Tom's Hardware > Forum > Laptops & Notebooks > General Discussion > Wait for Ivy Bridge or not?

Wait for Ivy Bridge or not?

Forum Laptops & Notebooks : General Discussion Wait for Ivy Bridge or not?

I'm looking to buy a new laptop and with the Ivy Bridge CPUs coming out in 2 months, I'm trying to decide whether or not to wait for them or to just get it now. I've read that the IB CPUs will be more powerful and also use less battery power, which is obviously important for a laptop.

The main purposes of the laptop would be for taking notes/doing homework in college and entertainment between classes(gaming would be included). Normally I'd be a pc guy, but the battery life of a macbook has been tempting me quite a bit. For a desktop I'd definitely go pc, but I have to say I like what I've seen from putzing around on a display copy. I'm also aware that it may be considerably longer for a macbook to come out with an Ivy Bridge CPU.

Any opinions and comments would be appreciated.

Reply to TRH_Cyclist

Well if you are looking to just use the integrated graphics core instead of a discrete card, then you are better off waiting for Ivy Bridge.

The Intel HD 3000 graphics core in Sandy Bridge CPU is basically equal to a DX10.1 version of the desktop Radeon HD 5450. The Intel HD 4000 will be a DX11 graphics core, and if Anandtech is correct about a 60% improvement in performance, then it will be as powerful as a desktop Radeon HD 5550 (more or less). Believe it or not, the HD 5550 is a big step up from the HD 5450 when you are talking about budget video cards.

Click the following link for a review of the Radeon HD 5550 against a HD 5450.

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/ [...] dr5-review

If battery life is important take a look at the ASUS U36 and U31 series. They claim of up to 10 hours of battery life (and for video/office work they get damn close @ ~ 9hours 40 mins according to reviews)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230184

That GT520M won't be very good for gaming however. If you want to game you'll need at least a Radeon 6650M or NVidia GT540M. I doubt that the Macs would have this kind of grunt!

Reply to ukee1593

15" and 17" MacBook Pros can be configured with up to a Radeon HD 6770M. Then there the price of a MacBook to consider.

The 13" MacBook is stuck with integrated Intel HD 3000.

Im in the same boat. There's a nice Lenovo laptop on special right now that i can get for around 720 with i7,550m,8gb ram, 7200 rmp hd, and other decent stuff but i've decided to wait. Worst case scenario i have to wait till around black Friday this year for a laptop with a new processor,win8,and maybe a new gpu. Still, it all depends on you. do you NEED a new laptop now or can it wait?

Reply to Aerohitman

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