What would you folks think would be a better system or video card for the following applications
or usage and preferences ie is it possible to get thin and light and multimedia performance ?:
Systems/Cards in review:
Dell D800 (Nvidia 4200 GO with 64mb/128 bit path)
IBM T40 (Radeon 9000 32mb/64 bit)
IBM A31 (Radeon 7500 with 32MB, but has 128 bit path)
IBM T40P (Fire GL 64mb/128 bit path)
Application Use:
1 - I'll start with 2/3 business apps and 1/3 multimedia streaming downloads, lite captuing
and video editing, web surfing and maybe some lite gaming, but not the key factor.
2 - Will then want to build basic web pages, insert content, capture, edit and encode
short 30-60 second audio and video clips. (think picture editing, video editing tools,
encoding, etc) Hobby use not full production.
It maybe that a laptop will never be the platform even for hobby useage, but I don;t
know. I am not trying to weigh in storage and screen size etc because I can add all
those things externally, but the card and cpu choice I am stuck with.
I am leaning towards the thinkpads ie the T40P, but do not want to take a huge hit ie
with dell offering the Nvidia 4200 GO 64/128 bit path card, but not the IBM battery life,
quality or portability. Guess I am trying to get it all.
I am trying to determine which electronic componets do these apps rely most on ie:
CPU, amount of ram, video ram/processor, drivers written for these apps etc...
The radeons seem better tweaked for games and MM, but do not have 64mb option or
128bit data path except the lower end 7500 one on the A31 has a 128bit path, but only
32MB.
The T40P seems to have a nice blend of all, but at a slight premium which i can write off
anyway. I am concerned that the other cards ie "Radeon" might be tweaked more for
my apps than the GL which is tweaked for cad, but maybe the GL card can also do what
these other cards can do???
BTW: I have spoke to both ATI and IBM on this with little useful feedback and have seen
the specs of these cards.
Games seem to rely alot on the how the card is designed and the amount of ram, drivers
included etc...I have also heard that the P4 chip itself is built for mulitmedia so maybe
I need to consider that although the performance of the 1.6 PM is seemingly impressive.
Net/net, if cost were not the issue and quality, performance and versatility were, which
card or system would you get of the ones listed unless you have a strong opinion and
experience of other systems too.
Many thanks if you have read this far. Sorry for the long post. Also posting in general HW
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