Intel T9800 w/h 8MB RAM or Intel Q9100 with 4MB RAM?

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a new laptop for the family and have two choices to chose from at HP. One system has the Intel T9800 processor with 8MB RAM and a 512MB NVIDIA vgraphics card and the other has the Intel Q9100 quad core processor with 4MB RAM and a 1GB NVIDIA graphics card. My question is, which one would offer better performance for:

1) Everyday typical work and internet use (I'm thinking no noticable difference here)
2) Gaming (?????)
3) Multimedia applications like video and photo editing (????)

I understand that there may not be a lot of software/games that are out not which can exploit the quad core's capabilities but I do plan on trying to keep this computer for some time.

Thank you all in advance,

Robert

 

Take the second one. RAM is much easier to upgrade than processor and graphics card.

 

Could you give the full specs of the laptop

From what I see I would go with the T9800 with 8GB RAM

Your apps (from those listed) dont use a quad so the T9800 would actually be faster

 

I'm comparing the latest available HP laptops, the HDX18t and the HDX16t. I plan on running Vista Ultimate 64bit and including a 320GB 7200RPM harddrive. The HDX16t only gives me the option of the T9800 but with 8MB RAM where as the HDX18t gives me the option of the Q9100 but ONLY 4MB RAM. I'm not sure if the 4MB is a system limitation with the HDX18t or if i can upgrade to more later.

Thanks again for your help.

 

I would still pick the T9800

 

At the $2k+ prices involved here, you really should be shooting for a graphics card which is more powerful than the 9600M GT.

 

Yep, i fully agree.

Id get a good GPU, a Pretty good CPU. and 4GB or RAM. Im sure 8GB is pretty unessesary, even fir your usage, as is Quad Core.

Look at the Sager NP8660, and THIS and THIS Notebook.

And if it can only be from HP , look at the dv7t. Better GPU than HDX's

 

I'd definitely go with quad core and 4 gb of ram. Like some others said it is much easier to upgrade than the processor. I ran some benchmarks on a HDX18T on a T9600 vs. Q9100 that might help some, although the T9800 is a bit faster. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=360481

 

Quad core for heavy multimedia apps and upgrade 8GB yourself. Video card memory does nothing, though gaming will be worse with quad core than the faster dual core in most games unless optimized for quad core.

 

I would take 8MB over 4MB any day
remember you may need 32MB of memory, just ask Nizzy1115

In seriousness, a quad core processor will eat a dual core in multithreading applications, but if your software is more reliant on clock speeds, the T9800 is a better option

K-TRON

 

If your editing applications are multi-CPU enabled, then definitely go for the quad-core.

8GB of RAM is . . . excessive. Get 4GB and wait a year for memory prices to cool off.

 

I must ask, are you dealing with huge images or designing that will need 8GB?

 

If he can afford those processors, another $500 for 8GB is nothing

 

Thanks so much everyone for the feedback as i really do appreciate the responses. As for the 8GB RAM I'm not sure i really need it but when i price up the HP 16 series vs. the 18 series there's not much difference in price for some reason. My configured 16 series came to about $2,500 and the 18 series about $150 cheaper. I'm not tied to HP but i've only had experiences with them and Dell. Anyone with any other suggestions for good gaming/multimedia laptops in this price range i'd be more then willing to take them. Also going to check out the Sager laptops that were suggested in one of the threads as well as the others. My only concern with some of the brands i'm not familiar with is support (although Dell hasn't been that great lately). Again, really do appreciate all the responses.

 

Check out Asus or MSI.

 

Go for a 7805u....you can just upgrade the CPU youself for a heck of a lot less than they charge you for the upgrade.

That and it has a 9800 GTS which is the highest end card ATM.

With the 1k you sell you can upgrade the heck out of it. You can put a new WUVGA screen in it for 150, bluetooth for 25, blueray drive for about 150, and SSD drive for 200.

And your still getting the laptop for a heck of a lot less.

Or you can just wait for the 7808u which is going to have a 500 GB 7200 RPM drive, a quad core CPU, bluetooth, etc.

Although I still recommend going for the 7805u and upgrading it yourself.