Nvidia Ion or AMD Fusion

Hello all, it has been a very long time since I posted in here.

I am now in my second semester of college as an engineering student, and require a laptop for my programming class. The compiler I'm using is basic: Bloodshed Dev C++, and I'm sure any old laptop could run it. However, I am also an avid Minecraft player, and whenever I'm at a friend's house or out of town, I am jealous of my friends playing minecraft on their laptops while I have to wait to get home to my home built system.

My problem is this: I am constrained on a budget. $500 would be my max, and I will not settle for Intel HD graphics, because they simply blow. I have always been interested in Nvidia Ion, and it was my first choice, but now I'm not so sure. Has anyone ever tried the AMD fusion versus Nvidia? I am aware the CPUs are comparable, but the GPUs I am out of touch because I haven't been keeping up with current tech.

The netbooks in question are the Asus 1215n and the Asus 1215b. Both are ~400-450, and both have about 6 hours of battery life.

Any advice would be appreciated.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 905-4.html

It seems like the Fusion does better in CPU focused games so it might be the better choice for Minecraft.

I should point out you could find an amd a6 or a8 apu laptop for under 500. They have much better igp than any other laptop.