4:3 with better graphics or widescreen with OK graphics?

GeForge? Hmmm...

Anyway, why is the x600 inferior though? I don't know much about notebook graphics but judging from nVidia and ATI's naming schemes shouldn't those parts be about equivalent?

AS far as your origional question, it looks like you want to know if it'll be better to have the better graphics & a smaller screen, or a bigger screen Y lesser graphics. Well the answer to that is two fold. First, what are you going to be using it for and second, the screen is all a matter of personal taste. Some people love wide over 4:3, some hate it and some are somewhere in between.

The wide screen is supposed to be more comfortable since it's aspect ration is closer to that of your field of vision. ALso, it lets you have multiple documents open side by side. The specs of a 14" wide mean that it is substantially shorter than the 14" 4:3, meaning it'll be easier to open and use in an airplane, and the whole lappy is all around smaller and easier to transport.

The graphics card in the tecra appears to be an underclocked 6600 (for heat & power consumption reasons). I recall reading that the 6600 (the normal version) is supposed to be substantialy almost twice as good as the x600. Whether the 6600TE performance will be less than the x600 is something you'd have to go through the bechmarks people have left in the forums and check it out, but I'm guessing a 25% reduction in something that performs twice as well in the first place, should result in something that still perfoms notably better.

Now whether you will notice the difference will depend on what you are using it for and how big this difference is.

Well as a tecra m3 owner I will say I like the screen. I have the SXGA+ which runs at 1400x1050. I don't really have a problem with multiple windows. Besides, I don't know of any way you can use 2 windows at the "same exact time" so whats it matter if you have a little less space on the sides. I can understand maybe having open a browser and typing in a document but how much space do you need to copy a few quotes or notes. If its anything more wouldn't you just highlight large parts and paste it into you're document? But *you* need to decide how *you* use your computer and what kind of situations you would run into most often making one or the other more for you and what you do. As for gaming, I can tell you my experience with the 6600 so far. 3dmark 05 gave me 1434 points. That was with the default install. I reinstalled windows XP and got 73 more points. Just a shade under 1500 points. Plus I get about 65 fps in Desert Combat at highest resolution with all the settings on high. Thats about the only game I've played on it. I'm going to install UT2004 sometime soon as well and I'll post how that does too. Overall the I was very impressed by the graphics, especially seeing how small and mobile the thing is. It's so insanely small for having such good graphics. Something you don't see these days. Most laptops are big and clunky and *still* have crappy graphics capability. But don't take my opinions as an excuse to just buy one or the other. I've been thinking about getting a Tecra M3 since about january. $1900 is nothing to sneeze at and I wanted to make sure I wasn't buying an inferior or overpriced product that would have some kind of problem 2 months down the road. Whatever you decide, just make sure it's because you've considered which is best for you. Most people just buy something because of "wow" factor without really thinking about it.

My opinion

Widescreen is better. If you get a standard screen, you'll kick yourself later for it.

-Ransom

Personally, Id choose the 4:3 with better graphics If you are gaming, Graphics must be the #1 important factor, just as long as the screen isnt too small (10")

i say 4:3 with the better graphics, its very important for gaming, and besides i tend to prefer the 4:3 screens for lappy's but that is just me...no matter what the graphics are key for gaming and i would say go with that.

Get the M3.

I own one, and I love it. Then again, I'm not fond of widescreen at all (non-4:3 resolutions irk the hell out of me), and I'd take nVidia graphics over ATI any day (it was one of the reasons I chose the M3 over most other notebooks).

Besides, if it's resolution you're after, the M3 has an SXGA+ (1400x1050) option, though I'm not sure how well that would go over on a 14" screen (I went with the XGA/1024x768 version, partially for that reason, and partially because I decided to put that money into a faster CPU instead).

I just went through this process myself. I was looking at the W3V and not the M3, but the S100. In the end I decided for the regular screen format and the S100. I think g00nter's post is dead on in terms the things to think about on this subject. The widescreen 14" is better for opening on planes, and the overall laptop will be smaller in depth.

I looked at the DV1000 at a BestBuy before deciding that 14" widescreen was not going to give me enough real estate for my main needs. I needed to have a taller screen due to being able to see more vertically in mainly word processing, spreadsheets and presentation files. I also went with an SXGA+ resolution so I can get two pages up and work between them ok. Finally I think that the screen size is an important factor here. I may have been able to live with a 15" widescreen, but not 14".

Good luck..