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Hello All. I am trying to make a decision between two HP laptops which come with different processors and graphics cards. I would appreciate your input prior to spending $450.00 for one or the other. 1) HP computer with 1.9ghz (2.8ghz) quad core (A8-4500) and AMD Radeon HD 7640g graphics. Is this indeed a dedicated graphics card that could be swapped out? I get confusing details for the HP g7 laptops? 2) HP computer with 2.4ghz dual core (i3-3110) and Intel HD 4000 graphics. The i3-3110 processor scores 300 more points on Benchmark but is this a good guide to follow? I'm not a gamer nor multitasker, but would like something a little quicker than my previous 2.53mhz i3-380 which scores 1000 points lower then the 2.4ghz i3-3110 I'm considering. Will I notice much of a difference in either case? I liked my previous i3 but the computer rendered poor colors for photography....................................... ................. Thanks, Ralph
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If you are not a gamer, then go with the i3, assuming all else is the same.
I have never seen any laptop with a replaceable / upgradable video card.
What really makes a laptop feel fast is not the CPU however. It is the hard drive. You could probably drop a SSD into your old laptop and get another couple of years out of it.
The quality of the colors on the display is not determined by the CPU (or even the video card). It depends mostly on the LCD panel. But typically the high end laptops (like the Macs) have better displays. -
[QUOTE=David (PassMark);15968]If you are not a gamer, then go with the i3, assuming all else is the same."
I'm not seeing any detail in your answer that actually supports it. Is there anything you'd like to add?
"I have never seen any laptop with a replaceable / upgradable video card."
...again, not quite understanding the rationale behind your answer. Is the fact that you've never seen such a laptop mean that one doesn't exist, would never be made...that the chips in question don't come in laptops with such cards?
What just might be germane is that the chips in question have integrated graphics processors. Just maybe. And so no these particular chips would not come in laptops with upgradable GPU cards. But plenty of coreduo and core2duo laptops had upgradeable cards.Comment
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I realize this is 6 months late but I'm comparing two laptops right now, an HP with an A4-5000 and an Acer with an A8-4500 (which is how I found your comment) and aside from the fact that the first is running win 8.1-64 and the 2nd Win7-64, the A4 is quite a bit more stable and smooth than the A8 for "workstation" use. While the A8 has some technical advantages the A4 is a true 4-core chip while the A8 has two real and two "logical" cores. It seems to be quite fast...in normal "desktop" use, but in more of a "server" role (I'm trying-out Blue Iris on both) the A4 system is doing quite well while I've already locked-up the A8 once in an hour of testing. Yet another surprise in the process of setting up a home surveillance system from scratch.
I'd say the A8 is probably fine for normal use, though. The chip technically supports dual-channel memory while the A4 is a single-channel chip. Now the i3 is a different horse, but at least I can tell you about the A4 & A8, that's something.
And as I told the admin who replied to you, with integrated graphics on-chip there's little chance that a laptop based on that chip will have an upgradeable GPU module. But it's not impossible. Just check to see if the laptop is using the integrated graphics or an add-on card.Comment
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Benchmark scores will just give you a ballpark figure to work with, which is good enough for casual use but will get you into trouble when the benchmark isn't a good test for the games and apps that you need to run. Not hard to do these days...
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A-Series-A4-5000-Notebook-Processor.92867.0.html
Graphics
The SoC integrates a Radeon HD 8330 GPU with 128 shaders, which is based on the GCN architecture and clocked at 500 MHz (no Turbo). On average, the HD 8330 matches a Radeon HD 7470M or Intel HD Graphics 4000. Many recent games (as of 2013) are therefore hardly playable. However, some older or less demanding games will run fluently.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A-Series-A8-4500M-Notebook-Processor.74884.0.html
The integrated DirectX 11-compatible Radeon HD 7640G offers only 256 shader cores of the Trinity chip (7660G: 384) and, thanks to Turbo Core, will operate anywhere between 497 to 686 MHz depending on the current application demand. On average, the performance of the HD 7640G GPU is comparable to a dedicated Radeon HD 7610M and is even faster than the HD Graphics 4000 as found in Intel’s Ivy Bridge.
(it's not a true quad-core)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i3-3110M-Notebook-Processor.74459.0.html
(likewise, the i3 uses Hyperthreading)
The integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 offers 16 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 650 MHz up to 1000 MHz with Turbo Boost. Therefore, the performance is slightly below an AMD Radeon HD 6620G.
But the only way you really know for sure is to get one of each and try it running the same apps. But you could easily find that it sucks on both systems, just slightly less sucky on one than the other.Last edited by touristguy87; Mar-31-2014, 06:34 AM.Comment
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If you read the original post, the person stated that they aren't a gamer. So the video card / chip is largely irrelevant to the discussion. They also don't multi-task. So multi-core isn't very important either. Making your points mute (for the original poster).
In single threaded tasks the Intel Core i3-3110M whips the the A8-4500M
The i3 will also use less power, need less cooling and have longer battery life. So as stated, all else being equal the i3 is a better choice.
See,
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
As for upgradable video cards in a laptop. It will well known that the vast majority of laptop's video can't be upgraded, without a compete motherboard replacement. If you think any different then you are just out of touch with what's available in the market.Comment
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