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#1 2011-03-20 16:54:56

silvik
Member
From: Bucharest/Romania
Registered: 2006-11-08
Posts: 110

new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

Finally I decided that my old computer needs to be replaced. I'll probably get a Core i3 laptop (I don't want to spend a lot because I don't use my home computer that much anymore)

I have to decide if the onboard GPU is ok for my needs or I have to get one with a dedicated GPU. I don't play games, I just need a system that runs HD movies, flash video at high bitrates and has ok linux drivers (and usual home/office usage - browsing, music, openoffice etc). As far as I understand the Core i3/5 GPUs are far better than the previous generations. Are they enough? What about linux drivers?

I hope anyone has some real life experience with this and can help me.
Many thanks.

edit: some spelling.

Last edited by silvik (2011-03-20 16:55:34)

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#2 2011-03-20 17:18:12

bangkok_manouel
Member
From: indicates a starting point
Registered: 2005-02-07
Posts: 1,556

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

use vaapi. 3-5% CPU usage playing 1080p on i3-330m with mplayer-vaapi. vaapi is a really nice piece of code.

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#3 2011-03-20 19:09:39

silvik
Member
From: Bucharest/Romania
Registered: 2006-11-08
Posts: 110

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

thanks. I had no idea about vaapi.

still, my question boils down to: is Core i3 GPU enough for non-gaming office-like usage? or is a dedicated GPU really needed?

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#4 2011-03-20 19:11:12

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

Flash only supports VDPAU, not VAAPI. Though that might change in the future. Otherwise, if you don't intend to play games released after 2005, the integrated GPU should be enough.

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#5 2011-03-20 19:15:39

silvik
Member
From: Bucharest/Romania
Registered: 2006-11-08
Posts: 110

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

thanks Gusar. looking good smile

so what about higher bitrate flash videos? are they working without shuttering now (without vaapi the CPU usage is probably higher)?

Last edited by silvik (2011-03-20 19:16:08)

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#6 2011-03-20 19:23:51

pogeymanz
Member
Registered: 2008-03-11
Posts: 1,020

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

silvik wrote:

thanks. I had no idea about vaapi.

still, my question boils down to: is Core i3 GPU enough for non-gaming office-like usage? or is a dedicated GPU really needed?


Are you serious? If on-board graphics wasn't even good enough for regular use, why would they have computers with on-board graphics at all?

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#7 2011-03-20 19:56:31

silvik
Member
From: Bucharest/Romania
Registered: 2006-11-08
Posts: 110

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

yeah, you're probably  right. I never had a system with onboard graphics until now, that's why I'm concerned about it.

it's nice to see that intel does a good job with their linux drivers, since nobody mentioned something about them.
probably I'll go with the onboard GPU then

thanks

Last edited by silvik (2011-03-20 19:57:56)

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#8 2011-03-23 21:51:00

admiralspark
Member
From: Alaska, USA
Registered: 2011-01-07
Posts: 87

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

i3's were designed for regular workloads, and outperform any celeron/pentium chip still in use. Onboard intel graphics work great as well, so don't waste your money on a dedicated graphics card if you don't need it!


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#9 2011-03-24 07:58:50

seiichiro0185
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From: Leipzig/Germany
Registered: 2009-04-09
Posts: 226
Website

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

I have a laptop with the i3-380UM. As already mentioned by the others, regular workload is no problem at all. Also mplayer-vaapi works nicely for any kind of HD-Video. For flash I use the flashplugin-prerelease (64bit version) in Firefox and I am able to play Flash up to 1080p without a problem. At least the few test-videos from youtube I threw at it worked nicely for 1080p, and I regularly watch 720p Videos from youtube without a hint of stuttering. For the record flash works even better than it did on my previous laptop which had a VDPAU-capable dedicated NVIDIA card (GF 8400GS). And a big plus over the nvidia is that the intel driver is open and supports proper xrandr for multimonitor, which is way better (IMHO) than the proprietary TwinView in the Nvidia binary driver.

Last edited by seiichiro0185 (2011-03-24 08:00:44)


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#10 2011-03-24 15:25:46

pogeymanz
Member
Registered: 2008-03-11
Posts: 1,020

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

The intel drivers aren't great. They just suck less than the other two big graphics vendors.

Intel on Windows still works way better than on Linux. I think Phoronix did some benchmarks not too long ago.

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#11 2011-03-24 18:37:21

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: new laptop - Core i3 gpu questions

Actually, Phoronix recently had a test that showed a nice improvement in the intel driver: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=a … q111&num=1
No comparison with Windows in this test, but I think it's very close now. The problem is, the hardware isn't very fast in the first place. If you're even remotely interested in games released after 2005, you go for a dedicated card. For everything else, intel graphics does the job.

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