Quick question about spec. equivalency

Thank you in advance for your time.

I am having some components replaced in my laptop (under warranty) and am woefully unaware of whether I'm actually getting better parts. Long gone are the days where I could easily discern which is the better Intel processor, for example! With all the factors there are to consider, I could really appreciate someone's expertise in the matter. The computer was purchased 2 years ago.

Processor:

OLD: Intel Core2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
NEW: Intel Core i7 740QM Quad Core Processor, 1.73GHz (2.93GHz Turbo Mode, 6MCache)

Hard Drive:

OLD: 500GB 7,200RPM (xMB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
NEW: XMB CACHE -320 GB SATA Hard Drive(7200 RPM)

(seems like a pretty transparent downgrade to me)

Graphics Card

OLD: 1GB Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M - SLI Enabled (NB10E-GT1)
NEW: Crossfire 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870

They're throwing in 2 GB more worth of DDR3 RAM, so I think I'm OK in that regard. Am I having the wool pulled over my eyes with anything else (besides the hard drive)?

Thanks again in advance. If you want any more information, please let me know.

-Ray

 

The i7-740QM is an outdated CPU now, it is last year's model and has been replaced with the Sandy Bridge CPUs. The equivalent I think would be either the 2630QM or the 2720QM, and there are slight revisions of those even that are due out any day now. Don't get the 740, the Sandy CPUs are way more powerful and are current. They are likely trying to unload old stock on you.

Hard drive indeed looks to be a straight downgrade, there has been no real change in those in the last couple years, SSDs are the new thing, but you won't get one of those as a HDD replacement.

The GPU sounds like an upgrade, though the 5870 is again a generation old, though a solid card.

 

The 740QM might be a last-gen part, but the performance is comparable to if not slightly better than the even older QX9300.

The HDD, as mentioned, is a straight downgrade, but CF 5870 should be an upgrade. Overall I think you're getting an upgrade with respect to performance, though.

 

Indeed the OP is getting an upgrade aside from the HDD. Although the OP is going from an extreme edition CPU to a basic-level quad-core i7. Performance overall will be better, though I wouldn't say dramatically so. SLIGHTLY better is how I would put it.

 

As you said dell are just trying to save as much money as they can by giving him old stock. I think they have to give you equivalent or better parts so in this case except for the 5870 cf which is better they are leaning close to the equivalent side.

 

That sounds like an m17x R2 to me, are they giving you the RGB LED Screen as well? Also sounds like the M17x r1 in the old specs anyway so most probably true. Anyway don't let them downgrade any part of yours, if you had 500GB HDD before make sure you get a 500GB HDD this time. As for the processor i'm not sure, but the graphics card is definitely an upgrade in performance.

 

The QX9300 is actually faster than the 740QM for basically everything except single-thread tasks.

EDIT: well they're similar.