[Aishenne]

Hi guys, I'm planning to get a laptop, and need some advice on deciding which one to get.

I'm primarily going to use the laptop for gaming purposes, with some other tasks like image editing (photoshop).

I have two laptops in mind:
Sony FW Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 Processor 2.53GHz 4GB 320GB 16.4"
http://www.tipidpc.c...php?iid=3799138

HP DV7 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 2.0GHz 6GB 500GB 17.3" ATI Mobility Radeon HD46
http://www.tipidpc.c...php?iid=4019852

At first I was excited about the quad-core laptop going for just a few bucks more than the core2duo, but then I searched the net and found comments about some applications not really being able to utilize the quadcore, and that ultimately the quadcore at 2.0ghz will be performing slower than the core2duo. (http://www.tomshardw...intel-quad-core)

Is that really the case? Should I go for the core2duo instead? However, the video memory of the quadcore is 1gb, while that of the core2duo is only 512mb. Also RAM of the quadcore is 6gb, while that of the core2duo is 4gb. Will that in turn compensate for the 2.0ghz cpu speed?

Should I be considering the vid memory + RAM instead of the cpu speed? Or vice versa? And how do I know if my apps can indeed use the quad core or not?

So it's Quad Core (2.0ghz) with 1gig vid memory & 6gb RAM vs Core2Duo (2.53ghz) with 512 vid memory and 4gb RAM.

Please help clarify , and if possible suggest which is the better choice. (I would also love to hear suggestions on other models with similar specs and price range, and more sony laptop vs hp laptop analysis on other features.)

Thanks a lot guys!

Edited by Aishenne, 16 September 2009 - 12:53 AM.

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I may not be one of the experts here, but I'd definitely go for the quad. A lot of programs may not be able to take full advantage of all 4 cores, but it's a huge help in multitasking. Plus, as time goes on, more and more programs will be optimized for multiple cores.

[L.Martofel]

I may not be one of the experts here, but I'd definitely go for the quad. A lot of programs may not be able to take full advantage of all 4 cores, but it's a huge help in multitasking. Plus, as time goes on, more and more programs will be optimized for multiple cores.

[Aishenne]

Hi, thanks for the advice as of now I'm really more inclined towards the quad.

Any more suggestions are very welcome .

[09mlb86]

yeah, I would go for the quad as well. I was looking on steam just yesterday and some games are recommending quad cores. I actually just gave my old core2duo system away, built a new corei7 w/ 2 ATI 5870's in Xfire... but the processor was my bottleneck for world in conflict. again I would go for the Quad core.

Hope you enjoy your new system, what ever the choice!