Are NVIDIA G84s and G86s safe to buy yet?

[kanati]

Hi,
A friend of mine is looking at a Dell XPS 1530. This laptop comes with only two video card configurations, an NVIDIA 8400m or 8600m. I've read a few articles stating that these chips are prone to overheating and early failure. The articles I've read are at least a month old so I'm not sure if this issue has been resolved yet. Does anyone have any updated information?

Thanks!

 

[falcodakrzz]

I cant answer that, but I will advise strongly against getting the 8600, its pretty bad value for money.

 

[curryj02]

look for some other brands like HP, Asus or Toshiba. They should offer similarly priced offerings with ATi Radeon instead of nVidias G84 graphics cards. i think the equivalent is a radeon 3650, but its been a while since i looked into it.

 

[kanati]

what alternative would you suggest for the guy?

I'm thinking of recommending the XPS 1330 which can be had with an Intel x3100. She's not doing any gaming so the graphics card is kinda irrelevant. Which rules out the 8600 also.