Buying a New Laptop. Help needed deciding.

[alex228]

My girlfriend is getting a new laptop and wants something really fast. I was looking at the Dell's and two that caught my eye were the XPS M1710 and the Inspiron E1705. I was doing tests for about an hour or so and realized that the Inspiron could match the XPSM1710 in hardware except for the graphics card. This are the settings I was able to achieve with the Inspiron 1705:

- Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (4MB Cache/2.00GHz/667MHz FSB)
- 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife
- 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
- 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
- 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
- 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
-Hi-Speed Wireless Bundle: Dell Draft N Wireless and Bluetooth
-Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD Software Edition

And if I get the 1yr warranty it comes out around 1900 + tax

Those same settings with the XPS but with the 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX cost about 1 thousand more. The inspiron doesnt let you upgrade to the GTX which I would upgrade if I could. Another reason for the high price is because the XPS doesnt let you lower the warranty from 2yrs. She'll be using this for school, entertainment and gaming(Gaming is for me) Her dad is buying this for her as a college graduating present and was lookig around 2100. She just wants a REALLY fast computer and since gaming laptops usually tend to be the fastest then she could get it gaming rigged. I think the 7900 GS should be enough but Im not sure since I've never seen it in use.

I was just wondering which you guys think she should buy. Do you guys think 1gig is enough or 2 might do better. She wants this laptop to last a while so we though we'd get something very good for now.

let me know what u guys think.
Thanks
Alex

 

[dasickninja]

Sup,
I've got nothing against the Dells, but HP gives you more bang for your buck.
For $1879.99 I made a dv9000t with a:
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (2.0 GHz)
17.0" WXGA+ BrightView Widescreen
512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600
2.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024MB)
200 GB 5400 RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (100 GB x 2)
8x LightScribe DVD+/-RW w/Double Layer
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network w/Bluetooth
ExpressCard/54 slot
5:1 digital media card reader
1 HDMI port
S-video TV out
1 VGA port
Altec-Lansing stereo speakers
Integrated consumer IR (with remote)
System Recovery DVD w/Windows XP Media Center

Tell me what you think.

 

[BigguN]

I havent seen him around in a while, but I had been hearing good things about www.killernotebooks.com go check them out. I would buy them before dell or hp.. but thats just me.

 

[Messer]

Don't buy Dell. I have 3... their price competitiveness and customer service is now dog shit. 3 years ago I couldn't stop singing Dell's praises. Now, you can't understand what the Indian tech support guy is telling you, the prices are out of this world, and their customer service comes in the form of transferring you to the "right department" ad nauseum.

FUCK DELL. Buy elsewhere.

 

[scorpiious]

my laptop is the dv5000, this thing can run any possible game at good settings. And it costs alot less too.

you can get a 2.2 ghz turion, 2 gig rametc.. i recommend it


http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?series_name=dv5000z_series&catLevel=3&category=notebooks/hp_pavilion/dv5000_series&storeName=computer_store

 

[shadowflit]

I have E1705 and am plenty happy with it. The only thing I would make sure to get is the 'real' xp reinstall disk for 10$ more so you can wipe all the junkware away. I have a Go 7800, and its plenty for gaming. You won't be getting the 1920x1200 resolution out of Oblivion or anything, but it plays fine. Oh, and I have 2gig ram - which I would consider just b/c 1 gig is more the baseline recommendation now (in my opinion).

Also between XPS and Inspiron - I chose Inspiron partially just because it didn't have all the flashy effects. Flashy seems like it would be more tempting to steal.

 

[dmantech]

Yeah! Hp will give you more bang for your buck, just like someone said here.
I just got mine in the mailit's a customized model (dv6000z )
with X2 turion 1.6Ghz, 2gigs Ram 7200 go 256MB dedicated and this thing can run just about any game at 1280x800 smoothly even Unreal2k4 and other latest titles. If you can afford X2 2.2Ghz turion get it and make sure you get 2gigs of RAM.

 

[will14]

I agree to get 2 gb of ram.
I however might suggest seeing if you can save by getting 1gb 1x1gb then buying 1 gb separate.
This is what I had done with my old laptop.
Got a 512 stick with it.
Then bought a gig for 80$
That was ddr a year ago though.

 

[bliq]

My girlfriend is getting a new laptop and wants something really fast. I was looking at the Dell's and two that caught my eye were the XPS M1710 and the Inspiron E1705. I was doing tests for about an hour or so and realized that the Inspiron could match the XPSM1710 in hardware except for the graphics card. This are the settings I was able to achieve with the Inspiron 1705:

- Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (4MB Cache/2.00GHz/667MHz FSB)
- 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife
- 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
- 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
- 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
- 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
-Hi-Speed Wireless Bundle: Dell Draft N Wireless and Bluetooth
-Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD Software Edition

And if I get the 1yr warranty it comes out around 1900 + tax

Those same settings with the XPS but with the 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX cost about 1 thousand more. The inspiron doesnt let you upgrade to the GTX which I would upgrade if I could. Another reason for the high price is because the XPS doesnt let you lower the warranty from 2yrs. She'll be using this for school, entertainment and gaming(Gaming is for me) Her dad is buying this for her as a college graduating present and was lookig around 2100. She just wants a REALLY fast computer and since gaming laptops usually tend to be the fastest then she could get it gaming rigged. I think the 7900 GS should be enough but Im not sure since I've never seen it in use.

I was just wondering which you guys think she should buy. Do you guys think 1gig is enough or 2 might do better. She wants this laptop to last a while so we though we'd get something very good for now.

let me know what u guys think.
Thanks
Alex

I'm still a big Dell fan, since I find that they are more customizable than the others.

If you look around, you can often get a $750 off $1499 coupon from Dell Home. Use that, get the 7900GS which is pretty capable, and get a killer notebook with 2GB of RAM, 100GB 7.2k HDD, etc.

BUT, if this is for school, and there's a need to actually carry it around, It's hard to recommend ANY 17" notebook. They are heavy and bulky, and no offense to the women out there, but it's worse for most girls since they're statistically not as big and heavy as boys (thank god).

If you're carrying the full kit, even with a relatively light E1705, you're carrying 10lbs of gear, not including books, etc. The M1710 is about 1.5 lbs heavier than that.

I'd be more looking at an E1505 which is a much more reasonable 6-7lbs total. You can get the same fast procs in a E1505 that you can in a 1705, save money too. Just can't get the best video. IF there was a 15.4 in widescreen notebook with a 7900GS/GT/GTX in it, I would have bought it by now. But I can't find one that exists. The guy from killernotebooks.com mentioned that he believed the card would not physically fit in a 15.4 chassis form factor (and still have space for other important things like a motherboard).