I3-350m and Radeon 5450 vs i5-430m and Integrated Graphics

[Andy Herb]

Hi,
I'm an IT professional with a good technical knowledge but I'd appreciate everyone's advice on which is the most sensible laptop purchase to make. I've narrowed it down to two options:

1) Dell Inspiron 15 - i3-350m, 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450, 4GB RAM - £549
2) Advent Sienna 500 - i5-430m, Integrated graphics (presumably Intel HD), 3GB RAM - £410


Daily use of the system will be MS Office and web surfing, but it's also going to be used for video editing and music production - and the occasional game I'm sure

I have researched the CPUs and can't see that Turbo Boost is going to make a huge difference for me, so I'd like to understand the difference which the graphics card could make, as £139 is a substational addition for what could result in no distinguishable graphics improvement. I understand that there's also a matter of an additional 1GB of RAM (Windows 7 64bit presumed) but I believe this could be upgraded on the Advent for approx. £35, making a real-term difference between the two machines of £100.

The question therefore is - Should I pay an additional £100 for the Dell with the dedicated 1GB ATI 5450 or should I save my pennies and go for the Advent?

Thanks in advance,
Andy

 

[saaiello]

If the added HDMI port the ATI Mobility 5450 will add to your notebook will benifit you then get it but, if you have no need for an HDMI port then the cheaper sienna would be the better option performance wise wont be much different if any the only thing that might take a hit is gaming but, event the 5450 doesn't do well in that aspect of the game either.

 

[Maziar]

HD 5450M is much faster than Intel IGP, its not a great card for gaming though.

 

[deweycd]

I agree you will see some performance increases in the 5450m but don't expect it to do wonders for your system.