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In search of ... opinions on AMD vs Intel graphics cards

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barney:
fixing a laptop usually involves more trouble and expense than fixing a desktop
-40hz (March 21, 2013, 09:02 PM)
--- End quote ---

Amen to that!  I went ahead and ordered the Dell earlier.  I've no great love for Dell - the heat issue(s) were near pandemic in my last corporate gig, and I had a similar model (bought for a price I could not turn down in a weaker moment  :o) go south on me about a year ago.  Replaced the hdd in it, but could not keep it running long enough to restore a backup image or install from scratch - kept shutting off due to heat issues.  Naturally, it was shortly after the warranty ran out.  (Also had some problems with tech support, but that's for a different post  ;).)

On the other hand, I know several folk who've used Dell laptops for years with no serious hardware issues.  Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky  :-\?

My biggest concern was the GPU.  While somewhat familiar with AMD's Radeon, the Intel unit is foreign territory to me.  (My current primary is a Toshiba with the Intel GPU, and I've had a few issues, but nothing I could specifically pin to the GPU.)  However, I was somewhat put off by the lack of specs/stats for the Intel.

Recently priced a similar machine via a Dell newsletter.  On the Dell site, with a drive 3/4 the size, the tab came to ~$1,600.  This'n came to $882.89 ... may have been seduced by price again, but se la vie.

Thanks all for the - unanimous! :o - opinions.  Much appreciated  :Thmbsup:.

vlastimil:
Don't forget to verify that the i7 CPU is the 3rd generation (Ivy Bridge). It uses less power(=less heat), is a bit faster and has better graphics.

BTW the graphics is on the CPU, so there is no dedicated VRAM if you use it and you are paying for it in both cases. The AMD Radeon is an extra chip that is then used instead of the graphics part of the CPU. If you are not a big gamer, the integrated graphics on the latest CPU is good enough and there are less things that can break in your notebook. If you intend to play a lot of games on it, get the Dell.

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