M1530 vs Inspiron 1720

honestly, is it that much better? I am debating on just dishing out the extra money for the XPS, but I'm not sure. I'd like to keep it cheap and don't need little BS things. I want this for light gaming and desktop replacement while I'm out on the road. I can get a fully loaded inspiron 1700 for $1000 or a fit to my specs (near the same as the Inspiron 1700) for $1300. My question is, is it really worth the extra money? Little things like a finger print reader don't mean anything to me. I do like the LED screen, but I also like high resolutions. I will be paying using DPA and I beleive XPS is 0% APR for 12 months which is also making it a good selling point. In this situation, with money being slightly tight, what's the better choice? I'm afraid of ordering the XPS with only a 1 year warranty due to the LED screens which I'm unsure of the durability

 

XPS M1530 - $1311 before taxes
XPS M1530 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB, 3MB Cache) H83DHN [223-5880]
Operating System Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium Edition SP1 VHP31E [310-9764][420-5769][420-5924][420-6436][420-6995][420-7590][420-8566][463-2282]
System Color Tuxedo Black BKDMSAT [313-6439]
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms) 2GB2D [311-7821]
LCD, Color and camera High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2.0 M DXGAPLC [320-6693]
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT 25686GT [320-6082]
Hard Drives Speed: 160GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor 160G72 [341-6247]
Software - Adobe Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1 ADOBER [420-7468]
Combo or DVD+RW Drive Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write) 8XDVDRW [313-5820][420-8183]
Sound Card High Definition Audio 2.0 IS [313-4783]
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card TM1395 [430-2680]
Productivity No Microsoft Office MSONO [412-1397]
Software - Antivirus McAfee SecurityCenter 15-months VMCAF1Y [410-1184]
Primary Battery 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery 6BAT [312-0638]
Warranty & Service 2Yr In-Home Service, Parts Labor, 24x7 Phone Support S2OS [412-0360][902-0941][950-3338][960-8710][970-2321][984-2350][988-5607][988-5608]
Dial-Up Internet Access No ISP requested NISP [412-0148]
SECURITY Finger Print Reader XPS M1530 FPRDR [467-2337]
Doms Camera and Color High Res, Black glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2MP Ca KXGTPLC [320-6797][420-7715]
Processor Branding Intel Core 2 Duo Processor IC2DNB [310-8319]
Dell Printer Driver Windows Vista™ Premium VPN [310-8628]
DataSafe Online Backup Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr

Inspiron 1700 - $1080 before taxes

Inspiron 1720 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache) GT83HN [223-5668]
Operating System Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium Edition SP1 VHP31E [313-5195][420-5769][420-5924][420-6436][420-7026][420-7622][420-8566][463-2282]
System Color Jet Black BLK [313-5473]
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz 2G2D [311-7219]
LCD Panel High Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920 x 1200) 17UXGAT [320-5504]
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT 256NV86 [320-5468]
Hard Drive Size: 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) 250GB [341-5010]
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem INTNIC [430-0493]
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1 ADOBER [420-7468]
Optical Drive CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive) 8XDVDRW [341-4716][420-8183]
Sound Card High Definition Audio 2.0 IS [313-4783]
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card TM1395 [430-2680]
Camera No Webcam Option DNCAMER [320-5683]
Misc Productivity Software Microsoft Works IWRK9 [420-8051]
Anti-Virus/ Security suite (pre-install) McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days MC930D [410-1160]
Battery Options 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell) 6BAT [312-0519]
Warranty & Service 2Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor, 24x7 Phone Support S2OS [412-0360][900-8221][950-3338][960-2780][960-7171][983-3100][987-5378][987-5447]
Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months FREE EarthLink Internet Access ERTHLNK [412-0933][412-0934][412-0935]
Dell Digital Entertainment No Entertainment software pre-installed NODE [466-3921]
DOMS Camera Mod Basic Black Matte LCD back color w/o Camera DBLKNC [320-5799]
Processor Branding Intel® Core™2 Duo Label IC2DNB [310-8319]
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium VPN [310-8628]
DataSafe Online Backup Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr

 

the xps has a better video card. put he specs of both laptops ur ordering and then well talk.

 

sorry, was working on that. they both offer 8600m GT

 

One is 15.4" and one is 17" - wouldn't that make your decision for you?

 

the xps is worth every bit of the extra 200 dollars. it is way lighter and taking that 17 incher on the go. ouch, advil should come with it. as a word of caution, get the intel wireless on u xps. and use all the coupons u can. the xps 8600m gt performs better than the one in inspiron due to gddr3 ram in it. u can even play crysis on it. the led looks better than ccfl. and full hd ona 17 incher is plain overkill even though io have it on 15 incher. but i only have for watching blu ray. PS use the 20% off coupon code on here.

 

The one in the XPS uses faster memory.

 

screen size isn't a huge deal. I'd like a larger screen, but it's not something that's going to make or break a deal. I just want a nice, crisp screen. So basically the screen is a toss up between the LED or the resolution, both of them would be great, but I can't make the choice of how much more valuable the LED really is.

This is the price with a 25% coupon, so it's as low as it's gonna go right now. Size isn't a huge issue. I'm a large guy and an extra 4-5 lbs isn't gonna do much damage to me.

this is all new information to me. anyone know how much faster this actually relates to in real game performance?