gaming laptop....

[Jay]

right, I have decided that I am ready for a gaming laptop and after lot of messing around I have come up with this system.....

Dell Studio 16 XPS

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6500 (2.1GHz, 800MHz, 2MB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT) - English (With Windows 7 Upgrade)
Black Leather back cover : 15.6" (inch) Truelife 720p HD WLED Edge to Edge Display
4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB Free Fall Sensor (7200RPM) Hard Drive
Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Internal DVD+/-RW (DVD & CD read and write) Slot Load Drive including Software
1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 4670 graphics card
Intel WiFi Link 5100 (802.11 a/b/g/n 1X2) 1/2 MiniCard

£821.00 inc VAT and Delivery

Does anyone think either there would be a problem with that spec or that they have a better option in mind?

Thanks.

[Pob255]

Looks good, graphics is a little weak for my likeing but you'd need to double the budget to get something better, the reason I stick to a desktop for gaming
So off hand I'd say it's good

[Vimeous]

warranty?

[Jay]

1 Year Premium Warranty Support

[badass]

1 Year Premium Warranty Support

I always go by the rule 1 year for desktops, 3 years for a laptop. If your laptop dies after a year you are far less likely to be able to fix it by getting bits that are cheap.

[Jay]

I always go by the rule 1 year for desktops, 3 years for a laptop. If your laptop dies after a year you are far less likely to be able to fix it by getting bits that are cheap.

its a good point.

[Vimeous]

Basically laptops are disposable items once the warranty has run out because obtaining and payign for parts let alone actually pulling one to bits is a nightmare.

In my book any laptop up to £500 is disposable after one year so standard warranty is acceptable. Even that would hurt if the machine died day one of month thirteen.
Beyond £500 I couldn't justify replacing it so soon so warranty, despite the cost, become critical and expensive.

I'm yet to own a laptop because no matter how portable they might be I'd rather spend the money making my study more comfortable for me and my PC.

[Jay]

I need to be able to play EVE while not at my desk so this is my only option, in fact my Q6600 / 8800 GT OC2 PC will proably be split and sold on here.

[Vimeous]

I need to be able to play EVE while not at my desk so this is my only option, in fact my Q6600 / 8800 GT OC2 PC will proably be split and sold on here.

LOL
I didn't say it was a bad option per se. We have friends who visit armed with laptops for extended WOW sessions so I certainly see where you're coming from.
It just so happens I'm happy to cart my entire rig when I visit - and it ain't exactly portable!

[Xenshin]

I actually have that laptop and it's not bad, for that price it's great. Only difference was I got it during a special offer so mine has 500GB HD.

The graphics card is fine, for a laptop under £1k it's probably the best you'll get.

One thing about that laptop is that it gets extremely hot though, so might want to use a cooling pad if you are stressing the graphics to the fullest.

Another good point is that you can easily open up the back to clean it, some laptops make this task very annoying.
Also it has 2 USB ports located on the left side of the Laptop, if this is a problem for you then you might want to change if you use a mouse with a cord and it’s not long enough.

[Jay]

yes, I was going to get the 500GB drive but I don't need it, my gaming PC is about 3 yeas old now and it has 83% of 500GB free. I have a central file server and don't clutter up my gaming systems.

also extending the warranty is really expensive its £139 for an extra 1 year and £179 for an extra 2 years cover!

[staffsMike]

My dell warranty has paid for itself in all fairness. Failed 3 times now in 2 years..

That's not to say the XPS 16 will suffer the same fate but the M1330 has been a bit annoying. It is always fixed next day and since I have 4 years warranty on the laptop (5 if its a graphics failure) I'm quite happy to keep using it. That said I have an agreement that if it fails again I get a new laptop (new model). So that will no doubt be in a few months lol

£800 is about the cut off for a laptop of this sort of spec though, you won't do much better in terms of an all round/gaming laptop for much less and you have to pay A LOT more for a proper gaming laptop which is why anymore than £800 is a waste unless you have £1300+ to burn.

[Jay]

According to some EU legislation published in 1999, since 2002 it has become a legal requirement that all consumer goods sold in the EU must have a minimum of a 2 year warranty so why does dell only offer 1 year?

[Andeh13]

Jay, would you consider a refurb laptop? It will look brand new, have a _3 year warranty_ AND will be cheaper then getting it direct from dell. Its how i got my Studio 17. have a gander;

For example, for an extra £80;
XPS M1730
Colour: Crimson Red with White LED Backlights
Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz
4096mb
200gb
17" Wide Ultra XGA TrueLife Screen (1920 X 1200) with Integrated Webcam
256mb GeForce Go 8700MGT
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (Licence & CD)
Dell 'Express Card' Remote Control

http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=7462&xSec=67

or, for another £30 you could get it with the 512mb GeForce Go 8800 GTX SLI and a 320gb HDD.

http://www.mcscom.co.uk/product.php?xProd=9674&xSec=67

the web site;
http://www.mcscom.co.uk/section.php?xSec=17

[Jay]

the SLI system looks like a monster! You said you bought from these and it was all ok?

*edit*

oh its plus VAT and shipping so the SLI is £1082

the 8700MGT is not as good as the 4670

[Xenshin]

According to some EU legislation published in 1999, since 2002 it has become a legal requirement that all consumer goods sold in the EU must have a minimum of a 2 year warranty so why does dell only offer 1 year?

I have been wondering about this too, Dell however word it not as "Warranty" but as "1 year premium warranty" which might be them being very sneaky.

This leads me to believe that they do offer 2 years standard warranty but only advertise that the 1st year is premium, which might imply an added service compared to normal warranty for the 1st year only.

This will confuse people into buying extended insurance as they might feel 1 year is not enough and in return increase Dells profits, this is just speculation though.

I might research into this at some point if I have time.