Mobility Radeon 9600

[primageddon]

I am about to buy a notebook computer, but I need help in deciding something. I have two choices: either I'll get an AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+ (15" screen ) or an Intel 3.0 GHz (w/ 16" screen ). Both come with an "ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 M9, AGP 4X, external 64MB DDR video memory." Should I wait until the Radeon 9600 comes out (and if so, when will it come out???) or go ahead and get one of these notebooks? I know the Intel's gonna hog battery power, but I don't know how much more than the AMD XP-M. Any suggestions? And also, anybody know where I could get the AMD 2500+ w/ a 16" UXGA screen? Thank you all for your replies in advance... I have never bought a notebook before, so I'm pretty ignorant on what's hot and what's not notebook-wise.

 

[cleeve]

That depends. What kind of games do you plan to play?

 

[primageddon]

UT2003 at the very least; any idea on when the mobility 9600 will be available? Should I wait? And will the 16" screen make that much difference? I know that the AMD 2500+ M will use less power (longer battery life) than the 3.0 GHz Intel, but by how much more, etc?

 

[cleeve]

Well, UT2003 should run pretty well on the radeon 9000 chipset. If this game is your target, or previous titles, you should be fine.

If you're gunning for future titles like Doom3 and Half Life 2, the 9000 will be insufficient. You might want to wait, or buy a laptop that allows for video card upgrades...

 

[primageddon]

First, thank you for your reply. However, I still don't know what to do because I don't know when the Mobility Radeon 9600 will come out. Is there an expected release date? Will it cost a LOT more than the 9000 currently does in notebooks? I just don't know whether I should wait on buying the notebook or not b/c if I'm going to get an Intel 3.0 GHz processor w/ it, I want it to be able to run Doom 3 and Half Life 2 for sure when they come out. And do you know anything about the relative amounts of power the Intel 3.0 GHz and the AMD 2500+ M use (I know the AMD will use less, but HOW MUCH less???). Thanks for your time.

 

[cleeve]

If you want to run Doom3 or HL2 don't even bother considering the 9000.

The 9600 mobility won't be out in too long, I've seen reviews for a while. Couple months at most, if it isn't out there already.

I don't know about the power requirements... you're going to have to look at hardware sites for that one. Tom probably has something on it... somewhere...