Performance of laptops with and without shared video memory

[jj1492]

I'm looking at a new laptop and have been unable to find any site that compares performance of dedicated video cards with video cards that also use shared memory. So, I need your help. Please, no quips on the selection of an HP. I have a $470 coupon that I can only use at one location.

For starters, I have an HP ZV6000 laptop with the following key specs:

AMD Athlon 3200 (2 Ghz)
512 MB RAM
80 GB 4200 rpm hard drive
ATI Xpress 200 series video card - From what I have found, it is 128 MB.

Now, I have been looking at two new HP models... the RDV8380 and th DV9030.

The 8380:
Intel Core Duo 1.8 ghz
2 GB RAM
dual 120 GB HD's at 5400 rpm
nVidia Geforce Go 7400 - 128 MB + additional 128 shared memory

The 9030:
Intel Core Duo 2 1.6 ghz
2 GB RAM
dual 100 GB HD's
nVidia Geforce Go 7600 - 256 MB RAM

So, my questions are:
1. What will be the performance difference between the two new models in terms of games and general performance?
2. What is the likely performance difference between my current laptop and the 8380?
3. What would you do?

Thanks so much.

 

[w00t]

http://www.notebookreview.com/

1. gaming is gpu dependent so the one with the better video card looks like it would be better in terms of gaming at least
2. I don't think the 7400 is that good from what I saw in benchmarks if I rember correctly kinda like the X1400.
3. I'd get a Apple MBP 15.4in

 

[jj1492]

Any other suggestions? I'm curious to how my old laptop compares to the 8380 specifically.

 

[myocardia]

For gaming, the 9030 will win, hands down. It's at least twice as fast as your current lappy, if not more (at gaming). The 8380 isn't as fast, but is still much faster than your current laptop, if you're only asking about gaming. If you're asking about other things, it's probably 1.5 times as fast.