New 1.d4 repertoire
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Wow, really? I picked the exchange variation, because most of the authors of QG-repertoire books say that the exchange is the most uncomfortable variation for black in the QGD. I don't know, simply because i am new in this opening, and the few games I played in this line were rather good for white I think.
In the exchange, could you really go for only one plan? I thought you have to look what your opponent does and then decide for minority attack, f3-e4 with a nice center (I also heard about a g4,0-0-0 plan. sounds interesting).
You have some choice as White if Black plays well. But if Black does not play well, you need to punish him the correct way or otherwise it might even pay off for him.
I have played the exchange/minority attack for quite some time, but stopped when I realized it just isn't very challenging. If Black knows what he is doing, he gets an equal position pretty soon, and one with imbalances I am uncomfortable with.
But hey, whatever fits you.
What Irontiger mentioned is the exact reason that most players at the higher levels don't do the Minority Attack any more, but instead play the central attack with f3 and e4, and the Knight developed to e2 instead of f3.
This line requires a wide array of pawn structure knowledge. For example, once White gets in e4, you have to deal with the following possibilities:
1) Black captures on e4, and White recaptures with a piece - This leads to an Isolated Queen Pawn position for White
2) Black captures on e4, and White recaptures with the f-pawn - This leads to a "Hanging Pawns" scenario. Hanging pawns is defined as two adjacent pawns (in this case d and e) with no other pawns to back these two up (i.e. White has no c or f pawns), and opposing side had no pawns that oppose these two hanging pawns, but will usually have pawns on the adjacent files (i.e. Black probably has c and f pawns, but specifically no d or e pawn).
3) Black leaves the Tension on the board, and White advances e5 - This leads to the Advanced Center, similar to what you would get in a French Defense
4) Black leaves the Tension on the board, and White captures on d5 - This leads once again to an IQP if Black recaptures with a piece, but more common is for Black to recapture with the c-pawn, in which case you have mutual and opposing IQPs with open c and e files.
As an added note, if you are going to play 1.d4, I would highly suggest reading the book "Winning Chess Middlegames" by Ivan Sokolov. It covers Doubled Pawns, Isolated Queen Pawns, Hanging Pawns, etc. All the stuff you would normally see with Queen Pawn Openings!
In the exchange QGD with the Nf3 you're not only limited to the minority attack. Against Be6 I feel the minority attack is less effective (even because of a rook coming to c8) so I play Ne5 and support it with f4. I don't have much OTB practice with it to be honest, but it seems good for white.