7515 or 8510 for games?

Hi, I am planning to buy a laptop and I was wondering which laptop would give me better gaming performance now and possibly in the future?

Oh, and, does 8510 have something along the lines of S-video out to make it possible to connect the laptop to a tv or projector?

 

Go for the 8510. Aside from the faster GPU, it is also rumored that you can install the nVidia Go6800 in it.
By the way, where do you see the 8510 available for purchase?

 

Future Shop.ca

 

8510gz does have s-video out.

Good price at Futureshop right now, $1399 CAD. Cheapest I've seen.

 

You can install another video card in it. It has an MXM3 slot. So any MXM3 or lower video card will plug in, you just have to be concerned about clearance of cooling. So a 6800Go will fit, but the Ultras are up in the air due to possible cooling issues.

Several people have said the 7800's will fit, too...but I'm not sure about that as I'd still be concerned about cooling.

I think the 7515 might be a little better for some games, out of the box, due to the faster processor, more ram, and more video memory...but the GPU on the 8510 is definitely a little faster. I'd go more by if you can deal with the extra weight of the 8510 and the bigger screen(might be a nuisance for some). I do like the battery power of teh 8510 though....it's proven to be quite useful to me for everyday web-use. I upgraded my 8510 to 2GB of ram for $160 and my gaming improved dramatically(mostly BF2, UT2004, Desert Combat/BF1942, and some EEII or AOEIII). I'm still looking for a good deal on a 6800Go as a future upgrade.

 

I think 7515 will be better for future , i mean with win64 or VISTA .
For games, 7515 can handle all present games with good playback , but if you are looking for extremeties , you may go for more advanced laptops .
About the processor , i think AMD 4000( 2.6) is faster than P M 1.7 . ( that is my opinion ) .

Good luck

 

As far as gaming goes, the 8510GZ is the better choice. Both units have 64MB of video memory, but the 8510GZ comes with a Mobility Radeon X700, which is much faster than the MX7515's X600. More than that, as stated before, the GPU in the 8510GZ is upgradeable.

The processor in the MX7515 is much more powerful, but it doesn't totally make up for how much weaker its GPU is.

Oh, and if MXM GeForce Go 6800s are working in the 8510GZ, the 7800s will too. The 7800s are pin-compatible with 6800s, draw the same amount of power, and dissipate the same amount of heat.

 

the 4000+ IS faster than the p-m 1.7. It would take a 2.13 (770), or 780 to compare to it it processing power. Lets not forget about the on-die memory controller either giving it a system bus of 1600mhz (hypertransport technology)... compare to 533. And of course the added instruction sets are nice including X86-64
http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/6973/ohitsgood4lc.jpg

 

Agreed - as Uscooper said, the Pentium M 770 or 780 are about speed of the AMD64. Another great advantage of the AMD64 architecture is the on-chip memory controller, which gives you much more bandwidth than a comparable Intel-based system. That also makes the latencies lower.

For gaming, I would recommend getting a notebook with a 128MB card - how about the Compaq V4000t? $1,000 gets you a 128MB X700 and a Pentium M CPU.

Merry Christmas,

 

Out of the box they will be very similar with the 7515s faster CPU and double the RAM helping to make up for the slower video GPU. However, the 8510 is still slightly faster stock and will increase the gap even more with a RAM upgrade. Technically they both have the same 64MB of video RAM as the remainder is shared on the 7515s X600. My vote goes to the 8510.
I just went throught the same decision and well.......I am typing this reply on an 8510. I actually got the 7515 before really paid much attention to the 8510 (due to the higher price at the time) but did not open it and exchanged it for the 8510. Here is the list I cam up with for the pros and cons of each:
MX7515:
+Faster CPU
+More RAM out of the box
+Slightly cheaper
+Better price/performance balance
-X600 GPU
-15.4" Screen 1280x800
-Not video upgradeable
-No 10key
-Worse battery life

8510GZ:
+17" screen 1440x900
+Much better battery life
+10 key
+X700 GPU
+Video upgradeable
+Larger/Smaller battery options available
-Half the RAM out of the box
-Wider physically
-Slower CPU

I just started using the 8510 today and I am pleased with it so far. Overall the huge selling point for me over the 7515 was the upgrade options of the 8510. I really don't like the fact the 7515 has the GPU soldered on and you have to dissassemble the top of it to get to the RAM. On the 8510, the RAM, CPU and GPU are all easily accessible under a single cover on the bottom (as you may know). IMO, the 8510 is more of a lower end version of a high end laptop (the 850XLs get well into the $2000 range) than a high end version of a low end laptop like the 7515 (the same basic chassis for that model is used on laptops well under $1000).
Nothing against the 7515 though, as the specs for the money are quite impressive and I will fully admit the A64 4000+ will eat the Pentium M 740 for lunch in raw processing power. Many have touted the 64bit ability of the 7515 but I don't see that as being more future-proof since what is the good in having a 'future' processor when it is forever tied to an old GPU? To illustrate the point by giving an example, I have a dusty notebook sitting in the corner that was pretty hot at the time but could not be upgraded and fell by the wayside. It is a Toshiba 2805-S402 which was one of the very first Geforce laptops and is fitted with a Geforce2go and P3 850. Unfortunately the CPU and GPU were both soldered on and are non-upgradeable and therefore the became dated earlier than it would have if I were able to have been able to change those components. Once again, this may or may not be important to you but if it is, then I think you have your answer.

 

Zebra, did you find that out for sure about the GPU being soldered on? (Soldering in and of itself is not an insurmountable problem as long as the chips can be interchanged) I am sort of going through the same decision.

Also, where did you find the 8510 at? Retail Store?

Thanks.

 

It's been posted several times that it's soldered on...and replacing it when it is? You don't have a regulated power setup like with a socketed solution, so you'll need to be a full Electrical Engineer(not some 2 year associates degree who thinks they can call themselves an engineer) to figure that one out.

2nd post of the thread.

 

Yeah, I missed the Future Shop part.

As for the card I have looked around and have not found anything conclusive. See:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=26845&highlight=x600

Even what is released from ATI seems ambigious.

And yes, almost all advanced technology falls under that catagory. But at the same time you are doing what takes incredibly advanced knowledge anytime you change out anything but lucky for us the designers have cut all of the difficult steps out of most things like this. You would have to have the correct electrical interfaces even if it was a PC chip. As I said, soldering is not a problem if that is all that it is. You are telling me that that is not all that it is. Thank You.

 

Let me just add...I re-read what I typed and it came off kind of snide...didn't mean to...I'm tired and doing 3 things at once.

The thread you have is about the x600...which theoretically could be offered in a socketed solution...but on the 7515, it's soldered on. Since the chip is on the motherboard, you wouldn't just replace the GPU, but every other electrical component that's ont he motherboard and related to powering or interfacing the GPU to the rest of the system, might need to be replaced. The odds of just replacing the GPU and not the memory(which often runs at different speeds and utilizes completely different types for other GPU's) is highly unlikely. So it just starts to become and overwhelming challenge at that point. I guess it would be possible, but you're talking such a level of knowledge required to do it, that "if you have to ask....".

The socketed boards eliminate a lot of those problems and thus make swapping it much easier.

 

I got my 8510GZ at Best Buy here in the US. I am not sure of the retailers elsewhere. For me the 8510 ended up being cheaper than the 7515 because the only one left at my local store was the display model and carried a 10% discount plus $150 gift card. Ended up being about net $1000 US plus tax.
On a side note, all the review I read about it stated the keys are a little stiff (or was that Gateway in general?) and so far I would have to agree.

 

Where's the proof that a 6800Go or 7800Go will fit in the 8510? Has anyone done this successfully? If so, where did they order the modules from?

I have a M680XL with the x700 which is pretty much like the 8510 except with a higer resolution screen. Would like to be able to upgrade the video card.

Alex

 

The 6800Go and 7800Go are both MXM3 cards...so they'll physically plug into the socket. The size(physical dimensions) of a 6800Go is supposedly the same as a 6600Go that another member on notebookforums successfully installed into his 8510GZ. So, theoretically, a 6800Go should work. There's a few posts about people having done this...plus, Gateway offered a 6800Go as an option on the M680 series(as well as the newer ones, on the same chassis). The 7800 I'm told should fit...but I've never ascertained that and don't know of anyone who has tried. I was concerned about physical dimensions(told it's similar) and cooling issues...but some have said it puts out less heat than a 6800Go(I've never investigated this as I'm not about to spend the kind of money it'd take to get a 7800Go).

There's a slew of threads here and on notebookforums.com that give all kinds of information(and pictures) on this subject.