Is it worth it?

Hello, can anyone help, Im new to laptop gaming. Im bidding on a couple of laptops on ebay both of them are XPS 1720 2.2gh with 4gig ram and dual 8700m GT cards. The difference is that one has an Ageia PhysX processing unit and the other dont. My question is how much of a difference is this going to make to gaming.

 

Well, the difference is should I say, minimal, you might see object falling/bouncing slightly differently, but thats about it, and its only for certain games. So I'll probably skip on that.

 

You mean the M1730 - that sthe only lappy with the PPU.

Not many of the current games actually support it, so its really not worth getting it TBH. Its pretty much a waste.

Saying that, Ageia have just been overtaken by Nvidia I believe, so it could be used more in the future. Its anyones guess at the mo. Currently its pretty much a useless piece of kit, but who knows what the future may hold?........

How much is the price difference? If its only very small, and Im talking around £20, then go for it. If not, dont bother.

 

You don't need a PPU. Only a handful of games use and even those titels can be enjoyed without a PPU. I never bothered with the whole PPU thing. I was surprised when Dell offered them in the XPS M1730. They had all but died out for the PC. None of the retailers here offer them anymore.

 

Thanks for replying so quickly, thanks for the advice, ill use it. As for the price difference Im not sure yet as they are auctions and there a couple of days between end times. However as Ive bid on the non PPU Ill follow that through

 

The Ageia PhysX is only supported by some games. If it ain't supported by the game, then it's just something else throwing heat and consuming power and adding weight and just a royal pain..

With that said, I believe the Ageia PhysX is a standard on the 1730. So I don't believe it's an option to get it or not.

I believe you mean the 1720? Which does not have dual 8700's. Only a 8600.

 

Its definately the XPS 1730, and I thought it was standard too. But I emailed the ebay shop to ask and he said it does not have it. What do you make of that

 

I got the 1730 without the PPU. I then rang and enquired and they sent it to me and told me to install it myself since it was an 'easy install'.

Like hell was it, you have to strip the laptop apart!!

Dell seem to have forgotten to put the processor into many of the M1730's.

 

How reliable are dell laptops, the build quality I mean. Apart from them leaving stuff out to start with do they often break down.

 

as long as you don't drop it and stuff they are pretty good quality

 

I agree. They have always been very reliable for me - even at work, where we use all Dell equipment.