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Originally Posted by striderblade
The video card is alright. I would say pretty much is a mid end card. It'll run most game, but it wouldn't be running it on max setting. As for graphic work. You'll be fine with that card.
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Pretty much what I figured. Thanks. I basically just wanted something that would be capable of running any game at a playable resolution. Sounds like this card should do the trick even if it's not too fancy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by striderblade
Dell xps is knowing for their heating issue. I have a xps 1330 and that little guy run pretty damn hot. I had to go out and get my self a laptop cooler just so it wouldn't burn my lap. And after taking that thing a part i realize dell had been using a very very cheap thermal compound on the GPU and CPU. So i'm not too sure how your XPS 16' will be like.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by striderblade
Oh btw looking at the spec i'm guessing you kinda pay 1600ish for it? If you did you should have gotten this. A 1920X1080 display is nice on a laptop =) http://ncix.com/products/?sku=50903&...nufacture=ASUS
Nice specs on that baby, and I've heard Asus makes very nice laptops. I'm not a big fan of the design/look of the computer, and 17.3" might be a bit too big for me. I do use it around the house quite a lot, so 16" is a bit more portable. |
I paid about $1,694 before tax... so that would work out to be about the same price (~$1900 after tax). I could have saved about $200 by ordering the Sony, but I didn't like the look or the keyboard layout nearly as much.
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Originally Posted by Markus
A. SSD, I have a tiny one in my MacBook Pro and it made a HUGE difference in speed. Things that took 1-2 seconds to load are instantaneous now.
Since it is a laptop you do have to give up some storage space, but I can live with an external drive as storage for pictures and movies.
Since my trade doesn't require me to work with large files, I can get away with a small SSD for my main drive.
Another thing I've seen some people do is get rid of the optical drive and put a HD in that slot. It's called an optibay adaptor. This way you can have an SSD and HDD in the laptop, but you give up the DVD drive.
http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/index.html
There are cheaper versions on eBay. |
I'll look into this. I could replace the Blu-Ray/DVD player with an SSD and use that as my OS/programs HDD, yes? Then I'd have the main 500Gb SATA drive for file storage?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Markus
1. Warranty from Apple is awesome, from what I hear so is Dell.
2. The physical interaction of the laptop. I really like the Apple LCD, keyboard and multi-touch trackpad, they just work and feel nicer than most PC ones.
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Pretty much agree with you on both of these, but the Studio XPS is basically the closest PC equivalent from what I can tell. It's supposedly got decent build quality, a backlit keyboard, nice track pad, etc. Obviously it will still be bigger and bulkier though, which is the main drawback IMO.
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Originally Posted by taylor192
I got the Dell Studio, not the Dell Studio XPS so YMMV.
I've had mine a few months ago and absolutely love it.
I read about some flaws with Dell and the i7 so I ordered the i5 instead. There have been complaints of overheating, yet a firmware fix is available. I got the 15.6" 1080p screen and it is fantastic! Good choice!
A comparable macbook is $2300.
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Really? Comparable MacBook Pro would only be $2300? Maybe I should have considered it... I had been told they'd be more in the $2500-$2800 range, which is a bit steep imo.
As for the heating issue... I read in a few places that Dell had fixed the temperature issues on the i7, so I'm hoping it'll be OK. Maybe they were referring to the firmware fix you mentioned. I'll look into that more when my laptop arrives next week.
I opted for the 720QM model, which is quite a bit less powerful than the 820M I believe... that might mean it also runs cooler. The 720 version that I ordered was $350 cheaper, and I doubt I'd notice much difference. I also considered the i5, but it only saved about $150. Quad core sounds more baller too
IMO, today's processors are so ridiculously fast it seems like it'll be many years before software requirements catch up. Generally I'd rather spend my money on RAM and HDD upgrades than a faster processor, although I'm sure some would disagree.
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Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo
if you need this laptop for graphic or app intensive then going with the SSD drive would be better along with an external HDD for storage, otherwise have the quad core and 8gb of ram is more then enough for most of todays daily use
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Yeah, I'm kinda regretting not opting for the SSD in reality. My current laptop only has 120Gb HDD, believe it or not (I chose to go with 120Gb 7,200rpm drive over the alternative 250Gb 5,400rpm drive). I store all my movies and some of my files on the external drive. I could have opted for the 258Gb SSD and continued to use my current external drive for storage.
I'm going to look into the SSD Blu-Ray replacement HDD... does anyone know who makes one for PC? The OptiBay one appears to only be for Mac...?