Buying A Laptop

[Pummel]

Alrighty then. So I'm selling my desktop and purchasing a laptop because APPARENTLY, according to the parents, we're moving to France for a year(DONT FUCKING ASK WHY, AND NO I DONT WANT ANY FUCKING ESCARGO), and lugging around my PC would be a bit of a hassle. I'll be wanting to do some gaming with this laptop, and since I wont be upgrading for a while, I thought I should probably get something rather powerful.
So I went to the dell website and went through the customize your own process.

Below is the laptop that I intend to buy, it should be $1,279 canadian.
Do you think this is a good choice, and a good deal for its price?

PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (4MB cache/2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB), English
OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition, English
SYSTEM COLOUR: Midnight Blue Color with Microsatin Finish
LCD DISPLAY: Glossy, high contrast, widescreen 17.0 inch display (1440 x 900)
MEMORY: 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 Dimm

HARD DRIVE: 120G 5400RPM SATA HDD
GRAPHICS CARD: 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
OPTICAL DRIVE: 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
WIRELESS CARD: Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Mini-Card
HARDWARE SERVICES: 1 Year Return to Depot Service and Technical Support
ONLINE DATA STORAGE: DataSafe Online Backup 3GB (included with price)
BATTERY OPTIONS: 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
SOUND OPTIONS: Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition


Edit: Oh, and yes, I do realize that 1gb of ram isn't much, but unlike the other components, I can upgrade it any time I like.

[WuTang420]

if u wanna game ur gonna want 256mb video, other than that looks nice

[kthx]

Th-Th-Throw some D:'s on that bitch.


But serious :Laptopbot:!sub Windows Vista:Windows XP

[Ewan]

Try and get 2GB RAM and a better graphics card. I've heard the 8600 is pretty poo, so I doubt the 8400 is any good. I'm not clued up on what the available graphics options for a laptop are though. Ignore wark, Vista is fine.

EDIT: Yeah the 8400 is pretty crappy, even then 6600 beats it. http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...ist.844.0.html Try and get a 7900GS or something. Remember, don't JUST consider Dell.

[a21ozcoldcup]

Yeah *agree* the video card seems a bit lacking. Definitely move up to a better one. Look at the options they give you and just drop the money for the best one-it's worth it.

More importantly, either install a copy of XP as soon as you get it or buy at least 2 gig of RAM now. Much to my bank accounts dissapointment I recently bought Dells highest end laptop and it came with Vista.. I figured hey with the power I got up in this shizzle I should be just fine. .. .. holy god Vista sucks up RAM! And it's still so very buggy...

Now I only bought 2 gig of RAM, because like you, I knew it could be upgraded... and I could still play stuff at max graphics but sometimes it would clip or sound would crackle or just generally act tweaky. Still too many beta drivers out there and damnit, it eats RAM like terrs eat greens..

Instead I installed XP.. and after you install all the service packs for XP .. it's a truly beautiful, smooth as hell OS. And my games..? I no longer run beta drivers on stuff... I get to push my video card just as hard but now more options are available.. no bugs.. it's just all around friggin awesome.

So while I ranted a bit.. lesson here.. Vista is a good OS.. but if you're doing any sort of gaming (especially on a laptop) steer clear for now. Give it some time to grow into the role.. more hardware to be supported.

[D1st0rt]

don't forget that euros run different voltages to their wall outlets

[a21ozcoldcup]

don't forget that euros run different voltages to their wall outlets

True. Though if you check your power adapter on a laptop you'll find a great deal of them convert from the Euro voltage to whatever it needs... not a guarantee.. but could save you a few bucks, then you'll just need the little plastic doohickey at the end of it instead.

[Pummel]

It's the build it your own shit, so I only got 3 video card options.

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 [Included in Price]
128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS [add $100 or $2/month1]
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT [add $200 or $5/month1]

And I've been looking up some benchmarks the 8400 gs seems pretty nice. I currently have a 6600 GT for my PC and the 8400 is just a tad behind it.

[Scurvy]

MacBook

[Ewan]

It's the build it your own shit, so I only got 3 video card options.

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 [Included in Price]
128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS [add $100 or $2/month1]
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT [add $200 or $5/month1]

And I've been looking up some benchmarks the 8400 gs seems pretty nice. I currently have a 6600 GT for my PC and the 8400 is just a tad behind it.

Well, a new graphics card that is "a tad behind" a 3 year old highmid-range card isn't really something you want in a "gaming laptop". Try phoning them see if you can fudge something different, and remember, there's other laptop manufacturers than Dell.

Also, re: OMG VISTA EATS RAM, people don't seem to get it... this is a good thing. It's using RAM which would otherwise be sitting there doing nothing to pre-load commonly used programs and other stuff. As soon as a program needs this RAM, it releases it. 2GB+ is definitely the way to go (if you're planning on getting 4GB+, make sure you get 64-bit). Also, it doesn't seem to be that buggy to me TBH, sure there's problems with old hardware, but any new semi-decent hardware is going to be fine and as you're getting a new laptop, it's not going to come with hardware that doesn't have Vista driver support.

[Pummel]

XP or Vista, I don't give a shit.

I can run most newer games with my 6600 gt..but I think you're right I should probably get something better than the 8400 gs since I can't upgrade it ever.

[MirrorriM]

I dont know about laptops, but when I was getting my customizable Dell PC they also gave me only "okay" graphics card options. I called and asked if I could choose a different one and they said no. Perhaps try customizing the next higher up laptop and then downgrading all the preselected options to what you want so it isnt as expensive to see if you can get a better graphics card.

[Pummel]

Okay so I've decided to go with the 8600m GT..after looking at some benchmarks, it's ABOUT the equivalent of the Geforce go 7900 gs.

[Cops]

fuck mac books,

[Scurvy]

fuck mac books,

fuck you.