CHeapest notebook with dedicated GPU

As the title states what is the cheapest notebook with a dedicated graphics card?

Looking for something that can play a few games that are a bit much on an intigrated card.

 

I don't even want to guess. How about you tell a few games you want to play and what size you are wanting and I will try and give you some leads. Maybe what you can spend. A lot out there.

 

I think it`s the Vostro 1500 or 1700 series.

Fill in the FAQ .

 

I am looking for something in the 15.4" range.

I will probably never play games on it on any regular basis so I figure why spend the money on a gaming machine. The ONLY times I could ever see playing games on it is while stuck in a hotel or the airport which happens a handful of times a year.

As for games I was thinking something like Doom 3, Maybe URT 2004, and there is an older FPS that I play that has the following req.

2.4 GHz Pentium 4, Athlon XP 2500+, or equivalent
GeForce 4 Ti (not MX) with 128 MB, ATI Radeon 9500 with 128 MB with Microsoft DirectX 9 drivers installed
Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installed

I would prefer to stay under or as close to $700 as possible.

 

The GeForce 4 is... well, ancient. I want to say that any modern IGP, possibly even the good old X3100, could probably match it's performance. The entry level 8400GS/GT will kill the GeForce 4 series and the Radeon 9500 series and there are a significant number of cheap (below $700) notebooks sporting an 8400 card (including the aforementioned Vostro 1500).

 

Actually the ge force 4 is a pretty damn good graphics card. I bought my dell 8500 6.5 years ago with the 4200 in it, and it still scores better than most new graphics cards on the market. My 3d mark 05 score on my 4200 was 315 points higher than on my X1400 in my E1505, which is 1 yr old.
The 4200 is on par in performance to the x1400 and quadro nvs140's.
My 4200 still plays most old games without a problem.
You may be surprised, but the 8400 may not even be that much faster than a 4200. The 8400 is a pretty bad card, and it only scores marginally better than the X1400, so it should be on par with the 4200.
The radeon 9500 series suck, they are really bad integrated gpu's. I suggest looking for at least a 9600pro or a 9800.

Actually I think the best laptop you can get for the money is from the buy and sell section, you see e1505's 1705's and such selling pretty often for ~$700 or less.

K-TRON

 

Isn't the ATI Radeon 9500 series discrete cards?

@OP, if you specified a budget, it might be easier to offer you suggestions.

 

Well other than the Vostro I can not find anything that has a dedicated GPU.

Everything else has one of the following

X3100
GeForce 7000M, or 7150M
Radeon X1200, X1270, X1250, or 3100

I think a GeForce 8400 would work well for me, but if I decided to just try my luck with one of the integrated cards above which would be the best to go with??

Also open for suggestions on other 15.4" that have the 8400 in them.

 

I have a dell c640 with a ati 9500 in it, and it is a chipset gpu. Its soldered right to the motherboard. I think the mobility 9500 pro is dedicated. It really depends on the laptop.

Out of your choices, the 8400 is probably the best since the 8400 is at least a dedicated gpu. The others are all integrated.

K-TRON

 

Yeah the 8400 is the best of what I have listed, finding one in a $700 notebook is the problem.

The thing is I can spend less than $600 and have a notebook that will do everything I need to do. I could justify another $100 or so to give me the ability to do a bit of light gaming from time to time, however spending $800-$1000 to play games maybe 10 times a year is a waste.

So if I were just to go to a $600 +/- notebook that had an integrated card which would be the best out of these:

X3100
GeForce 7000M, or 7150M
Radeon X1200, X1270, X1250, or 3100

And does anyone know of any 8400 equiped laptops that sell in the $700-$750 range besides the Vostro??

 

That's really interesting. I was under the impression that all of the 9500 series were dedicated.

Seriously, check out Dell outlet.

* Vostro 1500 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo T5270 (1.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
* Genuine Windows XP Home

System Price : $589.00

Operating System
Genuine Windows XP HomeMemory
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)Hard Disk Drive
80 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)Video
128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GSWeb Camera
No CameraCertified Refurbished
Certified RefurbishedBase
Vostro 1500 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo T5270 (1.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)Media Bay
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capabilityNetwork Interface Card
Dell 1505 Wireless-NHardware Upgrade
6 Cell Primary Battery
90W AC AdapterSoftware Upgrade
No Dell Support Software Installed
Microsoft Works 9.0Laptop Screen
15.4 WXGA Laptop Screen


* Vostro 1500 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo T5270 (1.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
* Genuine Windows XP Home

System Price : $779.00

Operating System
Genuine Windows XP HomeMemory
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)Hard Disk Drive
80 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)Video
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GTWeb Camera
No CameraCertified Refurbished
Certified RefurbishedBase
Vostro 1500 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo T5270 (1.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)Media Bay
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capabilityNetwork Interface Card
Dell 1505 Wireless-NHardware Upgrade
9 Cell Primary Battery
90W AC AdapterSoftware Upgrade
No Dell Support Software InstalledLaptop Screen
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Laptop Screen with TrueLife

Ignore the mess, I couldn't be bothered to clean it up.