E5105 purchase help. tight budget...graphics card or higher processor power?

Hi all i am soon going to be buying a E1505
and I was wondering is it worth it to get a graphics card(x1300) with just a 1.66 ghz processor, or just get Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with 1.86 ghz...i can't get both due to the fact that i'm kind of on a budget, and that 300 dollar coupon only kinda helps...does the x1300 give much improvement. I'm mainly going to be using it for school(notetaking, homework, etc)...but would also like the feature to surf the web and maybe few games here n there without having to be annoyed by the garbage graphics. or should i just say forget it and dont need a graphics card or that extra processor power in the 1.86 and just stick with 1.66? thanks for the help

 

What games will you be playing? Also, what is your budget?

 

my budget would be below 900 bucks... well actually..i'm not really sure if i'll be playing games, nothing like the high end games mainly played on desktops... but i'll proably be doing more like editing photos or something, like using photoshop. these are the specs i am looking at right now

Inspiron E1505 Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2400 (2MB Cache/1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)
Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD Panel 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™
Memory FREE 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
Video Card Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Hard Drive 60GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

with all that, it has me at $868

also, after reading reviews n stuff i'm still also not sure if i shoulld get the SXGA w/ truebright, how much of a disadvantage am i, do dvds play just fine under regular XGA?

Thanks a bunch for the reply

 

You said photoshop...I would go for the graphics card. I have a GMA 900 in an old I1100 P4 2.4ghz notebook....I can run photoshop OK since i have 1GB of RAM. However, the fan kicks up to high hell and when u try to zoom in on photoshop, its not fun. Now the 950 is better, and will surely handle it (especially the basics). But if you are even considering doing moderately advanced editing, my rec. is leaning towards the graphics card...and even it's not spectacular. On the other hand, GMA 950 will help cooling and battery life issues....1.66 DC is FOR SURE good enough - but then you must ask yourself, is that ol' GMA 950 up to snuff? Best of luck to you!

-D

 

I go with Core Duo. Core duo will enhance the speed of use in Photoshop. Why get a better GPU when you wont be gaming, which is what the GPU is only for. If your going to be doing a lot of school work/multi - tasking, Core Duo is the best option

 

i had to make the same kind of choice but for editing video(DC 1.83ghz vs 1.66ghz or 950 vs ati x1300). Here's what i decided and why: I went for the video card (ati x1300 w/ 1.66ghz Dcore) because it seems the dedicatec video memory and gpu (video processor) would make the system run more efficiently. Less strain on the cpu because someone else is handeling video. Also upgrade ram (aftermarket) to 667 mhz would help with bottlenecking. just my opinion. PS use two memory sticks to take advantage of Dual mem. two 512 better than a single 1gb stick.

 

Good choice. I would have to agree with dhb220 on this. I have an intel 900GMA, and when doing some more heavy photoshop work the fans kick in and it not only drains battery life, but also really eats at your CPU instead of your graphics card. My desktop is about the same speed as my laptop. And my desktop runs photoshop so much better. With a decent Nvida 6200 it makes quite a difference.

 

with this in mind and for my needs..should i even consider the XPS 140 at all? It ISS a bit smaller, so portability seems better. But is it worth getting as opposed to what the E1505 offers?

 

XPS140
I wouldnt consider it for your use... its still only a Pentium M, and the Core Duo in the e1505 is up to twice as fast at alot of common photoshop tasks... definitely a better photoshop chip. The 300, 450, and 700 off coupons also dont work with the XPS series.

As what to upgrade... a faster processor is always a plus, but the 1.6ghz is fine for most use... the core duo is going to give you smooth multi tasking too. Processor upgrades id deem a luxury not a necessity.

GPU Upgrades... Moving to a dedicated card is a big plus... the x1300 (or better yet the x1400) are much better than the 950... but not only that... since you would have a motherboard with a dedicated video card theres aways a chance you can get a faster GPU from dell if they ever offer one for a e1505 in the future. If you only have the integrated GPU you dont have that option.

Screen
The dell is just about the only low end Duo Core notebook out there that you can get an XGA+ video with... if you do graphics work Id highly recommend it as an upgrade.

Memory
2 chips are better than one to take advantage of dual channel... but you can upgrade the ram later, and its cheaper to do in aftermarket... so if your tight on funds only take the free memory upgrades.

Thats my 2 cents. good luck.

 

^^^^^^
That was a good 2 cents - I agree with every point made! The E1505 w/ x1400 is a very good value for the price!