Need help deciding laptops - Graphics card + Overall

[jayyMai]

I've been giving roughly $1000 to buy a new computer and since ill be attending university soon i decided to pick a laptop. I'm a gamer so i'm looking for a good gaming laptop that's within $1000-$1100.

I looked around and saw two that looked decent

HP Pavilion 16" AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM-82 2.2GHz Laptop (DV6-1264CA) $999.99

Specs-
Graphics Chipset
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650
Video Memory
1024 MB

RAM
4GB DDR2

Theres a long list and it's under Features & Specs in this link
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10126042&catid=#

My second choice is

MSI GX720-224CA Gaming Notebook - Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 2.0GHz, 17" WXGA+, 4GB (2x2GB), 320GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512MB, Super-Multi DVD-writer, Wireless N, Gb LAN, Bluetooth, HDMI, Subwoofer, Card Reader, eSATA, WebCam, Windows Vista Home Premium $1029.99 but it's dropped to $999.99 until september 3rd, 09
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=024719&cid=NBK.358

unfortunately there are no further details on this laptop and it's all it says under the name.

I'm wondering if the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 1gb Video Card would be better or the NVIDIA 9600M GT 512mb would be better. Also the overall specs of each laptop. Which would be a better laptop for gaming in general.

Lastly I also heard laptops get pretty hot so i would need a laptop cooler. If i had to choose any under this website, which one would be the best
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProdList&cmd=pl&id=NBK.276.667

Thanks!

 

[DiscoDuck]

In general, the intel processors are much better. The toms video charts may give some idea of relative gpu performance comparison

 

[theblade]

A friend of mine had a MSI with that same Graphics Chipset and it died after a couple of months, it turns out that it's a fairly common problem in some NVIDIA Graphics Chipset for laptops, among those with the problems is the 9600M GT, MSI offered to replace the Graphics Chipset but for another 9600M GT, so if you can chose you should avoid that Graphics Chipset even if it performs a little better.
Google it, you should find some info about that problem.

 

[vladtepes]

Get an ATI CARD , I 've seen too many Nvidia laptops GPU's die

 

[jayyMai]

So I should go for the HP Laptop instead of the MSI one?

Also do you guys have any clue which cooler I should get since I might be gaming occasionally.

 

[darkvine]

Most laptop coolers really about the same in terms of perfermnce. I have never really see a 'huge' differnce from one cooler to the next other then build quailty. In fact from many revies I have seen of others it seems like many fanless 'desks' that simply rasie your laptop up on four legs do almost as well as ones with fans (thoguh the fans win)

I have personally used the Lian Li one and I think one from Evercool but not sure.

 

[vladtepes]

So I should go for the HP Laptop instead of the MSI one?

Also do you guys have any clue which cooler I should get since I might be gaming occasionally.

No, you can also get Intel laptops with ATI GPus, ie: Dell XPS 16"