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    XPS 15: i7 740QM or 840QM

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by DGM, Nov 7, 2010.

  1. DGM

    DGM Newbie

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    Hi all,

    I am new to these forums; I registered as I am more or less set on purchasing a XPS 15, however had a question which I hope the experts here can shed some light on.

    I will be using the laptop mainly for a lot of photo editing when I am out and about (large TIF files of anywhere up to and over 100MB), maybe a tad of video editing and lots of web surfing, downloads and general word processing and presentations for university purposes. I won't be doing a terrible lot in the way of gaming, perhaps a tad here and there. I will upgrade to the 1080p screen and 8GB RAM is standard.

    In Australia, we only have i7 processors available for the XPS 15 - the base processor is the i7 740QM with GT 435M. For quite a sum of money, I can upgrade to the 840QM. I dont mind paying the extra if I will notice improvements in performance and some 'future proofing', but if it's very much overkill and a waste of money, and more importantly, has a higher possibility of increased heat production when compared to the 740QM, then I will save the money and stick with the 740QM. $550 AU is a lot of money to upgrade from 740QM to 840QM, so if it's not worth it then always best to keep the money in the pocket.

    Look forward to your comments and thanks in advance.

    Cheers,
    Dale
     
    DGM, Nov 7, 2010
    #1
  2. seeker_moc

    seeker_moc Notebook Virtuoso

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    The 840 is faster, has more cache, and produces the same amount of heat. It will make a difference when doing video encoding. I doubt you'll see much difference in photo editing. The 840 is cool, but I personally don't think it's 550 AU cool.
     
    seeker_moc, Nov 7, 2010
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  3. fakename

    fakename Notebook Geek

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    Wow, they're really raking you over the coals in aussieland. I paid a little over $200US to go from the 740 to the 840, completely worth it for what I do with it. But yeah, that price is waay to steep for your needs.
     
    fakename, Nov 9, 2010
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  4. DGM

    DGM Newbie

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    Thanks all!

    Yeah, they sure know how to charge you for something here in Australia. The Aussie dollar is strong against the US, so I can more or less buy something from the US and save a whole truck load of money. If you plan on cheap living, Australia isn't your place, haha.

    I might skip on the 840 - see how my credit card feels when I decide to order ;)
     
    DGM, Nov 9, 2010
    #4