Laptop Dillema

Hi! I have a problem of choosing between 3 laptops.
The main purpose of this acquisition is: work with Adobe CS5 (Ps, Fw, Ai, Dw, Fl + Premiere & After Effects) and Autodesk 2011 (Maya & 3ds max)
Performance in gaming is a +.

Laptop 1:
Studio XPS Version
Processor: Intel Core i5-480M (2.66GHz / upto SC 2.93GHZ, 3M)
3 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 435M 1GB graphics with Optimus

Laptop 2:
Studio Version
Processor: Intel Core i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
1 GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650

Laptop 3:
Studio XPS Version
Processor: Intel Core i5-460M Processor (3M cache, 2.53 GHz)
4 GB DDR3 ECC SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 435M 1GB graphics with Optimus

everything else is about the same: 7200rpm, 17.3", about same price

Thank you !

 

If Dell is what you want, go with #1, and upgrade your RAM later (it's WAY cheaper to buy new RAM than to upgrade it through Dell).

 

thank you
can you please give me more info on why i should buy #1 over #2 ?
cause i know the graphic card is way better (at least in gaming)... but the processor is not

 

The Studio line is mid-low build quality compared to the mid-high quality of the XPS line. Also, XPS service and support is much better. The video card is slightly faster, but it is also 2x generations newer, and supports DX11. The quad-core would be better for Maya, but besides that the 480 should be fast enough.

Really though, the main reason is the first one, the Studio line is kinda cheap. Otherwise it would be much harder to make a clear recommendation.

 

thank you for providing more information
for now it's #1 since it seems like the better choice

if anybody has any other opinions... they're most welcome to help me out

 

I ordered my xps for the same work, its config is i7 740qm, 2 gb GT435M,4GB RAM

 

A 1080p screen is highly recommended for those applications

 

yeah... i've thought of buying a 22" or 24" hd display for home work after i learn some more
until then and while i'm on the road the 17.3" laptop display will have to do

 

I do similar work as you do on my laptop (i7-720), and it works fine, i only do simple work, but even then rendering not as fast as you would expect. Maybe it's just me, but if you can wait for the new SB laptops, then i would tell you to do so. They will have a significant performance boost and they should be out by late March, early April, hopefully.

 

Imho if you plan to work with CS suite you need raw power computing, and i5 doesnt quite cut it.

You need at least an i7 to take full advantage of the memory controller speed, the qpi link AND more threads per cores. Not to mention that turbo boost can quite save you.

On benchmarks, even the low end mobile i7 beats the higher i5. So if you can modify your order to include an i7 cpu it would be better, imho.