T42 vs T43 -- AKA mobility 9600 vs X300

Hey,

I'm a college student whose university offers good IBM deals. I've got the option of buying a T42 now, with an mobility 9600 64mb, or waiting (painfully) for a month and getting the T43, which from previews will have a X300 (assume 64mb). What do you guys think? Is it worth the wait? I'm primarily interesting in gaming performance, so this boils down to a 9600 vs x300 question; if performance is close, I'll get the T43, otherwise, the T42 as sonoma is unproven. Rojak Pot seems to indicate that the x300 beats the 9600...

 

x300, because it has PCI-Express in it, and POSSIBLY has a chance at a 128 mb card, and also I've heard the 9600 and x300 perform pretty similarly.

 

If your a gamer, I would research a little more and see if the X300 is going to be better than the 9600 for gaming, I bet it will. As far as PCI-Express goes, at this point a video card with that bus does not mean it will be a real performer; since high end games have not even reached the bandwidth capacity of AGP4X yet.
If your not in a hurry, then wait and get the T43. If you don't play the most demanding games (those released in the last 18 months) or if you need something now, then get a T42 with the 9600 in it. Be sure to read specs on the one you get as many T42s use the Radeon 9200 or even 7500.

Jack

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" (Ben Franklin)
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

Hey,

Thanks for your comments. Actually, I've done as much research as possible on the X300 -- there just seems to be little or no info on it. The T42 does have a 9600, which has served me well in the lappy I had prior. Quick question though: the ATI website lists the X300 has having 64-bit memory, but everywhere else lists it as 128. Anyone know for sure?

 

The T43 will also come with a 128MB X600. That would be much better...

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Just a note: Yes, I do understand that 16x pci-e doesnt really mean much, I meant it should be more future-friendly, as we (not the games, as you mentioned) move away from AGP format.

 

Wow, thats an improvment for IBM.

 

MY IBM has a 128MB T42p 2373-HVU has an ATI Mobility FIREGL T2.
How does this fare in comparison?