T61: discrete or integrated?

Hello,

If you're a T61 owner, how happy are you with your graphics processor, whether discrete or integrated?

I'm not a gamer, but I might do some video editing, and it seems like the new generation of Intel integrated graphics (965GM, X3100) is a big improvement over its predecessor, especially in video rendering, according to this review.

Basically, I'm wondering..how well does the integrated processor handle Aero Glass and other taxing graphics applications? Do you think it could handle video editing? How well does the Nvidia Quadro 140M handle video editing?

Thanks!
Julia

 

Video editting actually relies more on the CPU than the graphics card, so you would want to compare the former. However from my experience with fixing other people's laptops the GMA 950 handles Aero reasonably well; it's not perfectly smooth, but it doesn't interrupt the user experience. That's Vista's job.

EDIT: Whoops, I just noticed you were referring to Intel's new IGP. My bad.

 

That's to darn :laugh:

 

I have the discrete on my T61....it runs vista very well, including the DreamScenes for Ultimate.

 

Discrete. Period.

 

Are you looking to get an hour more battery life than discrete T61s?.. then go with integrated - it should run Aero fine.

If battery life is of no concern, then you'll definately want the GPU to have its own RAM as opposed to sharing with your main mem (integrated still does this right?).

Or, you could go discrete and put in an extra 3 cells in your Ultrabay.

 

Integrated. If I wanted to game so bad I'll upgrade my desktop.

 

nono not just gaming... you don't wanna go integrated if you plan on using GPU intensive applications

 

Like what, CAD and.. Um... what else?

 

Integrated is plenty fine for anything other than gaming, really. The X3100 is a fine step up from the 950's

 

Those of you using T61's with integrated video and fast processors (T7300 or better), how's your performance in Vista and HD video playback? Does Vista Aero look every bit as smooth to you as it does on discrete graphics? Do your HD videos play perfectly?

Does going with integrated over discrete make any difference when you're docked and using a DVI monitor?

I ordered a T61 with integrated, and I'm second-guessing the hell out of myself. I don't do any gaming, but I want HD video playback and Vista Aero to look as good as they can.

 

Get integrated since you're not gaming. You'll get more battery life and a cooler notebook. Vista runs perfectly fine with the X3100 integrated graphics chip.

 

Man, I hope so. Evidence seems to suggest that, but every once and again I run across a post that has me worried about the graphics capability I'll have.

I'd also like to screw around with Beryl/Compiz on Ubuntu at some point, but I'm not sure how well the X3100 will muscle that.

 

I'm about to install Ubuntu on my system so I can probably get back to you on performance. But I bet it'll handle it fine, most Linux stuff is made to run easily on Intel graphics.

I'd be more worried about HD rendering on the X3100 if thats your thing.

 

kalibur, for the longest time, till I came to these forums, I'd assumed that to create content using applications such as Photoshop, Adobe Flash, Fireworks, etc, you needed a dedicated graphics card.

I even thought you needed dedicated graphics to play dvd's and was actually going to include such a card based on that misconception.

However, your desire to play HD content might be an entirely different matter.

 

Yeah, I am.

Anyone wanna report on how well HD stuff plays with an X3100 on a T61? Choppy? Smooth as a bítch?

 

Depends on the file type, how compressed they are, etc. For most files, it just depends on how fast your CPU is. There are some codecs that have GPU acceleration eg. CoreAVC.

 

the nvidia is great for hardware decoding of mpeg2, and h264/vc1

 

Well, the X3100 does have hardware decoding but I don't know to what extent or how it would compare to Nvidia. Heres a linky to Intel's X3100 page.