Which laptop should I buy (considering my requirements)?

[oimi]

Well I do really like the XPS series, but unless I am willing to spend nearer £2000, they do not offer me enough storage!

[staffsMike]

you said 160GB+ in the OP. How much do you need then?

Alternatively Dell's are easily upgraded so you could simply buy the hard drive you want from elsewhere and spec the dell with the lowest one. Then you can use the one you want and have a spare just in case. It doesn't void the warranty on dells if that is a concern

The biggest you will get is 320GB I think unless you venture into 2 hard drive territory and the only laptops that offer that are generally very expensive and it can often take away your optical drive as that is the space it uses.

[Mossy]

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

OC at the touch of a button for gaming.

now with HD drive

[oimi]

I was thinking more along the lines of 320GB for a HDD.

[oimi]

Paulm, that laptop doesn't have all the requested features, neither does it have a fast enough processor or large enough hard drive (at the price it should).

[staffsMike]

You can get western digital scorpio 320gb hard disks for about £115. So i would just factor that into the purchase. That way you have the spare and the hard drive can be the limiting factor of the laptop you do buy.

[oimi]

I looked on Dabs and Ebuyer and could not find 320GB 2.5 HDDs, where could I find a WD HDD?

[staffsMike]

Just looked there
western digital scorpio 320gb - Google Product Search

[oimi]

Thanks, I now have more options.

Although the Dell website has been down since yesterday.

[oimi]

The Dell XPS vs the Toshiba G40-10S (Buy TOSHIBA G40-10S | Premier collection laptop - Laptops | Comet).

[staffsMike]

For that money it's the xps everytime for me.

You can get a 2.4GHz, 4 years warranty and buy the extra hard drive (as well as having the 250gb that comes with it) for over £100 less. No brainer.

[oimi]

Apart from the processor, you cannot get a deal anywhere near as good from the XPS series as you can with the Toshiba at that price. It has all the features I need, I tried to get a similar package put together using the Dell website, and the price was closer to £1,700.

[staffsMike]

I specced this
The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

With,

2.4GHz C2D,
2GB RAM,
8600GT,
250gb HDD
4 Years Warranty
+ 115 for the WD Scorpio

<&#163;1300

[oimi]

Dell XPS M1530

Price &#163;1,450.63
You Save &#163;79.99
Total &#163;1,370.64
Includes VAT & Shipping
+
&#163;115 for the WD Scorpio = &#163;1,485

Components
BASE Intel&#174; Core™ 2 Duo processor T7700 (2.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista&#174; Home Premium - English edit
HARDWARE SUPPORT Base Warranty - 1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support) edit
COLOUR CHOICE 2.0 mega pixel Camera & Tuxedo Black for CCFL Display edit
LCD 15.4&#191; UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) CCFL Display (220nits) with TrueLife™ edit
BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION Biometric Fingerprint Reader with BLACK accent edit
MEMORY 4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048] edit
HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive edit
GRAPHICS CARD NVIDIA&#174; GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB dedicated graphic memory edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW edit
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr) edit
Accessories
ACCESSORIES Kensington 120W DC Auto/Air Power Adapter - EUR edit
CARRY CASES Nylon BackPack Carry case edit
BLUETOOTH Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth + Bluetooth Mouse edit
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Intel&#174; Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card - Europe edit
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE Microsoft&#174; Works 8.0 - English edit
Services & Software
ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE SUPPORT No Accidental Damage Support edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English edit
Also included with your system
Gedis Bundle Reference N01X5303
Order Information Inspiron Order - UK
Shipping Documents English Documentation with English/Irish Power Cord
Dell System Media Kit No Resource CD
Power Supply 90W AC Adapter
Modem No Modem
Keyboard Uk/Irish Internal Keyboard (QWERTY)
Standard Warranty Base Warranty - 1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support)
TV Tuner and Remote Control Dell™ Travel Remote Control
Online Promotion Option for GEDIS Configs Dell Internet Order.

VS

TOSHIBA G40-10S
+
DESKJET F2187 Quantity: 1 &#163;29.99
Discount: -&#163;30.00 Printer/copier/scanner
Product description
X Remove from basket "Remove from basket" option
Product image Product name Product quantity Product price
BELKIN F8N026EABRN Quantity: 1 &#163;29.99
Discount: -&#163;5.00 Messenger laptop bag in brown

Total (ex. Delivery) &#163;1459.97

Brand TOSHIBA
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor model number T7250
Processor speed 2 GHz
Processor bus 800 MHz
Processor cache 2 MB
Memory (RAM) 2048 MB
Storage (hard drive) 160+160 GB
SATA storage Yes
Screen size 17 inches
Screen type Bright widescreen
Rotating screen Not featured
Built-in wireless networking Yes
Wired networking Yes
Gigabit LAN Not featured
Optical drive Plays & records CDs and DVDs
Lightscribe technology Not featured
Blu-Ray compatible No
HD compatible No
Operating system Windows Vista Home Premium
Application software MicrosoftWorks
Shared graphics Not featured
Dynamic graphics Not featured
Dedicated graphics NVIDIA GF8600M 512MB
Built-in fingerprint reader Not featured
USB 2.0 slots 5
Firewire 4 pin
Media card slots 5-in-1
PC card slots Not featured
Speakers HarmonKardon
Built-in bluetooth Yes
Built-in webcam Yes
Watch & record live TV Yes
Battery life (maximum) 2 hours
Laptop weight (kg) 5 kg
Premier Collection No
Other features
Remote control included
6 pin firewire port
Dial-up modem included
Internal sound card
Plays High definition DVDs
Supports Double layer & Dual Format +/- recording
Finger print reader
1920x1200 screen resolution
HDMI output
Premium Wireless N
S-Video TV out
VGA Port
48/0.9watts :in use/powered-down power consumption

[staffsMike]

Oh I see your speccing 4GB of RAM to get that price. Like the hard drive don't bother with buying 4gb of RAM from dell. Buy it from crucial (or another) as it will be a lot cheaper.
4GB kit (2GBx2), 200-pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 upgrades for Dell XPS M1530 Laptop/Notebook, CT756078 from Crucial.com

But if you're using a 32bit OS then just stick with 2GB and then upgrade later if you really feel the need.

I'm not seeing the attraction of the Toshiba. It's lower spec except for the screen and seemingly more expensive.

[TheVoice]

For what it's worth, there's a 10&#37; discount code available on Dell Special Offers, Cheapest Deals, E-Value Codes and Discount Coupons | dmXdimension for Dell notebooks, makes the M1330 very affordable. I'm somewhat considering getting one...but I'd have to figure out what I could sell my current Inspiron 630m for first.