Laptop To Replace My Rig? What You Think Of This?

[keef247]

Basically I want a good detailed comparison for my current rig vs. the replacement I'm going for...

big chiefy dragon dx-01 mid tower...
2600xp-mobile Barton 512L2 cache oc'ed to 2.2 GHz 400fsb (can do 2.4 GHz but no need)
Asus a7n8x-x mobo with a cheapo eBay sata card with 2 sata plugs... lol works pretty damn well actually! Great Linux support as well
Asus 9600xt 128mb agp...
512mb corsair xms3200pro with 18LED with heat sink (super special and expensive back in the day) with a corsair value 512mb ram... not running dual channel...
Erm 2 x 320 GB sata's which I’ll make external (any good external solutions that case 2 drives?)
a funky hsf I made for the cpu consisting of a 120mm fan (can't remember the name but it’s nice) bolted to a 120mm-80mm converter bolted to a cooler master aero 7+ copper heat sink block gets temps around 46C in summer when the above is running oc'ed @2.2ghz...
Asus 8x dvdrw ide...
Tagan dual engine 500w - its welllll nice
Dell D1226H 19" CRT... - It's been dead good to me

And I'm thinking of selling all that and replacing it with....

Components
Intel® Pentium® dual-core processor T2130 (1.86 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 1 MB L2-cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English
1 Year Base Warranty - Collect & Return
No Accidental Damage Support
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Graphics Up to 256MB shared graphics memory
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software
9 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 Whr)
No Floppy Drive
Resource DVD - (Diagnostics & Drivers)
Accessories
Dell™ Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini-PCI Card (for Dual-Core Processors)
No Bluetooth Upgrade
No QuickSnap® LCD Back Cover
No Carry Case
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio
Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English
Also Includes
Internal Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
N1264054
Inspiron Order - UK
English Documentation with UK Power Cord
56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter - UK
1 Year Base Warranty - Collect & Return
Dell Internet Order.
HSB Order
65W AC Adapter

So what I want to know is... how much of a nice difference am I going to notice with this lil fella?
I DON'T care about games... just making that CLEAR before I get pointless flames on the gfx card... I have a 360 elite + 1080i 37"HDTV so I'm sorted for games ta: naughty:

I know it's dual core so I reckon I'm definitely going to notice the difference with this compare to my trusty xp-m... coupled with the 2gb ram I reckon this would be nice and smooth for vista business and Photoshop whilst say burning a dvdr in Nero and switching between msn/Firefox/Photoshop whilst burning... with the Phillips 5mp webcam I have going...

As for gaming... As I say I do have a 360elite and a nice TV but I did used to play css... I know it'd obviously run 1.6 nice but css what do you reckon? It’s a "shared" 256mb integrated but I have 2 GB to play with... If not as I say above I couldn't care less as I doubt I'll get round to it tbh...

running this "15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display with TrueLife™" vs. my Dell D1226H 19" @ 1600x1200@70Hz will it be a nice change or will I find myself cluttered? I quite like the idea of widescreen layout over traditional and that 15.4 seems like a reasonably high res for the size of the screen so I'm hoping everything won't be huge and I can spread everything nice and read text well and laid out within WebPages...

What downsides will I have if any except from the "it's a laptop not a laid out pc" (i.e. keyboard/mouse) as IF I need to I could use my excising keyboard/mouse when at home... I probably will use my mouse anyway its nice

With the 1.86Ghz C2D 1MB cache and 2GB DDR2 ram will vista honestly be smooth as I like both xp pro sp2 and vista business/ultimate... so I could run either: naughty: so I could haggle the one you recommend instead of being bundled with something I don't need...

Honest thoughts and opinions... my budgets £430 to the max and I really can't afford anymore than that tbh...
If there is a better spec machine then link me please (UK only)

Cheers I look forward to what you think... I also hope this is allot easier to read that my usual posts... as I know I rush things (sorry)

[TooNice]

The main bottleneck with the laptop is going to be the HD. Not much you can do there, SSD isn't really an option for your budget (plus, you'd lose on capacity). Once loaded into memory, the laptop is undoubtedly faster.

You can answer better than anyone as to whether you will find 1280x800 'cluttered' - why not just temporarily resize your desktop and see that resolution for yourself?

[Lucio]

I doubt you'll notice a difference in the performance to be honest. On paper, the laptop is a better specification, but quite frankly I doubt your current rig is struggling with general applications inside of Windows. Specific applications like Photoshop, will of course benefit from having a dual core processor and the extra memory available, but do you use them that much, or do you generally just use your PC on the internet?

You'll almost certainly find yourself annoyed at the resolution switch over as well, going from a larger monitor to a smaller one (even if the smaller is widescreen), generally comes as a shock to the system for most users.

[this_is_gav]

High-res images or editing will be the only real thing to test performance going by what you've said and unless we're talking scary DPIs, then I doubt you're suddenly going to go "WOW!".

I can't see you getting CSS working satisfactorily on an Intel graphics chip. I just don't think it's gonna happen. I'd have reservations over how well CS 1.6 would work to be honest, but it should be OK.

Regarding the screen, it depends on how you work. I can't even adapt from my 1920x1200 monitor at home to my 1280x1024 one at work, so I had to get another to compliment it. That's largely dominated by how you work (if you have everything maximised, then it should be fine), but I couldn't adapt to it.

I know it's dual core so I reckon I'm definitely going to notice the difference with this compare to my trusty xp-m... coupled with the 2gb ram I reckon this would be nice and smooth for vista business and Photoshop whilst say burning a dvdr in Nero and switching between msn/Firefox/Photoshop whilst burning... with the Phillips 5mp webcam I have going...

Sounds like a PC World advert.

[keef247]

haha pc world my ass haha they'd be going "no you don't need a 8800GTX you need this brand new boxed super megadeal 9200AGP radeon I can just happen to reduce right here and now for only £90 it should be £150 but as your collecting in store.." well back in the days of the 9800pro/xt etc that was the case in local stores lol they'd always have these 9200 or even worse 8600ati cards or something of that number with "32MB onboard RAM" WOW:O hahaha. but yeah its more worth it in my opinion for the spaciousness I'll be saving and how I can now get rid of the clutter and take it places and still not loose preformance... plus yeah I do like mucking around on photoshop but as I multitask alot my cpu hinders the efficiancy of this....
even if its not dramatically better sounds like I will still get a little more productivity out of it.

I was thinking just now... wireless keyboard/mouse+ video out of some sort to my 37" 1080i tv? that'd be really nice just sit on the couch with a nice screen and then use its native when on the move

also do you reckon I could run css on 800x600 at medium as thats what i run on here. like i said above i don't really play it but it'd be a cheeky bonus

[Splash]

Just a question - why Vista Business? Would you not be better off dropping that and getting Home Premium? Or is the machine going on a domain?

[amjedm]

Just a question - why Vista Business? Would you not be better off dropping that and getting Home Premium? Or is the machine going on a domain?

I think that particular model is available from the Dell Business website so comes with Vista Business or you can opt for XP Pro.

[keef247]

what he said^ haha and business seems to have less bolted on crap does it not? and it also comes with a proper disc and not a bundled one...

[this_is_gav]

what he said^ haha and business seems to have less bolted on crap does it not? and it also comes with a proper disc and not a bundled one...

All the Vostro's do, no matter which OS you opt for. They're also no riddled with 3rd-party crap. Something I never thought I'd see, especially from Dell.

Don't think Business has anything less than Home Premium though - just lacking Media Center really, in terms of resident processes, and most of them are only activated once you've run the set up for MC.

[godsdog]

The Windows Vista: Compare Editions put it in your pocket and never be without it words and picture page

[Splash]

I was merely thinking in terms of saving you some cash - if you don't need domain support you really don't need business, but if it's the only available option I guess that explains it.

[keef247]

ah i wasn't aware that all vostro's os's have de-crapped cd's... i was under the impression it was just vista business... in that case i will try and go for home then
cheers people

[Splash]

To be honest all the Dell kit that we got at the company I worked for came with a Dell OEM Windows XP CD (ie the OS and nada else) and a seperate apps CD. You want drivers? Download them from the website

[keef247]

i prefer it like that tbh... less clutter and there if i need them whenever i need them and least you don't have to worry about loosing the drivers disc or scratching it etc etc.oh and updates tooo

[Toobad]

ah i wasn't aware that all vostro's os's have de-crapped cd's... i was under the impression it was just vista business... in that case i will try and go for home then
cheers people

I rang Dell up and told them I wanted Home Premium 32-bit and I also wanted £20 off the price as it was a lesser value edition of Vista. Ask and you shall receive!

[keef247]

got the cheaper number i remember someone posting it and don't want to get my ears bitten off with the expensive one.i also want to call on a mobile...vodafone... any idea on price and the cheaper vostro helpline number please?