Weak CPU+Med GPU vs. Med CPU+Weak GPU

I am thinking between two laptops; it is all my budget can afford me and the the most graphically intense game I play in World of Warcraft (not very intense).

One has a Turion64 ML-32 at with a Radeon x300.

The other has a Turion64 TL-50 Dual Core but with a Radeon x1100. All other specs such as memory and hard drive are similar.

I am leaning towards the x300 but what are your thoughts?

 

Take the Dual Core. The difference between the X1100 and the X300 is minimal, and WoW will run comfortably on both of them. The Dual Core machine will however allow you to multitask more effectively than the single core.

 

Yes, I agree

if the prices are very similar the dual-core system will perform much better under CPU intensive tasks.

 

More than likely this is actually a Radeon Xpress 200M, which are frequently (and incorrectly) advertised as being "Radeon X300 Based." Well, yes, it's a derivative of the X300. It's half an X300. I've never seen a Turion 64 sold attached to an actual, honest to goodness X300.

Go with the dual core with the 1100. It's basically the same graphics part, but it's got a faster processor on it.

 

I'd agree, take the dual core and the 1100, the X300 won't be much more powerful in real terms I don't think. Were it a 1300 or a go 7300 the difference would be more worth the better gpu.

 

Interesting that you mention this. The system chipset is the Xpress 200M and the GPU is indeed "Integrated Radeon® X300 based graphics".

http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/Q106/Blade/1008824sp2.shtml

Does the "Integrated graphics" imply that this is actually a Xpress 200M or is the X300 considered an integrated card as well? I was under the impression that the X300 was a weak, last-gen dedicated card.

 

I believe the Radeon x1100 is a little bit better than the X200m.

 

Well that x300 based graphics have UP TO 64MB shared video ram.. that's not a lot.
The x1100 will probably have 128MB shared. That's double what the other one has, it's a dedicated card and the cpu in that machine is better.

Go for the dual core system, it's going to be more responsive when doing lots of things at the same time and it's a little bit more future proof.

 

The "integrated graphics" implies that it's actually an Xpress 200M. I've seen this done A LOT. The sticker on the machine will say "Radeon Xpress 200M" because that's what it is. They say it's based on the Radeon X300 because it uses Hypermemory and because the cores are similar, but as I said above, the X200M is basically a cut down X300 with no dedicated memory (excepting certain older HP models).

 

I'd go with a Turion 64 X2 w/ x1100. You should be fine with WoW, and the x1100 should be a little faster than the x200M anyway, so you'll be good all around. Check Meaker's graphics card chart to make sure on that though.

 

I think after reading this I will stretch my budget a tiny bit further and get a Dell Inspiron 6400 equipped with a Radeon Mobility x1300, which surprisingly enough, is less than $700. A decent, cheap, Core-Duo WoW-Running laptop. I had the Xpress 200M before and I was not impressed with its performance. With everything on low, I sometimes went down to 5fps on bigger raids making many character classes unplayable (fellow addicts would understand.. "pewpewpew!")

It is really shady that Gateway would ambigiously quote "x300 based graphics" on the product description of their own website... The nerve of some companies.

 

Isnt the 1100 30% better then the x200m? I red it in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=39568
X300 is better but it does have its downside. Like the amount of VRAM.

 

The X1300 will be significantly better than the X200m and X1100/1150. The x200m is based on the x300 (same core I think) but uses nearly all if not all shared ram and has only 2 pixel pipelines not to mention a load of other difference that make it not as good.

The 1100 and 1150 are significantly better than the x200m, usually getting something like 30% better results in benchmarks. The x1300 will be around 270% better though!