AMD Radeon 8550 G vs. Intel 4600

[friscolives]

To start off, my main SL computer is a desktop using a graphics card. I know that is a better option than a laptop. However I am on the road a lot in my job, so its a convenience having a laptop to use when a desktop is not an option. I was looking at two lower priced computers, one has a 4th generation i3 processor and uses Intel 4600 graphics and the other is a quad core AMD A8 chip using Radeon 8550 G graphics. I was wondering which would be the best option? Both have 4 gb of memory--though both can be expanded to 8 gb.

I'm sure some higher priced laptops offer more quality, but also budget is an issue. I did see an i7 laptop (4th generation) which has 8GB of memory, but I think it also uses Intel 4600 graphics so I'm not sure if there would be a justifiable increase in graphics between the i3 and the i7 since they both use the same 4600 graphics?

Any advice would be helpful as I hope to purchase soon.

[Orca Flotta]

AMD Radeon HD 8550G

The AMD Radeon HD 8550G is a processor graphics card in the AMD Richland APUs (for example, the A8-5550M). It offers only 256 VLIW4 shader cores vs. the 384 shader cores of the 8650G. The 8550G has no dedicated graphics memory and shares the main memory with the CPU cores.

The integrated UVD3 video decoder allows for full decoding of Multi-View Codec (MVC), MPEG-4 Part 2 (DivX, xVid), MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and Adobe Flash HD videos.

According to its clock rate range of 515 - 720 MHz (or 554 - 720 MHz in an A8-5557M), performance should be only a few percentage points above a Radeon HD 7640G. Thus, the Radeon HD 8550G performs similarly to a dedicated Radeon HD 7570M. Without fast dual-channel memory, however, performance drops dramatically.

The shaders of the chip can also be used for general computing.

The APU is manufactured in 32nm and is rated at a TDP of 35 W. This allows the chip to be used in notebooks from 13- to 14-inches or larger.

 

That's from the notebookcheck site.

 

Intel HD Graphics 4600

The Intel HD Graphics 4600 (GT2) is a processor graphics card included in some of the Haswell processors of 2013. The base clock can be automatically overclocked using Turbo Boost technology.

Depending on the processor model, the base and turbo clock rates may differ greatly resulting in varying graphics performance between CPU models.

 

In comparison to the HD 4000, the graphics core has been modified extensively. The GPU supports DirectX 11.1, OpenCL 1.2 and OpenGL 4.0. It also features an improved decoder for 4K videos and the fast Quick Sync encoder.

 

According to Intel benchmarks in 3DMark 11, the HD Graphics 4600 will be up to 60 percent faster than the previous HD 4000. In our gaming benchmarks, however, the improvement was only about 30 percent. This performance boost is achieved by architectural improvements and an increased number of execution units: The GT2 version integrates 20 EUs, compared to 16 EUs for the old HD 4000. Thus, the HD 4600 not only matches some dedicated GPUs such as the GeForce GT 620M/630M, but also competes with the fastest integrated AMD GPUs like the Radeon HD 8650G.

 

Due to the 22nm 3D Tri-Gate production process, power consumption should be relatively low. The HD Graphics 4600 can be found on dual- and quad-core Haswell models in the 37 - 57 Watt TDP range.

 

And that is also from notebookcheck. I really have no idea what's better, pestilence or AIDS but for me both solutions are inacceptable.