Need Buying Advice

First of all I am sorry if this isnt posted in the correct place, I chose the section my question was best replated too.

So down to bussiness, I am thinking of buying a new laptop which will hopefully be a DELL Studio XPS 16. Standars spec shown below:

Software & Services

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8700 (3MB cache/2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB)

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English

Microsoft Works

Edge-to-Edge FHD Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP

4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)

500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

8X Slot Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)

ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 3670 - 512MB

6-cell Battery

So my questions are:

• I was thinking about upgrading the graphics to the (ATI Mobility RADEON™ HD 4670 – 1GB) but didnt know if it was a good graphics card which was worth the extra $100

• Are there any other upgrades which you can suggest would be benefitial to my sysem.

• Are there any other laptops around the same price ($1049) that would match or beat the system.

• I heard you should also buy the advanced warrenty so after two years you can drop it and get a new one?

I was thinking about buying the system for day to day use,to moderate gaming i.e new releases but nothing like crysis or modern warefare. And something that would last for a couple of years in trodays climate.
Thanks in advance for all your help and support.
Josh Higginson

 

Well the Core i5 upgrade would be the obvious one (which includes a $50 gift card, Radeon 4670 and extended warranty) if it doesn't exceed your budget.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=laptop-studio-xps-16

Something like this would outperform your configuration by far in terms of the CPU and GPU (be it your configuration or the Core i5 with a Radeon 4670) though the hard drive would be worse and the 720p (possibly CCFL) screen is less desirable.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146613

The advanced warranty merely covers accidental damage protection. They won't send you a new computer if you drop it let alone if it malfunctions. Normally they'll send a technician to your home (as with any on-site warranty) to repair the computer using refurbished parts if possible. AFAIK if the computer is pretty much beyond repair (gets run over by a car or dropped in a pool?) then Dell would replace it with a refurbished computer deemed equal or better than your model (though chances are it will be replaced by identical model). That said, I am not encouraging fraud.[/QUOTE]

 

Thanks for your informative reply ! Firstly I just want to clear up that I wasnt hinting that I would commit fraud just speculating.

I looked at the new Dell system you reccommended and its at the very top end. And as for the Lenovo I havent had any experience with those. Would you suggest it over the Dell with the new upgrades ?

The only reason I was going to go with Dell is the fact that they may be flexible with my budget, I.e might knock the price down a bit.

Many thank Josh.

 

Nicely said .

As for that it's up to you. The Lenovo has a quad core Core i7 which will out perform the newer (Arrandale) Core i5's and Core i7's which are dual core. As a result, it is more comparable with the stronger but older Studio XPS 1645 than the Studio XPS 1647. With the Lenovo, you'll be missing out on battery life as well as amenities like the back lit keyboard or high resolution LED monitor, have a slower hard drive, and will experience greater heat output (though this is true of the SXPS 1645 also). The lack of such amenities would probably also make it comparable to a very high end Studio 15. That said, it's only $1,000 giving you performance without the luxuries of the SXPS.

I haven't owned a Lenovo either but Thinkpads are known for typically being of good build quality. I can't speak for Ideapads though. That said, the product has excellent reviews at Newegg with the only negative review (of fifty) being that they received a unit that was DoA.

Though Dell is fairly flexible, unfortunately they don't price match perfectly (I've tried). However, you can try mentioning this is a model you're considering to see if Dell is willing to give you any more incentives.

 

Thanks again for your quick reply. Im going to see what dell will do to price match if they cant get it near to what New egg are asking then I will go with the lenovo.

I heard the Dell model I was considering has overheating problems ?

And secondly I would like to play some new games on this laptop (Assasins Creed 2 and Modern Warefare) will the lenovo cope with it and will I see good quality with the screen it has ?
I also benchmarked the two GPU's could you have a look at the scores and tell me what it all means lol it appears to me that the ATI is the better card?

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

And lastly I hope, reviews on the lenovo say the HDD is slow how easy would this be to replce with a 7200 and would I have to buy Windows 7 again ?
P.S what is bloatware and how do I remove it lol.

Thanks again you really helping out an otherwise clueless guy here!

 

I've heard too many conflicting reports to trust those statements (people said the same about my SXPS 13 which I disagree with). That said, the throttling issue seems like it may be worthy to take note of.

I'd expect any of the machines you'd be using to get a high FPS. The Lenovo at its native resolution (720p) will technically get a higher frame rate than the SXPS (900p/1080p) on the upside though it may not look as great as it would at 900p/1080p. If comparing the machines at the same resolution/quality, I'd expect the Lenovo to perform about the same.

Good point. I'm weary of trusting some of the numbers provided by those benchmarks though as there is no way a Radeon 4670 will provide twice as many frames per second compared to a GT 240M in some of the games mentioned. Though there are some conflicting numbers I've seen elsewhere, it seems like the general consensus is that the Radeon 4670 will perform marginally better than the GT 240M. That said, I'm not sure if the performance improvement will be visible at all paired with a weaker CPU in the SXPS 1647.

Here's a basic list of what I believe the pro's/cons are of each machine relative to each other.

Studio XPS 1647 Pros: Battery life, monitor, GPU, hard drive speed, warranty (can't beat on-site service ), numerous amenities such as the back lit keyboard, etc.
Lenovo Y550P: CPU, price ($300 difference), and possibly weight

Also, I just noticed the Lenovo does indeed offer an LED monitor though it is at a lower resolution.

Glad I could be of assistance .

 

Im having chats with Dell reps all over the world as we speak lol. I am trying to get the price down. he offered a core i7 system for around the same price as the i5. Would this be better option ?

As for on-site service I eill be relocating to UK for a couple of years lol so unless i fork out another 100 for the international warrenty Im stuck lol

Thanks for the little summery, as it stands I will go with the lenovo, but if I can get a dell rep to get the proce down to anywere near 1100/1200 woul you go with the Dell ?

 

Of the Studio XPS 16 or a Studio 15? I'd be surprised if he could do that with the Studio XPS but if he manages to do that then I'd definitely go with that.

IIRC it's the "Advanced" warranty option that provides international coverage which on the upside will also provide accidental damage and LoJack protection which may make it worth it for you.

Yep... especially if you manage to get accidental damage and international coverage on it at that price (~$1,200) .

 

Looks like they arent budging lol just like you said. I might see if they can throw in the extra warrenty at no extra cost, and take the base price of the Dell. But if what they advertise is what you get then its the Lenvo all the way, better bang for your buck.

 

What do you think to this offer ? or does the Lenovo still beat it ?

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&kc=&oc=dypcfn2

Took me a good hour to get this out of them, hopefully might even get a free mouse, ahh the little things !

 

That offer seems to be very similar to the other one. $50 more for a Clarksfield CPU (providing better performance but worse battery life) and the ability to have a 2 year warranty (making it $50 cheaper than the other one) if you choose not to upgrade to the third year. The SXPS 1645 (which you linked to) will definitely offer at least a mild performance upgrade due to the presence of a 7200 RPM hard drive, the Radeon 4670, and potentially faster RAM (the SXPS 1645 has RAM clocked at 1333MHz whereas I'm not sure what the Lenovo contains) though I can't comment on the average battery life. If you plan on getting the SXPS 1645, I'd definitely look into the power throttling issue before your purchase though it seems Dell plans on addressing this.

Also, I realized one thing I implied earlier but didn't specifically note was that the Lenovo only features a 6 cell battery whereas both Dell models feature a 9 cell battery. That said, the battery life on the Lenovo is actually much better than I expected it would be (i.e. it seems to actually get 3-4 hours on power saving modes).

Regarding the final decision, it really depends on how much you value the monitor and "amenities". The "amenities" of the SXPS 16 which the Lenovo lacks would be the slot-load CD/DVD drive, dedicated media buttons (though the Lenovo has volume control), dual headphone jacks, and a 2 megapixel camera. Personally, I haven't really cared for my CD/DVD drive and have yet to use the webcam (beyond basic testing). Having a second headphone jack is useful at times though it hasn't really been necessary for me. The main feature which I use very often are the dedicated media buttons though I'm not sure it would bother me to the point where I would be willing to pay that much more if they weren't dedicated.

 

Thank man, after that lovely couple of paragraphs lol I ave come to a conclusion and purchased me new laptop wooo!!!! I changed the Dell deal as the rep hoocked me up with a newer slightly more expensive deal. As follows:

Studio XPS 16 Notebook:

Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
4GB, DDR3, 1333MHz 2 Dimm
15.6 inch Wide Screen 16:9 900p HD+ WLED LCD, W/2.0 MP, XPS 1645
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670 1GB
500GB 7200RPM Free Fall SensorSeagate Hard Drive
Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive
High Definition Audio 2.0 with SRS Premium Sound
9-cell Battery

$1167

Yes the screen is worse but better than the lenovo. Tell me what you guys think, did I do good or did I make a big mistake ? As for the heating issues 'apparently' they have fixed it.

 

The deal seems pretty good but a new contender has arrived. If you don't mind another 0.4" size increase, the ASUS N61JQ-X1 is a pretty good deal at $1,000 over at Newegg considering it has a Radeon 5xxx GPU, USB 3.0 support, and a 2 year warranty with 1 year of accidental damage protection while maintaining a Clarksfield Core i7 and a 7200 RPM hard drive (albeit with lower storage capacity). That said, I don't believe the Asus model has been released yet and hence lacks reviews as a result.

 

Also it's an Asus.

 

What's wrong with Asus?

 

They're fugly. Also the construction seems kind of cheap. Performance wise they're fine I just wish Asus would start designing laptops as nice on the outside as they were on the inside.

 

I was seriosuly considering that ASUS! Sephoroth but like Fen said they arent as good looking as the DELL. And I didnt know how good the 5 series ATI was.

You have helped me out a s**t load Seph I appreciate it, If the 5 series is worth the drop in HD capacity and worse screen as I hear the ASUS has a poor resolution. Then I porbably should have gone for the ASUS.

 

I typically haven't heard bad things about construction on most of their lineups (and things like this show their computers are rather sturdy). Though it is true that many of their units aren't so aesthetically pleasant, keep in mind they do have some nicer looking series such as the Lamborghini or U series (though they tend to be much more expensive and aren't updated commonly). Though IMO the SXPS 16 is a rather attractive machine, there didn't seem to be anything special about the Lenovo model being looked at. More pictures can be seen here.

Though I don't believe any benchmarks have been posted regarding the 5xxx series, DX-11 support and improved power efficiency would be the main things attractive about it to me.

Glad I could help out . The Asus model has the same resolution issue the Lenovo had (though there are slightly fewer pixels per square inch due to the slightly larger screen). I probably would have also gone with the SXPS 16 as well due to the monitor as well as features like the back lit keyboard.

 

So you would prefer the XPS ?

Wow DX-11 nice however I doubt DX-11 will be maximized until a couple of years ? Hasnt DX-10 still got some growng room ?

As for the the looks, ye the lenovo had the same issues although the ASUS is a far better looker!

 

If I were buying the laptop right now and had to make a decision, I'd be rather confused. DX11-compatible GPU's aren't required for technologies like DirectCompute to function as I had previously thought, but it still is a nice thing to have when future-proofing a computer as is USB 3.0 support. However, I'd probably end up choosing the Dell due to the monitor, slightly smaller size, and features such as the back lit keyboard. Mind if I ask what warranty is on your purchase?

In regards to DX-11 adoption, it probably won't be accepted on a very large scale until Nvidia pushes out a DX11 compatible GPU on either desktops or laptops (the GeForce 3 series still lacks it). As far as games go, here's what is expected to support DX11 as of now.

 

Whats the advanates of USB 3.0 ?? and sure I only got the standard warrenty for this reason:
Im moving back to the UK and the accidental warrenty is only availiablein the US however saying that I can go back home and take out the accidental warrenty with DELL UK. So I am just waiting until then.

 

USB 3.0 is 10 times faster than USB 2.0 that's a huge advantage in and of itself.

 

Ah right I see you think there is going to be adapters to speed up USB 2.0 ? Or an I stuck lol ?

 

I've been looking into a pci-express USB3.0 card I'm pretty sure they exist, or will eventually. In order to take advantage of USB 3.0 speeds you'd need a USB 3.0 device anyway.

 

Ah I see, ye I get that like a USB 3.0 Mouse?
Im sure there will be some kind of adapter that will allow you to use a USB 3.0mouse on 2.0.

 

+1

Though it is a 10x performance improvement, note that most devices will be limited to their own performance rate instead of being bottle-necked by USB 2.0 (i.e. external storage drives won't be a full 10x faster albeit there should still be an easily visible performance boost on newer drives).

I was under the impression Dell's "Complete Care" was transferable to the UK though I suppose I may be mistaken. Either way, if you're going to the UK that is another potential reason to go with Dell as Asus's UK warranty coverage is supposedly horrible and the Asus's 1 year of accidental damage coverage is only valid in the U.S. (unlike the rest of the warranty).

EDIT:

I doubt mice would see much (if any) benefit from supporting USB 3.0 regardless of how high-precision they are. External storage mediums (flash drives, hard drives, etc.) on the other hand are examples of products that would see much larger benefits. I personally would benefit very largely from USB 3.0 as I often boot to Linux distros from flash drives but many others who don't use external drives (or simply don't want to purchase new ones as much (when made available) may not notice a difference. USB 3.0 devices are also backwards compatible to begin with so such devices would also normally run fine on USB 2.0 connections (albeit at a slower speed).

 

You can use a usb 3.0 device on a 2.0 port it just won't be as fast as it could be.

 

got ya! As forthe throttleing issues, have you any idea when DELL might rectify this ? because as I understand it for it to be ressolved the laptop would need a larger power supply ?
And if thats the case then isnt that a hige deal ?

 

As for the USB issue:

http://www.gizmag.com/usb-30-expresscard-adapter/13526/

I found that slightly unslightly but needs must.

 

That's what I was looking at lol. totally worth the blemish to my Aesthetic.

 

Lol ye totally, let me know if you get one and how it perfroms think I might grab one lol. Can I ask a question off topic:

What gaming mouse do you suggest ?