M1330 and Toshiba Portege M600 to replace my old Pentium M 15.4" with GMA 950 notebook which is big and too heavy to carry around.

Vaio SZ and Dell XPS has dedicated graphic card (GeForce 8400M GS) options, others has only GMA X3100 but do I really need the dedicated graphic card?

My purposes of using notebook are
- Software development using Java and Oracle.
- Present projects,presentations to external XGA projector.
- Play multimedia files such as DivX movie, DVD movie and maybe HD movie (H.264).
- Play some time-killing online games such as WoW,Albatross 18,Trickster which are not FPS game.

I plan to get T8300-T9300 processor and upgrade RAM to 4GB and using Microsoft Windows Vista Business with Aero.

Will GMA X3100 satisfy my need? I also care about heat and battery life, too.

P.S. I have PC with GeForce 7600GT at my home for playing some hard stuffs on weekend already.

Thank you in advance.

 

"- Play multimedia files such as DivX movie, DVD movie and maybe HD movie (H.264)."

"- Play some time-killing online games such as WoW,Albatross 18,Trickster which are not FPS game."

I plan to get T8300-T9300 processor and upgrade RAM to 4GB and using Microsoft Windows Vista Business with Aero.


I think with this 3 reasons you should upgrade your GPU.

GPU will give you better quality playback in watching movies than x3100

It will also give you better image quality in games and Using Vista's Aero.

If you will always use this laptop Plugged in then You really should upgrade your GPU. It will also increase the amount of money that you will gain if you decide to sell it later on.(Since it is a really nice feature to gave a dedicated GPU)

 

Umm...the X3100 is perfectly capable of playing back 1080p videos at high monitor resolutions. You will see no difference in video playback if you go with a X3100, or with a 9800GX2, unless you're an idiot and have messed up the configuration of your player to correctly use hardware acceleration.

But, for time killing games, you will need a dedicated GPU. Also, if you are going to be using OpenGL or Direct3D in your software development, you will need a dedicated GPU.

 

I must confess I love Fujitsu's notebooks. From my experience, watching movies is perfectly possible with an integrated card -- the dedicated cards are used mostly for processing and rendering 3D stuff (such as 3D objects, lighting maps, shadows, etc). For movies, you have x frames per second to display, that is a different thing. But the best way to know is to go to some store with a HD movie disc and ask them to play it in notebooks with and without dedicated cards.

As for games: my old Fujitsu S6210 has an integrated card (older than the X3100) and it can reasonably play Guild Wars at minimum settings. If battery life matters, get a laptop with the integrated card.

Because of personal preference, I would get the Fujitsu. But that's me...

 

Not always.
High bit rate movies will make an X3100 stutter, especially if decrypting off a disc as the source and not smaller downloaded content.

It's the main reason everyone is lookig forward to the X4500 solution. Which would actually fullfil both his needs IMO.

 

Actually, it isnt, for some reason, when i try it on my HDTV, DVDs look like ass and DivX playback sucks. Not forgetting the lag either

One more thing, my XBOX 360 could do both a lot better. The sad thing is i felt like throwing my collection away, or is it simply the GPU not being able to handle the decoding properly?

 

This is most likely because you have not configured the output resolution to your HDTV properly and not chosen the correct settings in your Graphics card settings menu.

 

Interesting, will that make my videos output better at least? I dont mind my lag, long as it isnt time to throw away my DVD collection!

 

After hooking up your computer to your television, go to Display Properties where you will see two boxes labelled 1 and 2. The box labelled 2 most likely represents your television. Click on that box and move the slider below the box to the very right. Then Apply and Ok.

 

No the integrated graphics will not satisfy your needs. I have a Asus Z71v laptop with a 6600Go 128 MB and that is the bare minimun that I would play wow on. Even with that I am consistently in the 15-30 fps range which is to slow for my likeing (and thats with most of the graphics turned down)

As far as vista aero goes... well put it this way. It will be disabled by default with integrated graphics.

 

Okay thanks, ill give that a shot, i hate having to use my 360 as a DivX player as i watch a lot foreign films which have sepereate sub files

 

I hope you did not buy it yet , I do think you do not need dedicated GFX, and I personally love my Toshiba M600 portege with T8300 and 2gb , it is very fast and very capable WIFI laptop.

Its graphics is a bit weak, though for typical multimedia use(DVD play back or Video encoding decoding) ,it is good enough(as long as you are not a gamer) and the Toshiba 13.3 inch screen is of amazing quality , IMHO , it is the best buy in this category.

As for the Sony and Fujitsu , they are hugely over priced and I dont personally cooperate for these businesses that charge alot more from Asian or Europeans than from Americans or Japanese.

Also , consider new HP DV3006 series and Dell XPS M1330.

 

Really? Is that true? Does Vista Aero require a dedicated video card?

 

Absolutely not. Aero runs great with a lowly GMA950.

 

Oh, good. Thanks!

 

Yeah my x3100 actually looks/feels smoother than my 8400m GS. Doesnt slow down at all