Did I make the right choice??

[Adokimus]

OK, so my girlfriend bought an HP laptop at Best Buy last February (I hate Best Buy, but that's a diffferent story). It broke (we believe her roomate to be at fault), and fortunately she had bought the extended warranty and was able to get a replacement machine. Very long story short, she ended up having two choices (sorry folks, macbooks weren't an option):

OPTION 1 was the dv2615nr - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=product&tab=2&id=1186007267898#productdetail

or OPTION 2 was the dv2418nr - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=product&tab=2&id=1194052335043#productdetail

She didn't have much time and wanted to leave the store with a machine that day, so that put me on the spot to pick one quickly without checking any reviews, benchmarks, etc.

Here's the info I was able to quickly gather: OPTION 1 had a faster processor (1.9 Ghz vs. 1.7), twice the amount of cache memory, Altec Lansing speakers, slightly better software package, and the nvidia GeForce Go 7150M vs. the GeForce Go 6150M. HOWEVER, OPTION 2 had 2GB of RAM vs. 1GB, and up to 559MB of shared video memory vs. 287MB of shared video memory.

I chose OPTION 1. The reason was because it had a better processor and I believed the graphics to be better despite less shared memory. The only real benefit I saw to OPTION 2 was the 2 GB RAM, but I figured I can upgrade her RAM from crucial pretty inexpensively.

Did I make the right choice? Anyone familiar with the two graphics cards?

Thanks,

Ado

 

[eXan]

I think both those video cards are integrated, so it doesn't really matter. Dont bother with "VRAM"

If computer runs out of VRAM it uses main RAM, while in systems with no VRAM it doesnt matter, because they already use RAM as VRAM.

Did Option 1 cost more than option 2? I think so.

Making "a right choice" when choosing a computer is when the computer has best performance/price ratio for the particular person. If he only types documents and surfs Net, no need to get him a gaming machine, etc.

 

[SXR]

I think its a good choice. As you said , you can upgrade the machines RAM.
Overall , about the video cards: seriously , Im fed up with this computer gaming stuff. If you had taken the stronger video card , you would be screwed after some time way regarding games. There are games coming out which such high specifications that I dont know what to buy to run them. If you wanna play games, get a game console. Computer gaming is totally getting out of hand for me.

 

[clevin]

u made the RIGHT choice.
here is why
1. cpu is not an issue, .2GHz doesn't make much difference in day to day use
2. Memory is expandable, and 1G is good enough for Windows Vista Home Premium
3. 7150 is better than 6150, not much because its faster or anything (since they are all below entry level, lol), but that it might support more DX features, which might be necessary in some situations
4. shared memory is always slow, 287MB is enough, and 512 not really make much of the difference. plus. when you expand system memory. you might have the options in graphic card settings to increase the shared video memory.
5. its 649, vs 799? how come you are offered two options with different price tags?