HD 4000 or AMD Fusion?

[willtconq]

I'm planning on getting a new laptop soon, before the end of the year, and was having some trouble deciding between what to get. At the same time, I was wondering if there might be any recommendations.

I am hoping to get a lightweight/slim laptop that is either 13 or 14 inches. I will be traveling with it a bit, hence the small size. I do currently have a 16" laptop and feel it's too big. I will also be doing small amounts of gaming on it, such as Diablo3 or various non-super-graphics-intensive-games. I will also be doing quite a bit of software development and a little bit of 3d modeling on it.

Currently, I have my eyes set on a Toshiba Portege R930, which will come with a 3rd gen i5 3210M/3320M or i7 3520M. I think that's around the ballpark of what I need? I could be wrong. I would like to stay away from Ultrabooks, they are generally smaller and I would like to stay under $1000 as my max, though preferably under $800.

But here are my questions:
- I've read the article on A10 4600M, which compared it to an HD3000, but what about HD4000, how does that compare up to a comparable AMD core, or an i5 vs A6/A8?
- I mentioned earlier that I plan to travel a bit with it, so power consumption is a topic of concern. Although I notice that most of them do run at 35W, so is there just not much to be concerned about?
- And while we're on the subject of power, how's heat generation between Intel dual or quad core, and AMD dual and quad cores?
- I think I should avoid builds with descrete graphics, since that is extra power consumption, and from I could see, integrated graphics can perform just as well if not better than most low-end graphics that come with anything under 17" laptops.

So, what do you guys think?

Thanks for all the help in advance.

 

[jay_nar2012]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000-Benchmarked.73567.0.html

There won't be much difference in temps, the HD4000 will suit your needs, AMD fusions will come with slightly better graphics, they use the same technique (graphics and processor on one chip).

I5/I7s are best for gaming and video editing so that would suit you aswell.

i would say go with the toshiba, you can change power settings so that there is more battery life.

 

[serenatous]

Well you can get with discrete graphics but with the optimus technology:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html

Only when you need it, you can use it other wise you use the onboard one.

I got my wife a 15.4" laptop.

This one http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/products/computing/pc/notebooks-tablets/all-round/lifebook-ah531-gfo/ a dual core i5 works faster then my e8500 dual core and has inbuilt gpu and when its needed, you can use the discrete one for extra power.

She gets 7 hours out of it battery life.


And to answer your question about HD 4000 vs AMD a10 i found benchmarks.
http://vr-zone.com/articles/mobile-ivy-bridge-hd-4000-and-trinity-a10--can-they-handle-cs-go-on-the-go-/16719.html
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5831/amd-trinity-review-a10-4600m-a-new-hope/6

Hope it helps.

 

[willtconq]

Thanks guys, I will check those out and return if i have more questions.

 

[willtconq]

Thanks for the links, I went through them, and was able to squeeze out a bit more info than what i had before. Unfortunately, most of the info weren't very helpful as none of them benchmarked a 3rd gen intel dual-core. Those came out almost 2 months ago, is it still too early to expect benchmarks on them?

notebookcheck.net's review pitted a bunch of 3rd gen i7s against older Llano cores, instead of Trinity. Very biased in my opinion. vr-zone "compared" an A10 to an i5 ULV, again, not a fair comparison, though they don't claim it to be in the first place. So unfortunately, that also doesn't really help me? I guess i'm just really disappointed that after almost 2 months, there's not a single website, Tom's included, that has yet to bench mark the most recent lineup, and quite possibly the final line up in 2012, of mobile dual-core chips from both intel and AMD.

Thankfully, there was a Trinity vs HD4000 comparison that had what I was looking for from AnandTech. Thank you for that @serenatous. So now the question is, how well would an i5, which is weaker CPU, but similarly clocked GPU, compare against that?

Also, on the AnandTech review, the i7-3720QM didn't score all that well in the battery life section, so I'm wondering if an i5 will be all that different? The 2nd gen i5 performed superbly. or is battery life just a lost cause when it comes to 3rd gen?

 

[jay_nar2012]

The 3rd gen are meant to give laptops better battery life and lower temps because of the new 22nm die.

Also depends what the 3rd gen i5 was paired with.

 

[jaguarskx]

Generally speaking, the more cores the higher the power consumption. Going with a dual core CPU is fine for games since the vast majority of games only use two cores. The number of games that can take advantage of 4 cores is tiny in comparison.

The Intel HD 4000 is basically equal to a Radeon HD 5550 desktop graphic card while the integrated graphic core in the A10-4600m is basically equal to a desktop Radeon HD 5570 graphic card.

On the other hand, an Ivy Bridge CPU core is much more powerful than Llano or Trinity's CPU core.

 

[serenatous]

@willtconq

Honestly i think the best thing is to check the Optimus technology and get an intel cpu when the integrated gpu in the cpu isint enough switch to the discrete gpu.

I got my wife the laptop for like 500$ an i5 with a discrete it might be worth more then getting a pure cpu with an integrated gpu.

I would recommend check first if you actually cant find a good deal like i did before you get one without a discrete gpu or optimus technology.

As i said my wife can get 7 hours out of her laptop, and when she uses the Nvidia discrete card then it becomes 4hours 30 mins i think that's great.

+ optimus technology offers you extra power when you need it over.

I live in europe, bought the laptop in Sweden not a cheap country. But i have even seen i7's with optimus technology for around 800$.

I like fujitsu i have had good experience with them. As i said this was the model i bought for my wife: http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/products/computing/pc/notebooks-tablets/all-round/lifebook-ah531-gfo/

Try checking out if their isint a newer model, or if its enough for you then its all good a GT 525m is a bit better then a hd 4000 and has extra features :-D .

 

[willtconq]

@jaguarskx, Thanks for the info, that really puts things into perspective. But do you think you could link where you got that info from, assuming it's based off some sort of benchmark? Or were you just comparing based on hardware? no offense or anything. I just want to keep my facts straight, and have something to reference to for when I do make the purchase, instead of "I remember seeing someone say this, but I can't be entirely sure."

@serenatous, the only problem with the fujitsu is the size, I tried looking through all of their models and couldn't find a 14" that also had discrete graphics. I have a 16" laptop, and after hauling it around for a whole day, it does get rather cumbersome. Which is why I was trying to see if anyone knew any smaller machines that fit my need. Though, I did take your suggestion into account, and did some more digging. and I found this.
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230416&Tpk=asus%20u47vc">ASUS U47VC</a>
Best of both worlds eh?

 

[serenatous]

@serenatous, the only problem with the fujitsu is the size, I tried looking through all of their models and couldn't find a 14" that also had discrete graphics. I have a 16" laptop, and after hauling it around for a whole day, it does get rather cumbersome. Which is why I was trying to see if anyone knew any smaller machines that fit my need. Though, I did take your suggestion into account, and did some more digging. and I found this.
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230416&Tpk=asus%20u47vc">ASUS U47VC</a>
Best of both worlds eh?

The gt 620m is as good as a gt 525m but its more energy efficient so should give you more battery life then a gt 525m.
According to the specs it can give you up to 8 hours of battery life. I recommend when you need more battery life and don't have the means to put it to charge then lower the screen brightness even when working on full power as long as you dimm the screen you will gain a good amount of extra time.

Again great choice really, you cant go wrong with having the extra gpu power when it's needed.

 

[esrever]

The mobile HD4k offers actual performance around that of the 7500G of the A6-4455m. Which is about 50% less powerful than the A10-4600m.

 

[jaguarskx]

See following for benchmarks of the desktop version of the HD 4000.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/intel-hd-graphics-4000-2500_5.html#sect3

 

[willtconq]

Best answer selected by willtconq.

 

[willtconq]

Thank you all that replied. I have decided to go with Intel still, because the amount of lead AMD has over intel in graphics doesn't really make up for the huge lack in everyday computing efficiency. Especially when there are laptops out there that couples an intel machine with an nvidia graphics chip, then AMD's lead becomes mote.