Is it worth it?

[lx_lew]

I want to buy a new laptop, for bluray movies and gaming, and need to decide on several things. First of all, the processor. Is upgrading from i-7 720 (2.8 GHz, 6 MB Cache) to i-7 820 (3.06 GHz, 8 MB Cache) worth its $350? Also, what amount of RAM is recommended for bluray movies and gaming.

Also, I am deciding whether to buy the Dell Studio XPS 16 or the Dell Studio 15. I need this laptop for both school and bluray and gaming. Is it worth the extra $200-$500?

Thanks.

 

[enzo matrix]

No. The price difference is certainly not worth it. The difference in price between laptop CPUs is way too much for the performance benefit.

2GB of memory will let you play modern games like COD4 and COD6 easily with games like crysis with settings on medium (assuming 1920x1080 resolution) (also assuming your video card can handle it). 4GB will let you max out crysis and add a bit of AA (again, if your video card can keep up). Blu ray movies? 2GB assuming windows 7?

Since you didn't provide links, I looked them up on the Dell website. The studio 15 comes with either a 4500 intel or a radeon 4570. The xps 16 comes with a radeon 4670. When looking at desktops, I recommend a 4670 as absolute minimum for pleasurable gaming. Links to the exact models you are looking at would help.

Just out of curiousity, why do you want to use the laptop for gaming? I mean, if you have the $1600 for a the highest configuration you are looking at, you have the $500 for a good school laptop, $900 for an awesome gaming system that would blow any laptop away and $200 for a good monitor for that system that you could also plug into the laptop for increased school productivity at home. A $500 gaming system would be a lot better than that $1600 laptop at gaming.

 

[lx_lew]

No. The price difference is certainly not worth it. The difference in price between laptop CPUs is way too much for the performance benefit.

2GB of memory will let you play modern games like COD4 and COD6 easily with games like crysis with settings on medium (assuming 1920x1080 resolution) (also assuming your video card can handle it). 4GB will let you max out crysis and add a bit of AA (again, if your video card can keep up). Blu ray movies? 2GB assuming windows 7?

Since you didn't provide links, I looked them up on the Dell website. The studio 15 comes with either a 4500 intel or a radeon 4570. The xps 16 comes with a radeon 4670. When looking at desktops, I recommend a 4670 as absolute minimum for pleasurable gaming. Links to the exact models you are looking at would help.

Just out of curiousity, why do you want to use the laptop for gaming? I mean, if you have the $1600 for a the highest configuration you are looking at, you have the $500 for a good school laptop, $900 for an awesome gaming system that would blow any laptop away and $200 for a good monitor for that system that you could also plug into the laptop for increased school productivity at home. A $500 gaming system would be a lot better than that $1600 laptop at gaming.

I want to build my own custom gaming desktop when I get the money. Also, I like the Studio XPS 16's design