obsidian Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Well, I've finally gotten to the point I'm ready to purchase a new laptop. I'm looking for something around the $2000 range, and I'm trying to get input on the best PC I can get for the money. Here's what I've come up with so far. The following system tops out at $2002. It is a Dell Inspiron that I've upgraded to match (and in a couple areas exceed) the base Dell XPS system, and it comes in about $400 cheaper. Any input or suggestions on other models to look at, please let me know.[quote=Dell Website]Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB)Windows XP Media Center EditionFree Express Upgrade to Windows Vista17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with TruLife2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 HyperMemory160GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard DriveCD/DVD burnerSound Blaster Audigy HD2Yr Warranty and At-Home ServiceDell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)[/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ober Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Have you looked at Alienware yet? I'd lose the "XP Media Center" as well. And I think WXGA might be better than UXGA... not sure. Any idea what the CAS latency on the RAM is? And why are laptop HDs always 5400RPM? If you can get a faster one, go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zq29 Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Are you going to be gaming on this, or use it as your development machine? Have you considered a MacBook Pro? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviewdr Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Here is my two cents:You definately want a 7200rpm hard disk! I would be willing to sacrifice the 160gb for a faster hard disk. 120gb 7200rpm would be much better IMO.Alienware laptops tend to be desktop replacements, and thus will only last 30min on battery, with huge power adapters.As ober said - I wouldn't be too keen on the media edition either.Whats the battery like? How many cells are in it etc..?17" screen - I take it you specifically want this and dont mind that it will cut the battery time.Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB) - sounds like a nice chip.Neways - g'luck with it.-steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsidian Posted December 20, 2006 Author Share Posted December 20, 2006 @ober - I'm not sure about the RAM latency. I agree that the WXGA would be better, but most of those are out of my price range. As for the hard drive, all the ones up to 100GB were 7200RPM, but when you get to the 120 and 160, it drops back to 5400. I may opt to go with the 100GB just for the faster speed, though. I'll check out alienware, but aren't they usually a bit pricey?@SA - Mostly dev, but I'll do some gaming on it. I'm not going for a Mac for my laptop. I'll look into getting a desktop Mac when I start looking at a second box, though. Since I do some gaming, and I have a lot of M$ only software, I want to stick with what I know for my work machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsidian Posted December 20, 2006 Author Share Posted December 20, 2006 @steviewdr - Thanks for the comments. Yea, I definitely want the bigger monitor. Most places I go, I'll be plugging it in anyway. It's the portability more than the battery that draws me to a laptop this go-around. I'm seriously considering the drop in hard drive to 100GB to get me the 7200 rpm, though.So, what's wrong with Win XP Media Center Edition? That's what I've got on my wife's desktop at home, and it's seemed really good to me. Can you guys give me some input on why it's not recommended? Also, I'm not super keen on paying the extra $150 to upgrade to XP Pro unless I have to :P I'd rather spend my money on video cards and RAM lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ober Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Alienware has come down in the past year/6 mo. They're actually pretty reasonable now. And believe me when I say you'll notice the difference between the WXGA and UXGA. I didn't think much of it when I got my laptop, but my brother got the UXGA and I got the WXGA and when you put them side by side, the difference is striking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ober Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 So go the cheaper route and get XP Home instead. I mean, if you're happy with it on your wife's PC, then by all means go for it... but I've just heard bad things about it. (unstable, no drivers, etc, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviewdr Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 If your not too worried about portability, then as Ober said - take a look at Alienware. They actually have a manufacturing depot here in Athlone in Ireland! They do run quiet warm however.As for the screen - Im not that well up, but Im sure there is a difference.About the Media Center edition etc. - well it just sounds like a gimmick - Id stick with xp home. Can you choose no operating system? and use the licence off your old pc?I would definately prefer to drop to 100gb with a speed of 7200rpm.Have Fun. Happy Christmas!-steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsidian Posted December 21, 2006 Author Share Posted December 21, 2006 Thanks for all the input, guys. I've definitely been impressed with the Alienware machines I've put together on their site, and they have indeed come way down in pricing since my last visit with them. Turns out, for the Inspiron, Dell doesn't offer the WXGA. The Alienware I was looking at would have the 80GB 7200 RPM drive, 256MB NVidia card, WXGA 17" Widescreen display and 1GB RAM. However, the processor is a AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML34 1.8GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache, so it may be a little better for my requirements than the 2.0 Duo Core.Here's where I'm a little stuck. Considering the lesser RAM in the Alienware and the other differences in the machines, what would you all recommend going with? Here is a list of some of the software that I'll be crunching on the machine:[list][*]Macromedia Studio 8[*]Adobe Photoshop CS 2[*]Maya 6[*]3D Studio Max[*]Various Game Titles[/list]With the 3D processing power required for some of that software and the resource hogging that photoshop, dreamweaver and flash do, I'm just not sure which would be the best route to take at this point. Oh, one more thing: the Alienware machine is only about $200 more than the Dell, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neylitalo Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 I would like to note that, at this time, there is more support for multiple 32 bit processors than single 64 bit processors, in both the world of *nix and Windows. So, unless you're planning on [b]waiting[/b] to get your money's worth out of the 64 bit CPU (for at least a year), then you may want to go with the Intel Core Duo. And to give my opinion on the RAM situation: Buy more. If RAM is the only thing holding you back from getting the Alienware, buy the Alienware, and then get more memory from Newegg or something. (Offer only valid in United States... Newegg doesn't ship out of the US.)[b]Edit:[/b] And my opinion on the Media Center issue: The only really practical gains you get from XP Pro are A) Advanced file sharing options, B) Advanced and power-user options, and C) More administrative tools. See http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/z04d621675.mspx for a more comprehensive description. If you save money by going with XP Home vs. XP Media Center, go with XP Home - if not, go with Media Center. (I seem to be full of opinions this morning... ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ober Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 I'd go with 2Gb of RAM... no doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviewdr Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 [quote]Macromedia Studio 8Adobe Photoshop CS 2Maya 63D Studio MaxVarious Game Titles[/quote]Jeas - 3dMax and Maya will put any pc under pressure. If your going to have the laptop multitasking (with all them apps open at the same time) and you dont plan on regularly rebooting (just hibernating) you will easily use 2gb ram.You could look at www.tomshardware.com for stats on Studio Max benchmarks - the dragon scene (which is in default install of max, well it is in mine) rendering.Anyways, definately dont go running into it. I had often though at looking at acer pc's (ferrari) etc. as they were covered a lot on tomshardware also.G'Luck,-steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsidian Posted December 27, 2006 Author Share Posted December 27, 2006 Well after much time and consideration, I've finally ordered my machine this morning. I took the advice on a couple different levels here:[list][*]Smaller hard drive to get the speed (7200RPM 100GB drive)[*]Win XP Pro in lieu of XP Media Center[*]Go all out on the RAM (2GB Shared Dual Channel at 667MHz)[/list]Here's the final specs:[quote=Dell website]Dell Inspiron 9400Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB)Windows XP ProfessionalExpress Upgrade to Windows Vista17" UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS100GB 7200RPM SATA Hard DriveIntegrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R capabilityIntegrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software EditionDell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card (54Mbps)80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery2 Yr Ltd Warranty, On-site Service, and 2 Yr Tech SupportDell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)[/quote]Obviously, there were a couple other things I would have liked to bump up a tad, but to stick as closely to the $2K I was aiming for, this is what I came up with. Final sticker price: [b]$2090[/b].Thanks for all the advice, and I hope you guys approve of my final decision on this one.@ober - I checked into the WXGA screens, and Dell doesn't offer it on this model :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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