HP 9812 vs 6871

Allo Alphalobo and welcome to the Lockergnome Forum

This sounds suspiciously like a 2-laptop situation - yours and hers

The specs. for both are very close, and as you posted, you want the lappy for gaming.

So, as Aryeh asked, what's her laptop going to be used for???

Hey there - I'm the girlfriend lol!

I am going back to school this summer to NC State and I need a good latop - BUT - I also do a little bit of gaming (Runescape) and my son does as well. He's only 12 so his gaming interests are getting more detailed as he gets older and he will most likely want to use the laptop when I'm not. Right now he is playing games like Battlenet and Runescape (no WOW yet - Mom's not sure about it for his age)

So here's my dilema - I like the better nvidia (8400) graphics card on the 6871; but I'm not sure that the Intel processor is better than the AMD.

The 17" laptop may be just too cumbersome to port around NC State for the next 2 years of a Masters program. Howerver, I do sort of like the idea of having a big screen to look at. But the 17" while having the AMD processor also has the lower graphics card.

17" - Amd processor (is it better?), 7150 nvidia, 1 pound heavier and bulkier, nice roomy screen.

15" - Intel processor (is it better), 8400 nvidia, lighter, smaller screen.

The 15" costs $30 more (879 vs 849).

I did a comparison of both products at the HP website as well and I really am on the fence. I don't know much about AMD but the processing "speed" seems higher but the L2 cache is smaller than the Intel.

I just really dont know which to choose.

Allo Stargatecat

There's 2 schools of thought as to the AMD/Intel superiority question

One group reckons that AMD is superior to Intel for 'general purpose' uses, t'other group reckon Intel is better for gaming. One point to note though, is that AMD processors generally tend to run a lot cooler than Intel, an are a lot more tolerant of excessive heat. AMD's just run slower, whereas Intel tend to shut down, when they get too hot!!! Either way, laptops mostly get too warm to actually sit on your lap for long

If you're going to be lugging a laptop around between classes etc., that 1Lb will certainly make a noticeable difference by the end of the day, especially if you take a few accessories with it - charger/mains power supply, external devices etc.

While the 17" screen is nicely spacious, you can easily live with a 15" screen, it makes a lot of difference to the actual size/weight, when carrying. Bulky objects can be just as hard to lug around, as heavy ones.

At the end of the day though, the final decision is down to you

Thanks for your comment - I get mixed data when I start to research the diff between AMD and Intel. All I can seem to come up is 1) there seem to be ppl either waaay in the Intel camp or waaay in the AMD camp (worse than politics on some webpages), and 2) the processors seem very similar in speed they just seem to work differently (Intel less FSB larger L2 - AMD more FSB less L2).

But speaking as a "noob" (my son's lingo), I may be envisioning this too simplistically. Someone said the larger FSB causes less "bottlenecks" which I can see having advantages - but perhaps thats why the Intel has the larger L2 cache? So maybe thats how the performance evens out between the 2?

So they both get you there, but take a different path and as long as the processor models are similar capacity (in this case AMD Turion Dual Core TL-60 and Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 - which seem to be "similar") then it seems the performance difference may not be visible to the naked eye - lol. I have also seen both processors get accused of being better for gaming.

At that point most comparison tests that I have looked at either seem brand biased - or else it all boils down to the peripherals, so to speak. In other words a better graphics card will out perfom a lesser one, price issues, etc.

Yeah so the new mathetaical equation should probably look something like this:

Age of Owner x the Number of Times She ACTUALLY went to the Gym
The weight and dimensions of the prospective laptop

(Yeah and the numerator probably has a 45 in it someplace . . )

And I know I'm probably misusing some the technical terms here - Sorry

Hello,

Rather than worry overmuch about the specs, I would suggest taking a closer look at the usage scenarios. If you are going to be moving the notebook computer between multiple locations, loading it into a backpack and unloading, setting it up when you get home, et cetera, then I think portability and ease of transport would trump any performance advantages the larger notebook has.

Conversely, if you are not going to be moving the notebook computer around that often--say, just a few times a week, and only to a classroom or two--then it might make more sense to go with the larger system.

One thing I do not recall seeing mentioned was battery life. Is this is an issue for you? If so, which unit has a longer battery runtime?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Another take: a small screen with a fast graphics card can look very good. A large screen with a slow graphics card can look very bad, as the slow card artifacts seem to be magnified.

I'd definitely go for the smaller screen as the device will be carried around. I suspect the computer speed differenences will hardly be noticable if they exist at all.