Intel GMA 950 vs. ATI MR X1400

well, for a week now, I've been resaerching on what laptop to buy for university. and after looking at prices and everything I've come up to the decision of chosing the Dell Inspiron e1505 (or Inspiron 6400 in Canada, thats where I live).

heh, after looking for a long time to find answers myself, I have one last issue to figure out. so this is my question, can the Intel GMA 950 play high quaility videos at a good framerate? (im worried bout the h.264 codec and DVD stuff, games don't really matter to me).

If the Intel GMA 950 can't play videos at a good framerate, then i'd probably upgrade to a ATI MR X1400. so yeah, can the Intel GMA 950 play high quaility videos at a good framerate? any opinions on choosing either one? (heat and power consumption is also an issue to me, but I dunno how much more juice the X1300 or X1400 takes)

here are some specs to help out:
Processor: Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2400 (2MB Cache/1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)
LCD Panel: 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™
Memory: 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
Hard Drive: 100GB 5400rpm Hard Drive

don't think one would need any more specs, but if anyone does then i'll add some more.

thx for reading and thx to the people who read help posts, they're a good way to find information (guides are uber great too =D).

 

just to be futureproof its a good idea to get the ATI X1400

 

Go for the X1400, its a dedicated card, and is much better than the GMA 950. It's not the best card, but for playing video's, its the better out of the two.

 

lol....if im really gonna futureproof it I shud prolly go for a turion processor =S. gah... but thx for the advice Zero and bigbear89. if i am going for the Intel Duo processor, I'll probably get the card.

 

A dual-core processor is a better investment.

Isn't the ATI X1300 available?

 

But 64-bit is more "futureproof".
You can run multithreaded apps on a singlecore cpu, but you can't run 64-bit apps on a 32-bit cpu...

Yeah, nitpicking, I know...

Not sure how the GMA950 feels about high def movies, but it'll probably be ok'ish but not more than that)

 

Actually, if there is no 64-bit software, then it's not very futureproof. The market is moving toward dual-core and multithreaded apps, not 64-bit. That won't happen until well after Vista is released. Anyway, let's get back to topic now.

 

well after spending a good few minutes in the 64-Bit and Dual Core Mobile Processors Guide and Which to Buy thread, I think i'm sticking with the intel duo cuz I can get Memom later and it'll probably cheaper then. Plus, I'll get the benefits now.

well, I can get it at dell for $80 cdn, but the X1400 is only $20 cdn more, I thought it should be worth the investment of an extra $20. well, after reading, they're pretty much the same. would it be worth the extra $20?

 

The GMA950 should be fine for videos. Its not the best for games but if you aren't a gamer then it shouldn't matter.

That said it's probably worth the extra few notes to get either of the ati cards...

 

I'm gonna order now =D. Gonna get the ATI MR X1400. Thanks for the advice everyone.