1420 vs 1520 (GT vs GS)

I'm trying to decide between the two. Is it worth it to go for the 1520 with the 8600 GT or will the 1420 and the 8400 GS suffice? Both would be pretty much maxed out as far as other specs go. I do play games, but only occasionally, and honestly I dont feel I need to have all the settings maxed out while playing. The practical side of me is leaning towards the 1420, but the side of me that is easily distracted by shiny objects really wants the 1520.
My 1420 comes out at about $1050, whereas the 1520 will be about $1250
Keep in mind that it will be used primarily for schoolwork, movies, and music, with some casual gaming on the side.
Will battery life be dramatically different between the two?
For watching movies while traveling...while the 1520 provide a mindboglingly superior experience? It will have the 1680x1050 screen.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Then you definitely want the 1420. The 8600GT really isn't all that worth it, the 8400GS is pretty much the best of class for the 14" models and is a huge step over the previous 14" GPU. I currently have an E1505 w/ X1400 and I can play Counter-Strike:Source with Medium graphics and get 50fps and I'm happy with that...and the 8400GS is almost double the performance of the X1400. The 1420 is cheaper, smaller, more practical, looks better IMO!

 

The 8600GT is about 2.5 times faster than th 8400GS

(it has approximately 2.3 times the graphics memory bandwidth, and performs 2.5 times higher on the 3DMark benchmarks)

Its a very significant upgrade. More than twice the speed.

 

Depends on which you value more:
Portability or Gaming Performance?

Just simply ask yourself, do you want the best gaming experience as possible, where FPS and Eye Candy matters?
Or Do you want portability so u can carry the notebook around everywhere u go?

 

Actually...if you guys have been paying attention to the lastest forums....you'd see that some people got their 1520 and that it's severely choked because it's using GDDR2 instead of GDDR3...it's only about 900 points better than the 8400 GS..

 

Just getting a bit esoteric, but there are 14" Thinkpad T61 with Geforce FX 570Ms now (they're non-widescreen though).

 

Are you sure? I don't see them anywhere... and do they use gddr2/3 or ddr2/3? I'm confused on the difference

 

There are other differences in the two gpus besides memory speed. The amount of stream processors is different also and even with the ddr2 the bandwidth of the memory on the 8600gt is 12.6 over the 9.6 on the 8400 gs

 

Thanks for the input. Apparently I`ll have to wait anyway because I just ''had to'' go to sleep/work and now my 15% coupon doesnt work.

Any ideas on relative battery life between the two?
Normally I wouldnt really care about weight, but I will be carrying this thing long distances (i.e. more than just around campus). So weight does kind of become a factor. I'm inclined to go for the 1420.

 

The Asus G1S has an 8600gt that has been tweaked for performance, the Dells 8600gt is not severely choked.

The "severely choked" 1520 scored a 2900 last night in 3dmark06, the HP2500 review with the 8400gs scored a 1077 in 3dmark06, it is 2.5 times faster as the previous poster stated.

That being said, the 8400 does seem to game alright, just dont expect the world from it. The OP said they dont game much, so the 8400 may be just right.

 

That's why I said pretty much

There are of course a very exceptions...but definitely not for the same price range!

 

I am in the same situation as you, and i also play games like battlefield 2 and stuff.
How long will the 8400 be able to play the best games.

 

I wish I had waited on getting my laptop or else I would have gotten the 1420 no doubt.

 

I found the 8400M GS in my HP dv6500t to be EXCELLENT at games, but maybe that's just 'cuz I came from an ATi 9600XT. Seriously, I got over 600FPS in Counter-Strike: SOurce (thread in HP/COmpaq forum with behcnmarks) running at low settings, DX7, bumpmap/specular off, 640*480. Those are highly playable specs on a laptop for a casual gamer that doesn't need eyecandy.

On the other hand, I turned all settings high, bump/spec ON, 16x Anisotropic filtering, etc., and still got like 120 FPS constant at 1280*800 resolution.

It's GREAT and all you will need for casual gaming and movies, etc.

 

Somehow I really doubt that. I got about 60 FPS on a much better GPU on my desktop.

 

well its not really an issue of eye candies, its a question whether you want to play games thats going to come out in the next 1-2 years.
with a 8600M GT you can at least get low/med settings on games like Lost Planet, Bioshock, Crysis, World Conflict etc

 

Will/Does the Inspiron 1520 with the 8600M-GT play Oblivion IV on reasonable settings?

And what about Doom 4?

 

Since you're at least somewhat interested in playing games, don't get less than the 8600GT. You ask about how long the 8400 can run stuff at less than max settings, but the reality is the 8600GT already can't run modern games at anything approaching high settings.