Dell XpS 1530 Question

how come dell 1530xps dosen't give more graphic cards options ?

right now they only give the option of the geforce 8400m 128mb and the 8600m 256mb but i was wonder if they offer graphic cards like the 8700 512mbddr3

 

Maybe because it's never meant to be a gaming laptop.

 

Or that there isn't enough space to add a bigger card in the chasis?

 

What's wrong with the 8600? I think that's a wicked card!

 

people actually have tried playing cod4 and doom3 on the 1530 it ran pretty good..but the problem is the 256mb video card is because what if u have a game/app needing 512mb of video memory?

 

I am by no means a gamer, however, I have started to play COD4 regularly and am able to run it smoothly at 1440 x 900 with most settings turned up.

The M1530 was meant to hit a sweet spot with power users, and QC issues notwithstanding, Dell has done so. It is the owning of the once "impossible" dream of an XPS laptop for a reasonable price, in a very attractive, functional, and cost-effective package, that caught people's eye and pocketbook. For those that purchased towards the end of last year/last month- very cost effective with a ton of service included.


If you need more, like I assume you do, try looking towards this Sunday when Best Buy has their Gateway FX laptop on sale (again) for its lowest yet. $1199. Got your 512MB of 8800M GTS memory. Processor isn't desirable, but IMO Gateway went the correct way in sacrificing that for the 8800, as its scores suggest. New Intel processors should be able to replace the T series, if that's a route you'd care to go.

 

if it makes you feel better, the 8600m gt can be overclocked to near the 8700m gt specs

 

but does that do any damage to the graphics card or laptop in the long run?

 

Well overclocking technically voids your warranty if they can prove that you have been doing that but as long as the video card stays under 100 Celsius it should be fine, many people overclock their videocards with no problem and significant performance increases sometimes makes the difference of playable vs unplayable.

as far as the OP question goes i think it is mainly a matter of heat, yeah i know you can o/c it and it is technically fine but its not comfortable to use on you lap at that temp.

I was under the impression that more vram mainly only made a difference when going to higher resolutions the wxga, can anyone show me anything that says otherwise.

Edit: here is the article that pushed me toward the conclusion about vram and resolutions though in this case its desktop cards and 320 vs 768 vs 512 vs 1024 but the same principle should apply, no? http://guru3d.com/article/Videocards/468/8