Dell Inspiron 13 Graphic Card Upgrade suitable?

Here are my specifications:

224-0528 1318 T5850(2.16GHZ) CORE 2 DUO 1
310-8628 VISTA PREMIUM STICKER 1
311-8921 3GB,DDR2,667MHZ,2 DIMM,INSP 1
312-0751 56 WHR,6-CELL,LION,PRIM BATT 1
313-6617 8X SLOT LOAD DVD+/-R,INSP 1
320-6853 13.3 INCH WXGA TL (CCFL) W/ 2MP CAMERA 1
320-7600 128MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 8400M GS 1
330-0926 PACIFIC BLUE,INSP 1
330-1016 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,I1318 1
341-7028 250G HARD DRIVE, 5400RPM,INSP

As you can see I upgraded my graphics card. My question is if this was a useless upgrade because I guess it seeks much more power compared to the standard GMA Accelerator, isnt it? Did this upgrade make sense in general? What do you think about my configuration at all?Please give a fast answer. Thank you very much and sorry for my bad english. Thanks! Kevin

 

You'll get better system performance overall, because dedicated memory on the graphics card offloads the job of handling graphics resources, and frees up more of your system memory. (In integrated graphics, part of your system memory is dynamically allocated just for graphics)

One downside is that the dedicated card affects battery life and heat. Every spec the same, you'll get better battery life and less heat by choosing integrated graphics.

Ask yourself what you plan to do with the laptop, If your just going to be websurfing, writing word docs, and such then integrated will be fine. Are you going to be playing any games? (besides the ones built into windows, and those simple flash games on the web) If so, that dedicated card will probably help a bit.

 

The nVIDIA 8400M GS graphics card is considered an entry-level dedicated GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) based on its performance. However, it offers substantially better performance than the Intel GMA X3100. If the nVIDIA 8400M GS fits into your budget, it's a much better choice than the X3100!

FYI- Intel recently introduced the successor the X3100, called the Intel GMA X4500 (or Intel 4500MHD). It more than doubles the performance of the X3100 and is almost as powerful as the nVIDIA 8400M GS. However, DELL has not yet upgraded any models with the Intel 4500 other than the Latitude E-series Business notebooks.

 

Alright. Does it has a huge effect on the battery life? For me both is important..i dont know...

Another question is it possible to order in Canada and to get a german keyboard| vista?

 

For the keyboard question, you should definitely give Dell Canada Sales or Customer Service a call.

The nVIDIA graphics card will have a minor impact on battery life. I'd estimate that it might decrease battery life by 5-7%, approximately.

 

Allrighty, thanks i will. Does the geforce has a fan?On in all my configuration is not that bad or? Thought about buying a dell xps 1330, but after some research i guess it s not worth to pay this extra money for it. Just have to fix the keyboard and power problem (different adapters in germany). Is there a German language Vista Patch?Thanks a lot guys...

 

.........???

 

It doesn't have its own fan, it more or less shares a heatpipe with the CPU and the one system fan.