(ATI radeon hd 5470 or 5650) buying a new LAPTOP NEED HELP PLEASE!!

[sparxz2k9]

Hey, Im looking to buy myself a new laptop and shortlisted down to 2 ( Dell Inspiron 15 and Sony Vaio E series ), main uses are gaming and entertainment also some media work. the both are similar in price.
DELL SPECS - PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i5-540M (2.53Ghz, 4 Thread, turbo boost up to 3.06 GHz, 3MB cache). OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English. LCD 15.6" High Definition (1366x768) WLED. MEMORY 6144MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [1x4096 + 1x2048]. HARD DRIVE 500GB (5400RPM) Serial ATA Hard Drive. GRAPHICS CARD 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD5470 Graphics Card.OPTICAL DRIVE DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with DVD Burn software.

VAIO SPECS - Intel® CoreTM i5-520M, 2.40GHz(turbo boost to 2.93Ghz). OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English. 320 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm) Hard Drive. RAM 6 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM. Blu-ray Disc(TM) writer and player.
Screen 39.4 cm LCD, 1920x1080,
ATI MobilityRadeon HD5650 1GB.

Which laptop would you say provides me with overall best performance? thanks.

 

[Mithness]

the ati radeon hd 5650 is better but the processor is slightly worst than the dell but either are good, i would personnally go for the dell for the bigger harddrive and and the 5470 would be good for me (i have a 4550 its perfect for me)

 

[sparxz2k9]

but for games like WoW, Sims, football manager and other latest games what matters more the processor or the graphics card? also the vaio comes with a hd 1080p screen. the difference in the processors are the dell boosts up to roughly 3.06ghz and the viao 2.93ghz is that going to make such a big impact? and also the Dell ram at 6gb runs at 1333mhz but the viao runs at 1066mhz does that also make a difference?

so baring all those things in mind which is better?? sorry for any confusion if any! but help is very much appreciated

 

[ksampanna]

For any game, gfx card makes the maximum difference. The VAIO has a better graphics. But it's resolution is too high for the 5650 to handle, so it won't matter that it is a better choice; it already will be unplayable for a number of games at that resolution.
So IMO get the Dell. Atleast you could play almost all games at a playable frame rate.

 

[sparxz2k9]

surely it would adapt to the resolution like desktop pc's no? hmmm..

 

[hooray4boobies]

I'd go Vaio. CPU speed means nothing these days...espicially 130mhz. The hard drive can be swapped out for a bigger one and the graphic card is much better. Not to mention the screen has higher resoloution...Seems like an easy choice to me.

And yes, the resolution will change just like a desktop.

 

[toolinthemist]

I'm with hooray, Vaio is gonna be the better choice IMO. the difference between the processors is negligible and for games, the bottleneck will still be the graphics chip. the 5650 is better, and actually the 5650 can handle the native resolution of the monitor.

ksampanna is right that there will be several games that graphics can't play at that resolution, just cause of the requirements, but the card can still display 1920x1080

http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/NOTEBOOK/GRAPHICS/ATI-MOBILITY-HD-5700/Pages/hd-5650-specs.aspx

I'd say go with the Vaio

 

[sparxz2k9]

so its 2 - 2 i was thinking more vaio too more recently also, but im not really great with computer specs and understanding mhz and all that i only know the standard things like ram e.t.c...

SO....the games i stated above they would play ok on the vaio right?? like what would you guys say are the pros and cons of both systems but in lamens terms please lol thanks guys!!

 

[toolinthemist]

either laptop will run current games like WoW, the sims, granted you won't be able to max out the games.

I think you will find the vaio to play the games better given the stronger graphics card. When it comes to games, the graphics is the main determining factor.
The difference between the processors is negligible, and while the dell does have faster ram, (lol, more technical terms coming in now, sorry) at such high speeds, the timings are more crucial, but even then, you won't really see difference.

So really, the main competing factors is:
- the dell has a larger hard drive (although 320gb in the vaio is still sizable and can be upgraded) and (i'm guessing based off of the screen resolutions) a smaller screen (which is more portable, if thats what you want)
- the vaio has a stronger graphics card and a blu-ray player

the last factor is cost, and I'm guessing the Vaio costs more, but cost is something you can weigh

For what you want and what i can tell, the Vaio is a better choice IMO
It will play the games better than the dell

 

[sparxz2k9]

awesome thank you very much toolinthemist!! now just have to wait for sony vaio to get back to me for when they have those parts for the E-series! lol

 

[jaguarskx]

Always choose the one with the fastest video chip you can afford.

Then tack on another 15% - 20% into your budget to see if that gets you a faster video chip.