In any case, as mentioned, the graphics are the weak point to the system. I can play Borderlands pretty well on near minimal specs and output video onto my 42" HDTV (via HDMI) without much problems (slight stuttering every now and again, but mostly good), so at least the GPU deserves the "HD" in its name. Fifa of course should prove no problem (although I've not played any since earlier in the decade). Technically however, it's about 25% weaker than the ATI HD4500 range (which itself is fairly low in the HD4 scale), so don't expect to be able to run many of the modern games from it - it was never designed for gaming. Just an example - I can't get Mass Effect 1 to run off it no matter what I tried.
I figured as much. Luckily I dont do PC gaming much, and as I mentioned earlier, my i7 desktop will handle that if needed. I'm probably most interested in the video quality I get when watching/editing movies or any videos I have.
Any idea if the graphics is 512MB or 1GB? It said something like (1696MB of shared graphics memory) but I'm sure its not 1.5GB graphics.. right?
Originality said:
The only problem I've had so far is that attempting to update the Intel GMA drivers causes the laptop to stop recognising the laptop screen, forcing me to output onto a monitor or TV. I can always roll-back the drivers to get back to the stock drivers, but it's annoying that an update exists that it can't use. Maybe your HP DM4 will have better luck.
Heh, yeah I know that feeling.. good luck with that
QUOTE(Originality @ Jul 21 2010, 01:45 PM) On a side note, the difference between 5400RPM and 7200RPM HDDs aren't actually that great. Sure, it's around 8% faster (in read/write speeds), but it's also around 10% hotter, louder, and takes more energy (I don't know the specifics for energy consumption on laptop drives). It also tends to fail around 15-20% sooner, depending on how you handle it. Early generation iPods showed how moving mechanical parts in a HDD can lead to a short life expectancy (which for Apple, meant lasting exactly as long as it took to release a new generation of iPod - a pattern they've reproduced for the iTouch and iPhone).
Well, I have never had an HDD fail on me so I feel pretty confident about this one. I have always used 5400RPM HDDs. But when I built my i7, I stuck 2 1TB caviar black HDDs 7200RPMs, and I was VERY impressed with the transfer rate.
Also I should note that during the short period of the laptop use, it didnt feel hot at all, and was very quiet (then again I'm used to high sounds so maybe I didnt notice)
ipods and iphones, really? I have a second generation ipod (or was it third?), ipod video, ipod nano, ipod touch, and a 3GS (I'm not really a fan of apple products, each product had a story for me lol). Never had a problem with any of them so far. In fact, I'm still using the olderst ipod as an HDD (60GB only)
QUOTE(Originality @ Jul 21 2010, 01:45 PM)