INTEL 900GM vs NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150

Ok so heres my dilema, please help! Will I notice a difference in gaming...(med gamer, EA titles NHL 07, Madden 07...NFS: Most Wanted)

Currently I have:
Toshiba Tecra A3
Intel Centrino PentiumM 730-1.6GHz with 1gb of Ram
Graphics Controller
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900GM
Graphic Memory Controller 915GM Express Chipset
Video Memory: 64-128MB DDR memory
Windows XP Pro

And am looking towards temporary upgraded to:
HP DV2201CA
AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core TL-50 with 1gb of Ram
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 w/ 288MB Shared
Windows Vista Home Premium

 

The HP will be much more powerful overall and you will notice the difference when gaming. The Intel card is totally inadequate for playing most newer games. I have the same intel card and it doesn't even run nhl 2007. NFS:MW will work fine however. I don't know about madden.

 

was there a major upgrade between the 950 and 900 Intel cards?

Madden works alright on the 900, but thats on med settings and ugly resolution. NHL 07 works aswell, but reallly nasty, any higher resolution it gets real choppy.

CeeNote; are you using the 900GM card?

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Grafic-Cards.130.0.html

Also the vista aero works with the GMA 950

 

Yeah, I'm using the same card, not for much longer though

 

These two notebooks aren't even in the same league in terms of power - the toshiba is a nearly 2 year old model, the HP much newer and more powerful with a better (but still basic integrated) GPU and a dual core 64 bit processor. I believe the tecra line are much hardier though, business line of notebooks. But unless you plan to trek it across the alps, I'd go with the HP.

Good luck.

 

yeah. I got the Tecra model from school....going to be returning it this semester as its discontinued already and I dont want to pay an extra $400 plus my $500 security depoist when I can easily upgrade to something better.


Does anyone know why the Canadian site cant customize HP's!?? The American can easily upgrade the specs of the DV2000t to my specifications but on the Candian site its what you see is what you can ONLY get.


BTW on the American site, they have the option of getting the:
128MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7200

Is this a step up on the 6150 or is it just a mediocre difference

 

wow seems like a world of difference between the two. thanks!

 

the 7200 will totally trash the 6150

best to get dedicated card over integrated

 

I don't know why hp.ca can't customize notebooks. The only one that's even available with a dedicated GPU is the dv9000, the 2000 and 6000 series notebooks all include one or the other integrated card.

 

^arnt the both integrated though.

If I wanted to get dedicated and go all out for gaming I'd consider the A8j or W3J but im not that hardcore into gaming, just looking for abit of difference.

 

hp not costomizable... only in the us if you have someone in the us you could get it shipped to them and then have it shipped up here
6150 will destroy the GMA950

 

Awsome, so the 7200 will blow the GMA950 out of the water??!?


....i think i might have found the right laptop...now the search for someone in the US is on!

 

Unfortunately most manufacturers seem to believe us Canadians are not ready for these technologies yet, or perhaps we're too indecisive and need ot be told what to buy. On top of this, they also tend to charge disproportionately more for the same product (taking exchange into account). Same for cars, appliances, pretty much anything over $100.

Sucks, eh?

 

yeah man, that really does suck. i guess thats why most people import thier cars from the states and save thousands.
so what do you guys recommend.
6150 or 7200....for the 7200 i'll have to dig around for a states address or maybe even risk it on ebay, do you think its worth the hassel?

 

Personally I don't think its worth the hassle. I had the same problem. I wanted to buy a HP dv6000 but since it's not available in Canada with a dedicated video card, I just decided to buy an Inspiron 6400. It doesn't look as good but I got a good deal on it with an x1400, so I ordered it yesterday.
Anyways, even though the go7200 is more powerful than the 6150, keep in mind that it's still an ultra low end card.

 

^ thanks for the info. congrats on the purchase!!!

 

Thanks, good luck with your purchase!

 

Yeah keep in mind that even though the 6150 is better, it's still going to be really poor for new games as well. The 7200 is a bit better again but still fairly weak. It's not too expensive to get a Go7300 or an X1400...worth it, if you plan gaming.

 

It's hard in Canada to find a notebook with dedicated video that is not very a huge jump in price from the standard integrated models. Big box stores carry mostly integrated in the ~<$1000 range, and the go 7600 can be had when jumping to around $1500. Not unreasonable, but puts the cost in a very different catagory.

Custom ordering from most manufacturer websites can be tricky. Toshiba.ca allows it, but the price will not be cheap. Dell is probably the best choice for a custom ordered PC with dedicated video, but again you'll pay at least $1400, for something with a low to mid card (e.g. X1300/1400).

There is better selection amongst some of the smaller retailers for pre-made packages (e.g. NCIX.ca), but gain they are even more expensive. Avoid MDG at all costs, I've heard nasty things about their service and selling "upgrades" they don't actually deliver on. Besides, any company that has grammar and spelling errors in virtually all their adverts hardly seem reputable!

I found my lappy at bestbuy as a refurb model for an extremely good price (under $1000 taxes included, and that included PST you lucky Albertans!), but I lucked out. I bought two different models and tried them before settling on this one.

Good luck!