How much battery do you save by going with GMA950 over nVidia

[larciel]

basically, I'm in a dilemma. I'm looking for a notebook with a strong battery life so I came up with dell m1210. I configured it this way

2ghz T7200
2gb RAM
80gb 5400rpm
GMA950
CDRW
9+6cell
webcam

I was going to pull the trigger, but I saw same laptop with better config for only $250 more. its spec is

2ghz T7200
2gb RAM
100gb 7200rpm
nVidia 7400Go
DVDRW
9cell
webcam

I do not game so going to nVidia doesn't help me much, but 7200rpm HD and DVDRW intrigue me.

So questionn I have is, how much battery life do you sacrifice by getting nVidia GO over Intel GMA??

If owners of M1210 with GMA950 graphic and 9cell battery could give feedback I'd really appreciate it!

 

[alimoalem]

why don't you just upgrade your 1st configuration with the 7200rpm hdd? why do you even need a 7200rpm hdd? my 5400rpm drive doesn't bottleneck me for my tasks

my friend has the M1210. he's extremely happy with the laptop but he wishes he didn't get the 9-cell battery. it sticks out the bac by over an inch (maybe 2 inches?). plus, it's just as heavy as my 14.1". if it's going to be just as heavy, why go for a 12" laptop?

 

[TheStu]

You will lose some battery life by switching over to the nvidia card. Also, that 7200 RPM drive will sap the battery more than the 5400 as well. I am not saying that it will necessarily be serious, but it will draw more power. So the two of them combined will mean that you will get less battery life. There are other considerations as well. How much power each of the screens sap for instance, or if they use different wireless cards, those may draw different amounts of power.

 

[simms]

Both of these responses can't be serious.

Check out laptoplogic.com for reviews of 7K vs 5K rpm drives. Performance-wise you'll see the benefit with virtually no drop in battery life. You'd save time overall with better seek performance than the few minutes variation in power consumption.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: simms
Both of these responses can't be serious.

Check out laptoplogic.com for reviews of 7K vs 5K rpm drives. Performance-wise you'll see the benefit with virtually no drop in battery life. You'd save time overall with better seek performance than the few minutes variation in power consumption.

I believe you mean that neither of these posts can be serious.

Furthermore, I never said anything about performance benefits, nor did I say that the battery loss would be significant, I simply said that there would be battery life loss. I know that on my system I have never really wished that my drive was faster, I am not sure if that is a side effect of how OS X handles files as compared to Windows, but my main gripe is that my drive isn't large enough.

I think that ultimately this guy will benefit more from the 100 GB drive over the 80, regardless of the speed of either one. Especially if the 100 has high capacity platters.

 

[Brainonska511]

If you don't game, go with the integrated graphics card, you'll get significantly more battery life. How much are you looking to spend on this laptop? There are lighter 12.1" notebooks compared to the XPS M1210. Also, get the 6-cell if you want the battery to be flush with the system.

Asus W5F - 4lbs w/6cell battery. Comes in White or Black. Optional 9-cell battery available (would stick out 1/2" from back: Proportable Link)

Lenovo Thinkpad X60 is even lighter, but a similar configuration may fall outside your budget.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511
If you don't game, go with the integrated graphics card, you'll get significantly more battery life. How much are you looking to spend on this laptop? There are lighter 12.1" notebooks compared to the XPS M1210. Also, get the 6-cell if you want the battery to be flush with the system.

Asus W5F - 4lbs w/6cell battery. Comes in White or Black. Optional 9-cell battery available (would stick out 1/2" from back: Proportable Link)

Lenovo Thinkpad X60 is even lighter, but a similar configuration may fall outside your budget.

I'd think that if he wasn't gaming, the graphics card would be a smaller consideration. It's never going to run at full speed - hell, he can probably tweak the NVIDIA control panel to force it to run at rock-bottom core speeds.

Agreed on the "lighter options available" though. The XPS M1210 is not a "thin and light" notebook.

- M4H

 

[fbrdphreak]

You will not notice the difference in battery life between 5400RPM & 7200RPM. How do I know? I conducted the tests that are on laptoplogic.com, in a past life

Yes, there can be a big difference in battery life between integrated & discrete - whether it is NVIDIA or ATI. If your notebook is power efficient already (small screen, power efficient CPU/chipset, etc etc), then graphics alone can make a huge difference. Read here:
http://www.lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=40

 

[larciel]

Thanks for replies all

mainly, I wanted to compare battery life on GMA950 vs Geforce 7400. currently with 6cell, wi-fi on, casual surfing, screen at 1/3 brightness, it goes for about 2:20h

yeah M1210 isn't thin and light notebook, it's even heavier than 700m I had, but difference isn't noticeable and for under $1150, i couldn't find a better choice.

 

[larciel]

.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: larciel
Thanks for replies all

mainly, I wanted to compare battery life on GMA950 vs Geforce 7400. currently with 6cell, wi-fi on, casual surfing, screen at 1/3 brightness, it goes for about 2:20h

yeah M1210 isn't thin and light notebook, it's even heavier than 700m I had, but difference isn't noticeable and for under $1150, i couldn't find a better choice.

You won't find an exact comparison - but the example I linked above will give you an idea.

 

[Thetech]

MercenaryForHire hit the nail on the head, most cards have power saving options in their driver control panels. For example I configured a laptop with a Radeon x600 to slow the memory and core clocks down when running on battery. Simple quick and easy to do plus it gave me a boost to my notebooks running time when getting juice from the battery.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Thetech
MercenaryForHire hit the nail on the head, most cards have power saving options in their driver control panels. For example I configured a laptop with a Radeon x600 to slow the memory and core clocks down when running on battery. Simple quick and easy to do plus it gave me a boost to my notebooks running time when getting juice from the battery.

Even still, locking the GPU into it's lowest power state will still suck significantly more power than just using an integrated GPU. If a person isn't going to be playing games, they are best off using the integrated option because they'll get better battery life and the notebook will run a little cooler.

 

[larciel]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: larciel
Thanks for replies all

mainly, I wanted to compare battery life on GMA950 vs Geforce 7400. currently with 6cell, wi-fi on, casual surfing, screen at 1/3 brightness, it goes for about 2:20h

yeah M1210 isn't thin and light notebook, it's even heavier than 700m I had, but difference isn't noticeable and for under $1150, i couldn't find a better choice.

You won't find an exact comparison - but the example I linked above will give you an idea.

thanks, that article helps alot

 

[DJFatRod]

I've got an Inspiron 9400 with a 9600GS, 9 Cell Battery - 3 hours
My girlfriend has the 6400 with onboard, 9 cell battery - 5+ hours

 

[TheStu]

isnt the 9400 a P4M though? if the proc in the 6400 is the PM, then you have an even more uneven comparison

 

[DJFatRod]

The 9400 has a T7200 - 17' inch screen

and the 6400 has a T5600 with a 15' screen

Not a direct comparrison, but a 256 Vid Card with a 2 gig processor and a 17" screen has 40% less battery life than an onboard vid card with a 1.86 gig processor and a 15' screen

 

[TheStu]

i didnt realize that they still made the 9400... my bad

 

[DJFatRod]

Yep thats the Australian version of the E1705, and the 6400 is the E1505

 

[Aarondeep]

Obviously you are going to be running vista on a new laptop, you may want to consider the performance difference between the 950/nvidia chipsets under Vista as well.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

GMA 950 doesn't require a lot of power. I'd get it over the gaming graphics card if I weren't playing games.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: aarondeep
Obviously you are going to be running vista on a new laptop, you may want to consider the performance difference between the 950/nvidia chipsets under Vista as well.

GMA950 is fine for Vista, make sure you have 2GB RAM.

 

[fire400]

950 all the way

intel architecture surpasses laptop add-ons from other companies to work more efficiently with power saving features.

the 7400 isn't even that powerful anyway. the 7600 GO would be ideal for casual laptop gaming.

GG