Is paying for XPS 15 with clarksfield i7 justified?

Hi everyone

I have been an avid reader of notebook reviews published on this site for over 5 years, but have just started following the forums.
This is my first post here, and I need your help in making an informed decision.

I am being offered a decent deal on Dell XPS 15 with i7 (i5 variants are no longer being offered by Dell in India. I guess they are clearing old stock and preparing for SB based XPS 'R2', wherein lies my dilemma.)

The configuration they are offering me is XPS 15 with i7 740 QM/ NVIDIA 435m/ FHD Panel/ 6 GB DDR3 RAM/ 640 GB HDD/ 9 Cell Battery for around 62,000 INR.

Considering the fact that i7 740QM doesn't have on board graphics, lacks Optimus support, offers reduced battery life and increased operating temperatures at the time when its SB equivalent isn't far away, should I take this deal knowing that it'd be obsolete before it reaches me? (Dell is quoting a month for delivery after order confirmation, ie around 18th March 2011. SB based XPS 'R2' should be widely available by then, or should have at least hit the stores.)

I'll be using this laptop primarily for coding, image editing (which justifies the FHD Display panel), listening/editing/composing music, excel modeling, surfing, email along with occasional gaming (COD, L4D, SC, Crysis).

So, the question finally boils down to whether I should go for clarksfield i7 (which I'll be getting after a month of ordering online, ie around 18th March 2011), or wait for sandybridge i7, which should be available within the same time frame?

Thanks a lot for going through the thread and for the time that you'll be spending in drafting your replies. Any assistance in this regard will be appreciated.

 

well i just spoke to dell and posted my convo with them about the SB release dates and you might wanna check that out
http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/540027-dell-xps-sandy-bridge-16.html#post7167915

 

Thanks for the heads up.
Am waiting in line to speak to a dell rep as well. Will let you know if there is any conflicting statement.

 

Considering what you are doing, yes you will benefit from the Clarksfield i7, but you will get better results from Sandy Bridge, not to mention a decrease in heat (jump from 45nm to 32 nm), higher turbo frequencies, better battery life, less heat. I wouldn't pull the trigger on the Clarksfield i7.

 

It all depends on you , if you can wait then yes definitely wait for sandy bridge , Because newer technology always brings better performance compare to older one.. And make sure you go for 1080p incase

 

It's obvious that new technology is always better, Sandybridge will help you (as already mention from Tsunade_Hime with temperature and speed), but of course is totally up to you to decide...
Keep in mind that, in your case, if you will need to edit movies or streaming them, sandybridge CPU's will have DRM protection:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1934536/intels-sandy-bridge-sucks-hollywood-drm

Technology News: Chips: Intel Builds Sandy Bridge With a DRM Tollbooth

Intel call it "protection" for user from piracy, but we don't know what we will be able to do with it or what we won't...

 

Looks like the DRM thing is meant to work with those movie watching sites where you buy-and-stream. Most people who stream movies (Youtube or whatever website with different codecs) watch the ones without DRM/identification anyway.

 

True, but I really hope this is all....

 

It's not "obsolete" in the classic use of the term. The I7 Clarksfield is still an incredibly fast processor and unless you just HAVE to do bleeding edge types of stuff, that is ultra demanding, how much faster are you going to need it to be? Will you notice it opening up program X .5 seconds faster? Will you notice 1fps more in Crysis 2? Will you notice the video you encoding finishing 20 seconds sooner? To me, the answer to all of those was no and I needed a new laptop, so I chose not to wait. I guess those are the questions you have to ask yourself though.

Either way, you'll get a fantastic machine.

 

Thats exactly what I was wondering about.
My old Dell Inspiron 1505 lasted 5+ years and didn't mind the 'occasional' abuse (trying to encode movies, music or playing new games on lowest settings) until now. It has finally reached the point where it sits on the desk running 24x7, still without technical issues, but has now started to come apart, literally. (Screen bezel coming apart due to worn out hinges), making it impossible to close the screen and move the laptop around.

Result: Am in the market for a suitable replacement.

Most of the time, I'll be in the vicinity of a power outlet, so battery life is no big deal (Am still getting the 9 cell battery to last me a couple of lectures at college). The only thing am a little worried about is the running temperature.

I'd really appreciate if owners of XPS 15 with i7 processor could share some info about temps etc after prolonged usage (say, a month or two since the date of purchase).
New notebooks tend to run hot and they often smell weird (Paint near the exhaust vent/grill burns when system is under stress). Thats what happened with my Inspiron 1505 with 2.4GHz C2D T7200 with ATI X1400 Hypermemory 256MB GFX card in the beginning. After a week or so, things improved significantly.

So, again, I'd really appreciate if people who have owned XPS 15 with i7 740QM/435M for over a month or two, could share the details of running temp along with their usage pattern and any observations they deem noteworthy.

My sincere thanks to all the folks who took the time out to reply/address my concerns.

 

They're both 45W TDP. Heat/power consumption should be similar. Though you will get more computing power out of the same amount of heat/power.

 

Well SB now has IGP in the CPU, so that explains the same TDP. Whether it is burning it if you have the discreet GPU I do not know.

 

I couldn't say it better..

 

I own a i7-840QM which would be the same or similar to your i7-740QM, also have the Nvidia 435M and here is a screenshot of regular web browsing use





It doesn't feel warm, only if you really lay your palm flat on the left palm rest and take notice that is barely warm. Only when you play games the fan goes to max speed and yes the air feels more or less hot and the left palm rest side of the laptop heat up but not to the point of saying is unbearable.

I paid almost $1600 (more or less 72,400INR) for this specs:
CPU: i7 840qm
GPU: 435M
RAM: 6GB
Display Resolution: 1366x768
HDD: 640GB
Bluetooth 3.0
Backlit Keyboard
Blu-ray Drive
9 Cell battery

That is pretty much it, you should make a comparison with this specs and the ones you are getting to help you decide.

 

Sorry if I'm the only one that doesn't know this, I dont know that much about various softwares to monitor your system, but what software is this?

 

It is a gadget for windows 7 and I think windows vista too, here is the link to it Windows Live Gallery

The other picture is from the program called HWmonitor.