Laptops with two graphic cards?

Can you tell me which laptops have two graphic cards and allow switching between them, without having to remove one, to save energy? Ones that are preferably under 1000$ and have superior battery life with each of the two graphic cards.

 

Belive it or not what your asking for is conflicting here is why.

You want a laptop with dual cards, why? I assume so you can have a low power long battery life mode for non intensive stuff like web surfing but want a more powerfull card for intensive stuff?

But the only gpu intensive stuff really for the most part is gaming, and when it comes to gaming you really cant get much for under $1000

The few anything decent gaming laptops in the $1000 range are most definitely not dual gpu... So your sticking yourself between a rock and a hard place

I know the Asus N10J has dual graphics, its got a long battery life, and its well under $1000 but its just a humble netbook. So not a lot of power and a low screen resolution.

The Alienware M17X has hybrid graphics, but its going to cost you way more than $1000 I would ponder even with the lowest configuration.

My Asus W90 has 2 graphics card but they are both 4870 cards they run together for more game power in crossfire, or I can turn one off in the bios to save power but battery life on this beast is almost non exsistant.

The M17X really doesn't last too long either.

Could you fill us in with a bit more information as to what you want to do with the laptop, and any size preference? Maybe I have the wrong idea what your looking for.

 

There is always the T400/T500 from Lenovo Outlet. But filling out the FAQ would go a long way to help you out...

 

Yeah, that's what I meant, being able to do simple tasks in an energy-saving mode and have that 8-10 hours battery life but also to switch to more powerful graphics when wanting to play a game or watch a movie in high quality. I can't really decide to give up on any of the two features (long battery life and gaming capabilities), though I don't have much money available. I figured that having a laptop with both integrated and dedicated video cards would do the job. Thought there must be some decent ones under or around 1000$, but can't seem to find them easily.

 

That ThinkPad is already getting too expensive...

 

Unfortunately, the technology you're asking for(switchable graphics) isn't very widespread and costs quite a bit due to technological reasons as well as the smaller market-frame. Therefore, finding a [new] laptop with such a technology(assuming you want high end graphics for the dedicated GPU) isn't going to be easy if possible at the moment.

Perhaps you should re-define your priorities? Either that or you wait a bit for technologies to advance. Currently, they're working on switchable graphics as well as lower power consuming GPUs. There's also external video cards which are starting to make progress. All of these technologies are still new to the market though.

 

Not many laptops support switchable graphics, being very rare/exceptional the models (although slowly this is changing, and with Arrandale all laptops should be able to do it), but for the 1K mark, the T400 and T500 from Lenovo outlet are your best bet, and the W500 for 3D intense graphics.

 

So far even the ones that can do this do not have even close to 8-10 hours of battery life. Thats hard pressed even for a netbook.

In a gaming rig the gpu is only one of the components eating away at the battery life and usually they have smaller batteries than business type laptops to make room for the needed cooling and hardware space.

I think you should get a cheap netbook (you can get them for as little as $300 now) that can be your on the go ultra portable ultra long battery life machine, then get a larger budget line gaming laptop, like a refurbished/used one since your budget is so low.

This is going to be the best way to push your dollar to the max and still get what you want on both sides of the fence.

 

IMO, it's cheaper to buy a good gaming laptop and then buy a spare battery. Screw the switchable graphics solution.

 

The ASUS UL80VT and UL50VT are 14" and 15.6" notebooks with 7+ hours of battery life, and the Intel 4500MHD graphics chipset with switchable G210M graphics, which is......mediocre. Both are a bit under $1000.

 

Have a look at the just released 15" Asus UL50VT or 14" UL80VT. G210M/X4500 switchable with SU7300-1.3 CPUs, including turbo33 33% overclock. 8-cell battery with claimed 12hr battery life. Sparco.com has both for US$820.

 

Meh, I respectfully disagree.

To my experience a good gaming laptop wont last long on battery, so even 2x batteries wont get you too far, then you have to lug around the 2nd battery, shut down or hibernate to swap batteries and you would have to go through a lot of trouble to charge them both as laptops really do not have a way to charge a battery unless its in the laptop so you cant use one and charge the other.

I would rather carry around that netbook its probably about the same weight as a battery and not much bigger.

Those Asus units Coriolis mentioned sound about as close to anything as the OP will find that matches what he wants but I still dont consider them to be gaming laptops. Atleast not to the degree I consider it a gaming laptop.

 

You make a good point about charging them. I have two batteries for the Dell and it is a pain to remember to charge both of them. It's not like the cellphone batteries where I have a dedicated charger.

 

Yeah but its just a netbook, it really has no advantage over ingreated only netbooks other than the hdmi out for HD playback on a TV.

To me its a great travel device keep your movies/music on it and hook it up to your HDTV in your hotel room or something, but with a 1.6ghz atom running it even with the stronger dedicated gpu inside there is not much it can do.

There are now finally netbooks with a higher resolution than the 800x640 or what ever it was they came out with, I think the higher resolution would be the most important thing for me if I was getting a new netbook.

Better yet when they update the 1.6atom to something better that doesnt kill battery life too bad. I hope for the dual core atom soon to be mainstream in them with the higher res screen and you should have a winner that can do a lot more than current netbooks but still its no competition for a laptop.

 

I have to say that nando I think has made the best suggestion so far.
That Asus UL80VT-A1 has such a nice pricetag for what you get... almost want to pick one up myself but I already have far too many notebooks.

 

OP needs to clarify and change his options.. he either wants a good gaming laptop with 2-3 hour battery life or a CULV notebook with nice graphics but good battery life... he can't have the best of the 2 worlds.

 

HP Envy...

http://www.shopping.hp.com/cto/customize/notebooks/ENVY15_series/NX309AV/

One 6 Cell Lithium Ion Polymer Battery + One 9 Cell HP Envy Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery

Charges with the other / normal battery..

1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 4830

not a bad card..

8GB DDR3 System Memory (4 Dimm) or 16GB

4 Dimm / Channels is nice.

i7-820QM Processor or i7-720QM Processor

The thing that makes it a little awkward(ish) IMHO

External Slot Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer with 2 USB Ports

That would be a 15.6" diagonal Full High Definition LED HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen Display (1920x1080) with Battery life to spare.. and some horse power..

or the 13 inch.. http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...odexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/ENVY/ENVY13_series

SSD is available in the little one and not the 15 inch.. which I found odd.

I hope this helped.

Be well, JW

 

If you can get that for under 1K let me know...

 

nver will... if OP wants gaming notebooks with 2 GPU's , he gonna need at least 2.5-4K USD.

 

It depends on how high gaming capabilities, but the Asus UL80 is one option, and for a lighter one, the HP DM3 with AMD Neo CPU has switchable between the 3200HD and the 4330HD.
Perhaps worth a look? Considering it is well under the Envy 13's price...