Looking to buy XPS15, what do I want to spec?

There is a current deal on XPS15s in Australia.

There is currently a deal on the entry level model for $899. This has the i5 i5-2430M (although curiously you can option the 2.50ghz model in the spec sheet for 0$.)

I also think its a worthy $100 upgrade from the 525M to the 540M.

I think i'll stick with the 720P screen, simply because i'll most likely use it with an external monitor half the time so i'm not particularly bothered by the resolution. All my other laptops have been 720P and i've found them ok.

Is there any mistakes i'm making here or things I should know?

This is a forced upgrade for me from a 1525 Inspiron, the screen hinges broke a year ago and wern't covered by its aftermarket warranty, so I paid to have them repaired and they have broken again.

I'd like to play racing games with it mostly, rFactor and F1 2011, which should be more than possible with the GPU.

Thankyou for any advice regarding this laptop.

 

If you ever intend on using laptop screen, get the 1080p one. The 720p screen is one of the worst screens ever made, and the 1080p is one of the best.

You should be fine using the 525M, the difference is only clocks(easily changed via overclocking) and graphics memory(only useful for heavily textured games). The processor, the i5 is very powerful but upgrading to the quad core i7 may be a good idea.

Also bear in mind that the new ivy-bridge series of XPS laptops are bound to be coming soon.

Hope I was helpful.

 

i7 2670QM - GT 525M.

 

i got 720p screen,its fine. i got the 540m, hey 5fps more helps right! i7 wud be cool for ps2 emu. i have i5, only thing i cant run is witcher2 but most things are great really great. buy ram from crucial, cheaper

 

Nothing wrong with the 720p screen , only idiot who has never seen one can say that it is the worst screen ever made , it is the BEST 720p screen ever made if you compare it to the competition , but yes the 1080p screen is better .

 

Agree with this , plus the backlite keyboard .
the i7 is the better choice , i love mine .

 

The 525M to 540M upgrade isn't worth $100 AUD; it's worth $50 AUD at most, and it won't help that much.

I'd say that if you aren't purchasing the display upgrade, I'm not sure the XPS 15 is worth the money. The XPS 15 only justifies its price tag as a consumer market package, and you can't buy a more "complete" notebook for $1,000. But if you remove the strengths which overshadow its weaknesses, you end up with a remarkably average machine. One of its greatest strengths is the display upgrade, and one of its greatest weaknesses is the mid-range graphics card options, so the XPS 15 probably isn't suited for you.

I know technology prices suck in Australia so your options are limited, but I think if you search around, you can get a real gaming laptop for about the same price ($1,000ish) with a more powerful CPU and GPU.

 

Thought that Dell used a couple different 720p screens in the XPS-15...one is good the other is quite bad.

Anyway if they do or don't I'd spring the extra bucks for the 1080p screen and the 525 should be easily overclocked to 540 speeds.

 

Interesting information here.

Well right now you can get the 15R Inspiron with the i7 Quad Core and the 525M for substantially cheaper then the XPS15. Its 799 on sale with the i7. Maybe that is a much better proposition as it gets the better processor?

 

I had a look at the screen difference in person and I understand what you mean. The high res screen has fantastic viewing angles and brightness, the low res one comparatively looks washed out.

I think i'm better off getting a HP though, there is one HP model with a i7 and a high end ATi video card for less then the XPS15 costs.