Laptop CPU dilemma and GPU too

[ssb1551]

Hi All,
My first post after I have moved to B'lore.I am gonna buy a laptop around 30k. Zeroed in on few ones but whats confusing me is the Graphics Card. I know mobile GPUs are nowhere near their desktop counterparts but still need one just to time pass(by playing some games) when I'm bored. But the primary purpose of laptop is to run VMware to run SAP. So should I go for an i5 or is i3 enough to run SAP?

Also which of the following mobile GPUs is better : GT 520MX or HD6650 or HD 6470? and will going for any of these GPUs be a significant difference from Intel HD 3000 when it comes to playing games?

 

[dashing.sujay]

Go with i5. Virtualiztion apps demand beefier CPUs (with more cores preferably). Plus at least 4GB RAM.

6650 >> 520MX > 6470~HD3000.

6650 will of course bring a drastic improvement in games over HD3000, 520MX about 20%, 6470 more or less same, say 5-10% to be max.

My suggestion, wait for Trinity, ( at least may).

 

[kbar1]

For comparing any other GPUs you can refer this table: [notebookcheck.net].

@dashing.sujay, my laptop purchase decision is stuck in limbo. I'm waiting for Ivy Bridge, or atleast the NVIDIA GT6xxM/AMD 7xxxM series GPUs to arrive. But what *major* improvements would Trinity bring?

 

[coderunknown]

^^ core i3 like performance as Llano is pretty slow, better battery (better than what intel can offer), better graphics and total cost around 25k. currently a laptop based on Llano cost ~30k and one with Intel processor + a discrete GPU (one that is not total crap) cost north of 33k.

 

[dashing.sujay]

^Yes, and if all goes well, you may expect Trinity blowing mid range GPUs (540M likewise).

 

[coderunknown]

^Yes, and if all goes well, you may expect Trinity blowing mid range GPUs (540M likewise).

i expect 640M to be lot faster than 550M (if Nvidia doesn't start rebranding again). so Trinity will have a new target. And Trinity must beat 540M by a good margin.

 

[ssb1551]

^^ core i3 like performance as Llano is pretty slow, better battery (better than what intel can offer), better graphics and total cost around 25k. currently a laptop based on Llano cost ~30k and one with Intel processor + a discrete GPU (one that is not total crap) cost north of 33k.

Hi Sam...didnt get your point. Are you trying to say that A6(I assume thats Llano) is slower than i3? Actually I forgot to ask that question in the OP. I saw a few laptops with A6 config. But their base clock speed is really low - 1.4GHz(3400M) and 1.5GHz(3420M) - although they do have Turbo Core feature. So can these A6 run SAP smoothly??

 

[dashing.sujay]

Yes, Llanos are slower than i3.

 

[ssb1551]

^^Damn!! I was hoping that A6 3400M would be atleast faster than i3..in that way I could have had 6650M as well. Now it looks like I have to be contented with Intel HD 3000 GPU ...

 

[coderunknown]

i have read a few reviews of A6 3400. A6 will outperform the i3 when in turbo mode. problem is, it doesn't turbo past 2Ghz. but still it performs really close to i3 and battery life is above 5hrs even with a discrete GPU (which was most likely turned off during battery test).

check this review. its the same as the 15" Llano based Asus available @ Flipkart.