Nvidia geforce gt 320 or ati Mobility Radeon HD 6370

[lpiotoole]

Hello,
these are the graphics cards in the two best laptops i can afford atm
would just like to know what one is better for playing WoW

 

[shreejan86]

The GT 320M performs better than the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6370. The HD 6370 is based on the old HD 5430 and HD 5450 chips. But the HD 6370 supports DirectX 11 whereas the 320M does not.

 

[dalauder]

How much are you spending? If you spend $700 or so, you can get a 6770M or GT 560M. Keep an eye on Tech Bargains: http://www.techbargains.com/laptopcomputernotebookreview.cfm?r1=1

Those graphics cards GT 320 & 6370M barely beat the i3's Intel HD 2000 integrated graphics. FYI: for equal overall performing cards, GeForce outperforms Radeons in WOW.

Also, if you're gonna game on it, higher resolution screens (like 1600x900) look better, but you'll get MUCH better framerates at 1366x768.

 

[lpiotoole]

hi, i live in nz so the prices will be different
i can spend as much as $1200 nz on a laptop
would intel i5 graphics hd be better then both those graphics cards?
the two laptops i want are these:
http://www.notebookcity.co.nz/HP-LJ737PA&ref=pricespy http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=371864966

 

[dalauder]

I can't come close to recommending either of those. That's like $980 American, which should get your something pretty awesome (see http://www.techbargains.com/catsearch.cfm/0_3_0).

You really want a newer generation i3 or i5 (2000 series). That's an i3-2XXXM over i3-3XXM or i5-2XXXM over i5-4XXM/5XXM.

We need to find some more websites that ship to NZ. Like Amazon.com maybe. Can you give me a generic NZ address (real, but not yours. Maybe a business?) so that I can check shipping?

 

[lpiotoole]

laptops seem to be way more overpriced here then the us
i dont have another address i can give you sorry.
i checked amazon but most of them can only be shipped within the u.s

 

[dalauder]

xoticpc builds custom Sager laptops and ships worldwide. Amazon didn't work, but this did. I recommend this laptop:
$770 Sager NP5160
i5-2520M
15.6" 1600x900 LED screen
GeForce GT 540M graphics
4GB (2x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3
320GB 7200rpm HDD (other options available)
Built-in Bluetooth
Built-in 2.0MP Camera
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5160-clevo-w150hn-p-2999.html?wconfigure=yes
Unfortunately, shipping is estimated at $159 (I used an HP New Zealand office address to estimate shipping), which will bring you up to about $930, $50 below your limit.

That price was for configuring it with the i5-2520M. The i5-2410M is dual core, hyper-threaded. The 2520M is a true quad core, I think (check wikipedia to verify). I'm not sure which is better between the higher clocked i5-2520M (3.2GHz) and the i7-2630QM (2.9GHz). The i5 will get better battery life and match performance in the vast majority of tasks. I wouldn't upgrade the screen because 1600x900 is pretty good and 1920x1080 will significantly hurt your in-game framerates. Typically, 320GB & 500GB HDDs both use the same architecture from the same manufacturers, just 180GB gets disabled. This is relevant because a 320GB HDD would typically perform just as fast as a 500GB, where as they'd both get outperformed by a 640GB of the same architecture. But I'd still pay the $20 to upgrade to a 500GB.

If you want a 17" laptop, it'll cost you an extra $180 or so: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5170-clevo-w170hn-p-3000.html?wconfigure=yes
But at least it's got a bit faster video card to go with the 1920x1080 screen. I don't think this is nearly as good of a choice though.

 

[lpiotoole]

the i5 is only 2 cores, 4 threads. so i think it would be worth it to upgrade it to the i7 for another $25
i need to get the OS which is another $90
15.6" is perfect
and 500gb hdd i would need as well

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np3250-clevo-w251hnq-p-3064.html?wconfigure=yes
this is cheaper when you customize it with all the same specs.

thanks a tonne for pointing out how much cheaper it is to buy in the U.S and ship here

 

[lpiotoole]

the only difference between the laptops is the graphics cards.

 

[dalauder]

Oh, yep. My bad on the i5's cores.

That one was cheaper, but only has a GT 520M. If you plan on gaming, you'll need the GT 540M. It also has a nicer 1600x900 screen. 1366x768 doesn't fit everything on the screen a lot of the time.

If you're a student or a student will be using the computer frequently, you can use a .edu address to get discounted Windows 7. Lots of Engineering Schools (and probably other schools too) have valid copies of Windows 7 available for students.

If you'll need to pay $90 for windows, you can just get the $770 one I suggested and get the cheaper CPU since there's no big performance difference and get Windows instead of an i7. The i7 will seem faster when doing heavy multitasking. It mostly depends how deep your pockets are.

 

[lpiotoole]

i can get windows 7 professional on special for $115 which is still quite a lot but i think its worth it.

i think its still worth paying the extra for i7 just incase i ever need the processing power.

thanks for pointing that out with the other laptop. i obviously didnt pay much attention when i was looking at it

thank you so much for all your help, its much appreciated

 

[dalauder]

You're welcome. I've been looking for laptops that ship to Guam for a while for my wife, so I was prepared. I ended up getting one shipped to my brother in New Hampshire and he'll mail it here.

 

[lpiotoole]

Best answer selected by lpiotoole.