Intel GMA X4500 or NVIDIA 9200M GS

[oschrndz]

I am going to buy an HP dv5t soon and I don't know whether to customize the laptop with the integrated Intel GMA X4500 or the dedicated 256MB NVIDIA 9200M GS.
My first choice was to stick with just the integrated graphics card since I don't play games. The only multimedia-ish stuff I will be doing is watching DVD, online videos, itunes, and Photoshoping (as a hobby). But I later came across an article saying that a dedicated graphics card is recommended if you want to benefit from all the cool features Windows Vista comes with. Does anyone know anything about this? Here is the link to the article http://peripherals.about.com/od/videographicscards/a/gpuvista.htm

OK, what about heat and battery life?
I know dedicated graphic cards produce more heat and use up more power than integrated graphic cards but when comparing the two, would the NVIDIA 9200M GS significantly produce more heat and reduce battery life than the Intel GMA X4500? If the difference is minimal then I would definitely consider the dedicated graphics card. Can anyone help me out here on this?

Thanks!

 

[customisbetter]

nope. always get the nvidia/ati solution over the intel solution. Vista, your movies, and long webpages will love you for it.

 

[oschrndz]

nope. always get the nvidia/ati solution over the intel solution. Vista, your movies, and long webpages will love you for it.

No, as in it won't increase heat or reduce battery life significantly or No as in don't get the integrated graphics card. So you do need a dedicated graphics card for watching movies (DVDs)?

 

[customisbetter]

integrated GMA will play movies, just not well. if you are doing other things (downloading more movies, checking movies for viruses, converting movies to you ipod) while watching movies, you will see a significant slowdown and cpu load increase. this decreases battery life overall. With the dedicated solution, the playback will be smoother and have better visual quality. the dedicated takes over most of the movie load and lets your cpu rest or do other things. I would highly recommend the 9200M gs over anything intel pukes up.

Also, heat should not be a problem at all.

Good luck!

 

[HIStory]

So the nVidia 9200M is better. Is the nVidia GE Force 7100 graphics card better than the GMA X4500? I'd like a quick response please as I'm buying a PC soon. Thanks!

 

[meodowla]

X4500 is a Dx10 chipset and 7100 is Dx9. Better get the one with 9200M.

 

[rickytrux11]

wha games can x4500 run at lowest settings?