Laptop for Uni

[Tabris]

So gaming performance on the Vostro is obviously quite a bit better. But I was just wondering, with the Mobility graphics cards, if I remember properly, they're modular so you can change them around? Am I right in thinking that it would be possible to change the 8400GS for a 8600GS or something at a later date? Which I should assume would void any warranty. That is, if it laptop cards are easy to obtain.

How big is the Vostro in comparison to the M1330, in both weight and size, I know the measurements, but I just want to know what you think from a personal perspective.

[staffsMike]

the m1330's graphics is not upgradeable and i don't think the 8600 is either but i might be wrong.

laptops with the 8700gt can be changed I believe.

the m1330 is a lot lighter than the vostro, easiest way to think about it is the xps can be picked up and moved in one hand comfortably but the vostro would need two hands really.

The xps is a lot thinner and can just be put in a sleeve (comes with a nice xps one) and then slotted in a bag which makes it a lot more portable.

[charleski]

Don't plan on upgrading any laptop graphics card. The use of modular components is merely a way to cut production costs.

[megajames]

Just thought I'd say - I'm going for the vostro 1500 for first year at uni. Tomorrow, in fact, I plan to be phoning (I've read numerous times to phone dell and haggle). I am, however, concerned about the delay Dell seems to have atm - we may end up laptopless for a bit I think!

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=113342 is the thread on Dell haggling btw, if you haven't seen it

[staffsMike]

My mate ordered

1.8
2gb ram
120gb HDD
1440 x 900 true life
6 cell battery

he had it 5 days later..no delays at the moment

[megajames]

Now that's some good news.

[Tabris]

Leaning more towards the M1330, just wondering if anyone knows if there is a similar laptop with a slightly better graphics card for a little bit less?

staffsMike, would you be able to show me a screenshot of CSS from your M1330? And if possible one from your friends Vostro, and any other games that both of you play?

[unreal]

I just got a Vostro 1500 so I might aswell give my 2 cents...

I ordered and haggled the Dell guy down to £704 delivered for whats on my system thing on the side. Originally I was going to get a Rizeon FL90 but this was £120 cheaper and came with bluetooth, flash module, 40gb more HDD space, an operating system, and it has good media keys on it like vol up and down which I don't think the Rizeon had... so getting the Vostro was a no brainer.

Customer service was superb despite me being a right prat and keep on calling the dude to change things such as change Vista Business to Home Premium. But after the order went through, it only took 7 days to get to my house - considering within that there was a bank holiday, and I ordered JUST before the weekend so it must have had a slow start.

I got the 1440x900 res screen which is notorious for having graininess with the AUO panels... which is what I got. But the whole grainy screen issue has been blown entirely out of proportion and its a beautiful screen - perhaps not the best around as the Philips/LG panels apparently rule over all but its definately very nice... compared to my Dell 2005FPW it's definately a step up.

Build quality is very nice, apparently the underneath of these keys are coated in mylar for light spills/drips/junk etc, and the shell is coated in magnesium alloy which could explain the startling weight of the thing. Don't get me wrong, it's not like carrying a fat man with you all the time but it's quite heavy for a 15" laptop. There's only one exhaust slot which is on the left and draws air right where your left leg is So when gaming its best to give it some room or play on a flat surface or something. Only when gaming or stress does this thing turn on the fan, in my fairly warm room, like for example while typing, web browsing and listening to music the fan doesn't go on at all, its just very lightly warm there.

One gripe I have is that there is quite a significant amount of audio noise in the headphone port, regardless of the volume which seems to act upon the activity of your CPU and HDD... it's like what you would hear if the CPU and HDD talked to each other in computer morse code, its a lot of sqealing and beeping and rough noise... but the moment you have music on or something it's completely gone.

The performance of this thing is incredible and completely blows my old 6800 Ultra Athlon 3200 machine out of the water, flying into the distance like Team Rocket used to in the cartoons... I played HL2DM with 8xAA (one of the weird ones like CSAA or whatever) and I was getting 80-120 fps which is around 300-400% of what I used to get lol. Bioshock plays so nicely too, even with the default Dell Drivers (but I updated to 160-something from laptopvideo2go.com due to the Bioshock release nvidia drivers so now it performs like hot butter ) and I never really saw this as a machine I could play that many games on but looks like I can!

I got the ABGN wifi module too, and this seems to pick up Very Good/Excellent status signal in parts of my room where my PC and Pocket PC loose signal. I'm running XP at the moment and for some reason it can't find my Bluetooth module (if you install XP you have to disable APCI or whatever it is, along with the Flash Module in the BIOS) but those work well in Vista, and the WiFi catcher thing is very cool - just flick it to see what networks are around you along with their strengths, and it doesn't disconnect you from your current network or anything.


If anyone has any questions I would answer them no problem


EDIT: Oh I got a 9 Cell battery, it putrudes a little from the back (not THAT much really) and it gives such a good battery life, if I'm on wifi and only web browsing and checking email, XP estimates over 6hrs worth... and you can get around 2hrs of gaming on this or more, I reckon from what I've played so far. FPS doesn't seem to go down on battery mode from what I can tell.

[Tabris]

[megajames]

Thought I'd get back on this subject.

I ordered yesterday, phoned about 2pm and then got called back around 8pm. Unfortunately my order details changed a bit as I went (I was told by parents I should get the 3 year business cover thing roughly half way through the whole haggling process), and in an attempt to get the price down had to cut down on the processor. It would've been much better if I'd had a definite idea of what I wanted earlier and could concentrate on getting the price down more - take note. Ended up with:

1280x800 screen with truelife
T7300 processor (2ghz)
8600M graphics
2gig RAM
9 cell battery
3 year cover
Case
5400rpm drive (will use an external 7200rpm for games and backups)

In the end I got this for £729. As mentioned above, service was great despite me being an asshole - "sir, with all due respect you're trying too hard".

Question for Unreal: what spec did you get? I'm wondering if I can expect better, worse or the same kind of performance you described.

Edit: important note - I'm getting it with XP. Despite you not having that option on their site, over the phone they were willing to supply it with XP.

[staffsMike]

I'll take a screenshot tomorrow for you. The vostro looks very good but the xps does the job very nicely.

We've also played R6 Vegas on both. Runs pretty good on the vostro.. high detail low res.

Suprisingly the xps managed very respectable graphics on med/high graphics low res.

the only game it has struggled with so far is GRAW2 ..the physics is just a little too much for the 8400 I think

I didnt buying it for games but wanted to be able to use it for light gaming on occasions and tbh its exeeded expectations.

FAO unreal: the xp bluetooth driver should be on your driver CD. We installed XP on my mates at the weekend and got it working

[unreal]

I wanted a Vista license since I already own an XP one and I want to be able to run Vista after performance, stability and support mature in the future

You seem to have a good spec and got a nice deal for the price! I got;

1440x900 screen with Truelife
Core2Duo T7500 CPU (2.2ghz)
8600M GT graphics
2gb RAM
9 Cell Battery
1yr Basic Cover
160gb 5400 RPM drive
Intel Wireless A/B/G/N-Draft
Dell Bluetooth module

I got a messenger bag from an offer at PC World so it doesn't look so obvious I have a laptop with me at Uni... plus I had a £30 old gift voucher for that chain of stores so I only paid a tenner for the bag

[unreal]

FAO unreal: the xp bluetooth driver should be on your driver CD. We installed XP on my mates at the weekend and got it working

I have the drivers but it's just that Windows XP can't find the damn thing T_T. Maybe it's because I had Bluetooth disabled with the Vista bluetooth system tray thing before I installed XP? That was completely OS based though so I really doubt it I have no idea what is causing this really. I've checked the BIOS too so I'm genuinely unsure....

[megajames]

Ah, I didn't see that I could've just hit 'My System'. I would've liked the better processor, though I suspect I'll be ok on the T7300 - you've got a bloody nice spec there with the T7500, and the hi-res screen in fact. Do you run games off the 5400rpm drive, or use an external disk?

And by the way the he suggested the case when I asked him to 'throw something in', actually - we already have a rucksack, so it's a bit useless, heh. Could sell it, perhaps? Anyway, I hope I do end up using the 3 year cover, because I wasn't going to get it until my parents suggested it...

[staffsMike]

Not much in it between the T7300 and T7500 really.. I wen't with the T7500 as it cost me next to nothing to upgrade..as with the 200gb 7200rpm drive

Didn't even think to ask about the SSD though..perhaps should have.

[megajames]

Not much in it between the T7300 and T7500 really.. I wen't with the T7500 as it cost me next to nothing to upgrade..as with the 200gb 7200rpm drive

Didn't even think to ask about the SSD though..perhaps should have.

SSD? Not quite with it on the acronyms, haha