Introduction

I recently purchased an HP Pavilion dv2000t with a Core Duo T2250 processor and the Nvidia GeForce Go 7200 graphics option (plus 1 GB of RAM, and 80 GB hard drive, and Combo optical drive). I thought people might be curious to see a couple of benchmarks for both the CPU and the graphics.

For comparison, I also tested a Mac mini running Windows XP via Bootcamp. The Mac mini has a Core Duo T2300 and Intel GMA 950 graphics, so it provides an interesting comparison for those curious to see how the Core Duo T2250 stacks up with its 533 Mhz system bus (compared to the T2300's 667 Mhz bus) and also how the Nvidia 7200 graphics compare to integrated graphics.

Results

3dmark03 (Demo version, 1024x768, default settings)
GeForce Go 7200: 2738
Intel GMA 950: 1796

3dmark05 (Demo version, 1024x768, default settings)
GeForce Go 7200: 1510
Intel GMA 950: (not tested)

Sandra Lite 2007 Processor Arithmetic
Core Duo T2250: 11796 (Dhrystone) 8619 (Whetstone)
Core Duo T2300: 11323 (Dhrystone) 8355 (Whetstone)

Sandra Lite 2007 Processor Multimedia
Core Duo T2250: 27057 (Integer) 36838 (Floating)
Core Duo T2300: 25951 (Integer) 35131 (Floating)

Sandra Lite 2007 Memory Bandwidth
Core Duo T2250: 3310 (Integer) 3312 (Floating)
Core Duo T2300: 3636 (Integer) 3635 (Floating)

Summary

The GeForce Go 7200 graphics provide a 52% increase in 3D game performance for $25--a pretty good value. Performance is on par with an ATI Radeon X600 pro.

For a real world test, I played World of Warcraft on both systems. While WoW was playable on the Mac mini, it required settings to be at their minimum, and frame rates still dropped below 20 fps during battles. On the dv2000t, WoW can be played with medium quality settings and never drop below 30fps. That's a big difference.

So while the GeForce Go 7200 is a TurboCache part, and is less powerful than the GeForce Go 7400, it's still a big step up from integrated graphics. Do yourself a favor--spend the $25 and get it.

As for the processor...in everyday tasks you'd have a hard time telling the difference between the Core Duo T2250 and the T2300. The T2250 offers 3-5% faster processor speed (thanks to its 1.73 Ghz clock speed compared to 1.67 Ghz on the T2300). However, given its faster bus speed, the T2300 offers 10% faster memory bandwidth. So it's pretty much a wash. All in all, the T2250 is an inexpensive CPU option that will deliver excellent performance.

A few final remarks: I got the large capacity battery and can play WoW for 3 hours+ at max screen brightness, and the fans never go above a whisper. The glossy finish is pretty--and collect fingerprints like crazy. The screen is decent--better than my old v2000z, but not as bright or with as wide a viewing angle as a Sony XBRITE. All in all, for the money (less than a grand) it's been a great purchase.

I hope that helps!