Which video card should I buy for my T42?

I"m buying a video card, this is my first laptop. What's the difference between the ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 - 64 MB and the 32MB ATI Mobility RADEON 7500. I'm not a gamer. Does it matter?

 

I'm not understanding your question. Are you buying a laptop and trying to choose which card to get, or are you physically replacing the card. If you're not a gamer, and you're just choosing which one to get with your laptop, the 7500 is fine. It doesn't matter unless you are doing graphical applications or games. If not, anything else is ok.

 

oh by the way.. u are not a gamer.. so i think 7500 is enough.. my friend has the FireGL though..

 

go with FireGL (T42 has this option too)

or go for Radeon 9600 if you want to have less price

7500 is just not adequate for gaming

 

Would the 7500 card be ok for doing photoshop type work?

Also since this card is already a few years old and behind the 9000 series cards, do you see any problems down the road when longhorn comes out...

 

Please do some research: If you do not want your new laptop to be useless in 1 year, you need a dx9 graphics card. Longhorn comes out in a year and if you want to see longhorn in ANY sense of what it is supposed to look like, a DX9 graphics card is a must. if not, you will be forced into legacy mode (which is equivalent to current day XP). So, if you are planning on getting Longhorn (the new version of windows) then you should protect your investment by getting a Dx9 graphics card. The radeon 7500 is not, the radeon 9000 is not. the 9600 is, and i believe the firegl 2 is as well. so, your cheapest choice of a t42 with the radeon 9600 is the model FVU. yes, it only has 256 mb of ram but you can upgrade that later. I know all of this because i just went though a lot of research and my t42 is currently being shipped.
i hope you havn't bought it yet![V]
rob

 

Nice Machine the FVU. Outta my price range though. What about the Intel Extreme2, is it DX9?
Even though its integrated would i be better off if it is DX9.
Would love to have a "T" with a 15screen. But they are a little more than what i was looking to spend. Was looking to stay around the $1250 range.

 

nope intel extreme 2 isnt...unfortunately :S

it depends i mean you might be happy not seeing all of the longhorn eye candy anyways right? if you are curious do some searches for longhorn screenshots of aero and aero glass (what they are calling the new gui)

 

So what about the new integrated cards that are going to be coming out with the new models. Will they be dx9 (longhorn) compatiable?

the new ones have me confused
X300
x600
or something like that dont know if both or only one is suppose to be integrated.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by RazorsEdge

 

Why does Ibm have to charge such a premium for the 9600.. really wanted something more future proof but didnt really want the integrated solutions. So now its either get the 7500 for cheap or pay big bucks for the 9600..
what to do, what to do...

 

I suggest waiting until there is an FVU model on ebay...
Here was mine: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6742429873&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

and I am happily typing away on it right now! [ ]

 

I too am deciding between the two cards on the 14" T42. I notice that in the specs for XGA model (Radeon 7500, 32 mb)has the battery life at 5 hours, while the SXGA (Radeon 9600, 64 mb) has it at 4 hours. Is there really this much difference?

 

Whoops, my fault. I was comparing an M725 (1.6 GHz) to an M735 (1.7 GHz). Still, even with the larger processor, this seems like a major drop in battery life...