XPS 1647 or 1645 primarily for Software Development??

Been following all the throttling issues on these forums religiously for a while now. I have been eyeing these laptops since they came out. Looking for some opinions on what I should buy. The "business" reps are trying to sell me a Precision but that price point is really high.

Primary uses will be:
Software and Database Design and Development -- mainly C++, .NET technologies (WCF, WPF, C#, etc), Silverlight, Sharepoint, Expression Blend, SQL Server (not express). I will be installing the entire development environments and tools that come with these. Also MS Office Enterprise.

Other occasional uses:
Movies (getting BR for sure), some gaming (not hard core like most here) and other regular day-to-day tasks (surfing, etc.)

With above said, should I get the i7 620, 720 or 820? I can get the RGBLED with the 620 but not the 720 or 620 -- is the RGBLED worth it -- don't mind spending the $$ for it -- or is the WLED just fine (even for BR movies)? Also, I am definitely getting the SSD for speed.

Thanks for the advice!

 

I returned XPS 1645 for an HP Dv6t.
When you buy an XPS, prepare yourself for the feeling that you paid premium for an underperforming notebook. If you can live with this then this notebook is good for you.
I recommend i7 620 but not now, when the on die graphics is utilized. I am using VS and hardly take benefit from the quad cores i7 720.
The WLED is good enough and gorgeous.
SSD is a good choice and well worth the many over the I7 820 upgrade or the RGBLED.

Have you considered HP business notebook, very powerful, reliable, and carries a 3 year international next day service.

 

Thanks for the response. Have not considered an HP since our company only deals with DELL. What do you mean when you say you recommend the 17 620 but not now, when the on die graphics is utilized? This would come with its own GPU -- the ATI card. Thanks.

 

I use visual studio 2008. Mainly C# and use Delphi 7 and 2010. I use both from an xp virtual machine. Once the vm is fully loaded and made full screen I can't really tell I am running from a vm. I have the 820 with 4 gigs.

I have the 500GB hard drive cause I needed more space since I use VM's but if I didn't I would have got the ssd drive for more speed. Even before the throttling issues I didn't really have a problem.

I just wish I would have got more ram. The RGBLED is nice but I can't compare it to WLED since I have not see one. The only downside I have so far is the fingerprints. This thing is a fingerprint magnet!

PM me if you want more detail as I don't check the forums often.

Marc

 

With regard to the SXPS 1645, here's another vote of confidence for running Visual Studio 2010 under Windows 7 and Visual Studio 2008 under Windows XP (under VMWare). I do a lot of C# and C++ development and have not had any complaints about development on the 1645.

For reference, I have the i7-820QM.

 

I7 620 has an integrated GPU on the processor die. Currently it is not allowed to switch to the integrated one. In the near future, it will be available, which will improve the battery life.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like most use 820. Also, thanks for the explaination on the integrated GPU -- didn't know that but I would like to use the dedicated GPU most of the time anyways -- especially if I get the RGB screen with the 17 620 -- what I am leaning towards as that is the only proc of the three available with the RGB screen option -- given I do play some games and watch movies sometimes!

Per Bill from DELL in the other thread, they will be giving out 130w adapter to 1647 owners as well -- combined with the new BIOS for the 1647 and the reduced power draw of the i7 620, at least there is hope that this config (i7 620 and RGB) "can" be used to its fullest capacity -- something I feel, reading the 1645 threads, is still up in the air even with the new BIOS and 130w adapter.

Even though I am unlikely to push either to use the full capacity, at least there is piece of mind in getting what you pay for...

 

I'd definitely recommend getting the SSD over the regular HD, the RGBLED over the WLED. Beautiful fast laptop, very happy with it

 

I have a 1647 and can't be more happy with it myself. About 8 weeks ago I took the leap that it'd be "ok" even after reading all of the issues people have posted.

I use it as a home office / light multimedia machine (never, ever any games).

I was able to water it down enough to make it affordable (1200.00) and still be a decent machine as opposed to much of the pure junk (internal parts) that are available in the big box stores.

If you research Toshiba, Dell, HP, Asus and others - you'll find people love them and people hate them. No perfect machine since it's just that a machine and any machine can have issues.

I have the i5-540 processor / 4 Gigs Ram / 4670 Video Card / & the 15.6 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p Full HD WLED LCD, W/2.0.

To me - well worth the cash in comparison to the competition.

It comes with a little bloatware but not as much as I've seen on HP's.

To me it doesn't run any hotter than an HP Elitebook I use for work.

 

I don't use it for primarily for software development, but part of the reason I bought it was for game development (targeting XNA on Xbox360). My old machine didn't have feature parity with the Xbox360 GPU. Otherwise I use it as general purpose desktop replacement, web browsing, working from home, occasional gaming.

It's been a great laptop, and the throttle issue was solved as far as I'm concerned as soon as unclewebb explained what MSRs I had to write to override throttling. My only regret was RGBLED, software isn't ready for ultra-wide color gamuts, its very garish. You can play around a bit with color profiles and calibration in some apps, but there really isn't a proper one-size-fits-all solution. So basically, waste of money unless you live in Adobe Photoshop imo. If I did it again I'd just get 1080p WLED and spend the savings on a whole netbook.

Planning to upgrade to SSD and 8GB RAM when prices drop to sane levels, maybe in a year.

 

Why on earth would you use a virtual machine of xp to develop with visual studio 08?

It runs just fine on windows 7, Id say much better.

 

You have the exact same config on order that I am looking to get. If you get it on time (hopefully you do!) and install VS on it, please let me know what you think of performance, etc. Thanks.