Should I keep my current dell or get a new laptop

Hello, I currently have a dell e1505 with a t2300.1GB Ram,80GB HDD, and ati x1400. I only had my current laptop for a year and dont know if its worth upgrading. I'm thinking of getting a smaller laptop since i'm now in college. Should I get a M1330 or Sony SZ or just wait since I dont think the newer specs of new laptops are that much better aside of a new processor and 2GB ram.

 

i think you should wait until next year then buy a new computer

 

i agree. hold out another year. if i were you tho, id throw in 2gbs of ram. it will make it feel like a new laptop.

 

Would you invest money and upgrade from 1GB to 2GB of ram even though you know you would upgrade in about 6 months

 

i agree. if your current rig is going strong, wait. in a year vista should be ironed out a bit more, for one.

you won't get a great performance increase if you're using xp now (assuming your new purchase would have vista).

wait and get a more powerful lappy in a year and it will actually feel like an upgrade instead of a downgrade!

 

I'm using XP and i'm not sure if I even need vista as most of the programs i have now don't run/run good on vista. Do you think putting about $200 for ram in a system i will change in a year is a waster

 

That depends on how well your programs are running. 1 GB is enough RAM for XP for most applications. If the computer is running fine as is, there's no need to increase the RAM.

 

Would you get an m1330 or a sony sz. My last 4 pc's were dells and i liked their services, but after looking on this website i'm confused with all the delays and doa's.

 

Wait for next year.

 

you dont need to spend 200 bucks for ram. newegg has sales for about 60 bucks for new 2gb ram.

 

RAM upgrades are definitely worth it... and it's a very cheap upgrade, so it should be barely a dip in the bank compared to a full upgrade. RAM is one of the most important (and overlooked) aspects of a computer.

 

Wait for next year Quad Core Mobile Processor : http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3964

 

Your laptop is pretty good right now. I would probably use it for at least two years. I would use it for taking notes and mobile computing. If you want to play games then get a desktop or a XBOX 360. In fact, you should get a console instead. It's much cheaper... XBOX 360 Halo Edition is only $450, compared to at least 1K for a gaming desktop (provided that you build it yourself).

 

What do you do with it? I don't expect you're doing a ton of intense gaming with the x1400. I have 2 gigs on XP and it never goes past 1 gig of usage unless I'm gaming and have internet or other applications open at the same time. Unless you do that, don't even spend 50 bucks on RAM. 2 gigs makes vista run faster, doesn't do much for xp. If you're never crossing 1 gig anyways, throwing away money to upgrade it to even more would be moronic.

 

wait till next year
quad cores
nvidias 9000 series
usb 3.0
cheaper ssd
etc

 

Try to see what you can get if you sell your computer. If you think you can get a good price then sell and upgrade. Technology is moving so fast things get outdated as soon as you walk out the door!

 

The only reason i was thinking of getting a m1330 or sz was because in college dragging a 6+ pound notebook and a power adapter + other books and being a commuter is kind of hard. I guess I could wait if quad cores will come out soon, just to get them in Q1 2008

 

Has dell gotten alot worse since last year aside from the build quality which was never great except from the small business lines?

 

You mean $80, right? $200 is the price of like 6GB of RAM.

 

no in bestbuy 2X1GB is about 150 ,6GB is not even a standard, but 4GB is about 300

 

l'll wait till about Jan/February if the sony sz or m1330 will get new upgrades budget is about 2-3K, but need ultraportable with a decent graphics card for casual gaming and programs like matlab

 

I think both those systems have the nvidia 84xx card. The Sony is able to switch between the x3100 integrated and discreet card which is nice. If your budget is that big I would go with the Sony in a heartbeat. Sony has been building these ultraportables for awhile and as far as I am concerned, they own the ultra portable market. I believe the SZ's are still built in house "in Japan" by Sony. Even if the components are made elsewhere, I would trust Sony's in house quality control and build quality in their assembly cells over their plants in China.. any day. The ultra portables are the last of the real Sony laptops as far as I am concerned. I mean seriously, comparing a M1330 to a SZ? If money is no concern the SZ for sure.

 

the way you are saying is that the m1330 is cheap, but in fact the way i price them out with a 3 year warranty they come out to about 2.4K which include the best battery for each, about a T7500, 2GB and about 160GB HDD

 

Maybe not in price, but in build quality I doubt the XPS is up to what a in house built sony is. I admit, dell puts a bit more care in their XPS line. But given a choice of any dell over a Japanese built Sony SZ, I would go Sony instantly. I have used some of the sony ultra portables in the past and they are unbelievable. They really make nice ultra portables. Your right, I did price some of the other SZ's and they are more in line with Dell prices. Although you can bust the 3K barrier with the fully optioned out SZ's with 3 year warranty.

I guess what I am getting at is if the dell is comparable to Sony in price, it makes it easier to choose the SZ over the dell.. At least it would for me. Now this is just the SZ. Any other Chinese made Sony is over priced and you are just paying for a name. But with their ultra portables, they still have some pride and do what sony has always done well.. build powerful small devices.

 

I will wait for a couple of months, but do you guys think that a sony sz is better then an ibm x61(nontablet or tablet). I saw one and it looks so fragile that it is about to break eventhough ibm has good quality. I love sony sz because it has they hybrid graphics which are very impressive for a 13.3 which compare to an m1330. Maybe dell wont have problems with m1330's in a couple of months. I would also like to keep Windows XP since I believe it is very stable at this moment.

 

You should wait until at least Q2 2008. The Montevina platform will bring:

low power usage Penryn chips (25w compared to 35w of current Core 2 Duo's)
Wimax
Ability to view HD DVD or Blu-ray without a dedicated video card
Robson 2.0 (Turbo memory)
DDR3 Ram
Next Version of Intel Integrated graphics
Launch of newNvidia/ATI graphics cards with DX10.1 support


And intergrated TV tuner!!! http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news/125698/

 

HP is currently running their 30 percent coupon.. those usually don't last long. So if you are considering a HP over a Dell.. now is the time.. I don't expect that coupon to last more then another day or two. And from personal experience from using one of the newer dells versus a HPdv6500t, the HP beats the dell.. in everything except the GPU. The dv6500t only has the 8400m gs available.. but it does include HDMI with that.

 

Up the RAM, wait a year. A new computer per year will get expensive and impractical quickly

 

I dont think there is a point now since i have a core duo(1.66ghz),1GBRAM, and an X1400(256) in my e1505 but, its a little to big to carry for college everyday. I will wait at least till december if not february to upgrade. I want about 2-4GB of ram, If 4GB ram will be about a $250 upgrade, maybe a 128-256 graphics, regular hdd will be enough, and a quad core processor in a package 5 pounds or less.

 

are there any good 5 pound or less laptops with good graphics cards(128-512)

 

Well, here, there are no 2x1GB sticks above $120.

Bestbuy, lol, irony

 

lol but I think one can always wait for next gen technology like these and when they come out then decide to wait for the next gen and never actually buy something . But the problem is whether to upgrade now or hold it off until later. I would say that if you are not using the computer to game then you don't really need to upgrade now since your computer is less than 2 years old and should handle tasks like word processing very well.