8510p or w

AS I mentioned in other posts I am considering these 2 laptops in the comming month or so. My question is: Is the ATI 2600 a good enough graphics card for running new games? Or would I be happier if I got the 8510w and run the geforce drivers? I know the 570 is the best avalible card for a 15.4 notebook. But is it that much better then the ATI? Or are we talking just a few fps in some games? I want it to be able to last awhile and run the new dx10 games that will be comming out soon. I am also a bit worried about the driver support from ATI as they are usually slow in releasing new drivers. TIA for any help/advice you guys/gals may have for me.

 

I'd say they're pretty close. With everything set to HP stock values, the p gets about 3300 and the w gets about 3700. However, the p's GPU is heavily underclocked. It's set below ATI's stock speed. I bet it if someone reset the speed to ATI's stock, that the scores would be much closer.

 

I had the same decision about a month ago and went for the p. I haven't tried to overclock yet (not sure if I can with 64bit vista, I've heard it blocks the changes).

I play C&C3, HL2 and Battlefield 2142 and it handles them all fine. I don't believe there is a big enough difference in power to justify the difference in price. I certainly don't think there will be any games that will play fine on the w, but not on the p.

 

I like nvidia, and went with their card.
I'm happy with it but the P is quite a bit less money.

 

What games do you play?

 

I went with the w and it's great.

 

Just go with P and save extra $200. No point paying a premium over a +-5% mobile video card.

 

It is a tough decision. I opted for the w and am very happy.
Reason for the decision:
1. Smart buys are the deals to go for for price.
2. w came with a 7200 rpm hard drive that I wanted (have to add a hard drive price to the p to equal
3 This was the big decision maker - the W came with 3 year ON SITE NEXT DAY warranty. I live on my laptop for business and must have it working. One serious breakdown and the next day on site repair willl more than pay for the difference in initial cost.
4. www.shopblt.com had the 2000+ HP priceW for $1867.00 No tax no shipping. BINGO the future was clear - The 8510w was my next portable, and I have not regretted it.

 

The 8510p is a much better deal cost-wise.