NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Dell Forums › Dell Business (Vostro, Latitude, Precision) › XPS 1330 Integrated vs Discrete Graphics
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

XPS 1330 Integrated vs Discrete Graphics

post #1 of 20
11/4/07 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 
Hi ~ I'll be buying an XPS M1330 soon. The only option I'm still confused on is the graphics card. I'm not a gamer and battery life is important to me as I'm on the road every week for work. However, with Vista now - which I have no experience with - is it true that you need a discrete graphics card to efficiently run Vista (and I guess certain options such as Aero).

Specifically, my questions are:
1. Will an integrated graphics card impair the ability to use Vista in any way and, if so, how?

2. What's the difference in battery life when using a dedicated vs integrated graphics card? I.e., how much extra battery life will I gain by choosing integrated?

3. Will an integrated graphics card cause my system to just not operate as efficiently in general - just every day navigating even - since Vista relies so heavily on graphics? And, if so, how does any inefficiency manifest itself? Slower time bringing up screens? Computer running hot because of a strain using graphics?

Thanks for you help!!!
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 20
11/5/07 at 2:19am
The intergrated gfx card will run fine with vista. You will get more battery life. Notebook might run cooler or fans will run less.

Take a trip to computer store, they should have laptops on display running vista and intergrated graphic for you to see.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 20
11/5/07 at 6:13pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks~ I guess I knew that Vista runs in general, but since I'm not familiar with all of its functionality, I wasn't sure if there was a limitation or any type of specific functionality that may not work that I wasn't aware of.

And - in general - when I went to Best Buy, I was discouraged from getting a laptop with an integrated graphics card because they told me that since Vista relies so heavily on graphics that, even though I'm not a gamer, that I would run into inefficiencies in general by not having a discrete graphics card. And Best Buy actually indicated a computer with integrated graphics would run hotter because of the way an integrated graphics system would have to work *harder* than a system with discrete graphics.

I guess - is there any thing that should be influencing my choice of integrated graphics vs discrete graphics other than if I'm a gamer or not? (or video editor or some other graphics use other than Vista)


Thoughts? Thanks!
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 20
11/6/07 at 6:10pm
Vista will run fine on integrated.. But if you're someone who doesn't want any sort of choppines minimizing windows and whatnot, you're going to want the dedicated card..

I have an m1330, with the 8400.. I love it.

I get about 3 hours on the small battery with wifi and bluetooth on, which I don't think is bad at all. The 9 cell gives 150% of the 6 cell.. So you could expect around 4.5 hours on the 9 cell..

PS, watching DVDs/videos, etc all use the video card's resources as well.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 20
11/6/07 at 10:04pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the reply!

Interesting about watching DVDs - I was almost certain that I had read that graphics card did not factor in since DVDs are 2 dimensional and not 3-D?? Am I completely off base with that statement?

I guess 3 hours seems pretty short to me. But maybe that's just because I often spend at least that at O'Hare every week waiting for my flight that's been delayed!
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 20
11/8/07 at 1:15pm
you are, most video cards now are capable of MPEG2 (DVD video) processing and DVD Player software is able to take advantage of that feature if it's present in the system.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 20
11/8/07 at 5:46pm
Wendy,

Go for the discrete graphics. It does not severely impact battery life and you will notice a difference in DVD rendering and if perchance you did decide to game later. Go with the 9 cell battery as well you will not regret it. Just my 2 cents.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 20
11/11/07 at 3:50pm
This is an interesting question, since the Intel integrated graphics is supposed to be significantly improved from previous generations. Does anyone out there have the integrated chips and notice a difference in performance or battery life?
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 20
11/13/07 at 11:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ash359 View Post
This is an interesting question, since the Intel integrated graphics is supposed to be significantly improved from previous generations. Does anyone out there have the integrated chips and notice a difference in performance or battery life?
I have never seen iIntegrated vs discrete graphics make a significant impact on battery life. Sure, there is a difference, but the difference is rather minor. The largest impact on battery life is to pick a laptop with strong battery life. So if battery life is a significant issue, then you should be looking at the laptop model or battery size that is chosen.

Worrying about how a GPU affects battery life is like worrying about whether 21" or 22" tires give you better gas mileage on a Ford Explorer... if gas mileage was really that big of a factor, then you wouldn't have picked the Ford Explorer in the first place.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 20
11/13/07 at 9:37pm
I have an Inspiron 1420 with integrated graphics and the 9 cell battery and I can get up to 10 hours of battery life. I can also watch DVD's fine. One thing to note though is that my laptop shipped with vista and I removed it and installed XP. Vista does use graphics but you can turn of Aero and you can also change some of the visual themes if you don't care so much about eye candy.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 20
11/13/07 at 10:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stuckinasquare3 View Post
I have an Inspiron 1420 with integrated graphics and the 9 cell battery and I can get up to 10 hours of battery life. I can also watch DVD's fine. One thing to note though is that my laptop shipped with vista and I removed it and installed XP. Vista does use graphics but you can turn of Aero and you can also change some of the visual themes if you don't care so much about eye candy.
Xp gives better idle battery savings due to not running that much graphics and memory. I ran xp on my vostro it does better than vista.

As goes for intergrated vs dedicated, well intergrated will give better battery life when gfx is not stressed. First indication of is that system with intergrated produces less heat.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 20
11/25/07 at 9:16pm
Does anybody know what's the actual WEIGHT difference between M1330 with integrated or M1330 with dedicated graphic card ?
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 20
12/13/07 at 1:24pm
The weight difference is very minimal at best, maybe 4 or 5 hundred grams difference or less.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 20
12/14/07 at 11:25pm
im gona be buying the 1330 also and was wondering if the 8400 will be able to handle hd dvd (im gonna use my xbox 360 player). can the 8400 handle it?
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 20
12/15/07 at 11:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kent1146 View Post
Yes.
looks like they got your answer in another thread
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 20
1/1/08 at 3:19am
I would go with the dedicated graphics card over the integrated graphics. One reason would be that if your graphics card goes out it is not as expensive to fix (i.e., repacing the card) as it would be if the integrated graphics goes out (i.e., requiring a mother board replacement).

Paul
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 20
1/2/08 at 2:30pm
The 8400m in the 1330 is soldered to the mainboard. 3.5 to 4 hrs with the x3100 integrated in my 1420 with the 6 cell battery.Surprized me by the game performance.Runs FSX on lowest settings at 1280x800 at15-20 frames per second.Of course at low settings it looks like FS2002!Also ran the Tiger Woods 2008 demo very nice no studdering at good framerate.This with the latest 15.7 driver package from Intel.Graphics driver 7.14.10.1364.I really didn't expect to be able to run any modern games(I use my m170) but the 1420 does OK.You must use the Sept.or newer drivers to allow hardware vertex and pixal shaders with the Intel x3100 integrated.
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 20
1/3/08 at 3:09pm
I think I am going with the dedicated graphics in the 1330 simply for peace of mind and better DVD performance.
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 20
1/6/08 at 7:36pm
hey guys. new to the forum, just ordered one of the XPS m1330s from the outlet store w/ the techbargains coupon the other day.

So, I ended up NOT getting the the discrete video card. my use will be mainly for school (office apps, browsing, email, dvds, etc) but i do like the occasional game.

so that brings me to 2 questions:

1) will i be able to run most games w/ the integrated graphics (accepting there will probably be loss of performance issues)

2) is it possible to swap the graphics card or add an additional graphics card?

(for your info, i got the 2.2 ghz core 2 duo processor with 4GB ram).

Thanks for all the help/info. figured this was better than starting a whole other thread. sorry for the hijack if this isn't kosher.
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 20
1/6/08 at 7:51pm
1) Your ability to play games will be severely hampered. The 8400M is a significant step up from the integrated graphics, and even the 8400M has problems playing many modern games at anything above low or medium graphics. I'd be doubtful of your ability to game at all with integrated graphics.

2) No, you cannot upgrade or swap your graphics card in any way. What you have is what you get.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Dell Forums › Dell Business (Vostro, Latitude, Precision) › XPS 1330 Integrated vs Discrete Graphics