Studio 15 - Need advice w/ build

Hi everyone;

I'm looking to purchase a new laptop within the next few days. Besides general web / e-mail use, I'll be using this for photo editing. Most files are in RAW and therefore are 16 - 25 MBs each.

This is what I'm looking at...

• Intel® Core™ i5-430M 2.26GHz (2.53GHz Turbo Mode, 3M cache)
• 15.6” High Definition (1080p) LED Display with TrueLife™ and Camera/Facial Recognition SW
• 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
• 500GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
• ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4570, 512MB
• 85 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB

This comes out to around $1200 which is where I would like to keep it. The only thing I'm concerned with is the processer, I wanted to upgrade to i520 or i540 although they aren't listed anymore and the GPU, 4XXX seriers as opposed to 5XXX. Considering my needs, dSLR file editing, do you think i'd even need to upgrade?

Thanks for the comments.

 

don't u think its bit expensive.


following is the configuration what i have ordered 20th of this month.

Intel Core i7 Processor 720QM(1.60GHz,6MB cache)
Display : 15.6in 1366X768
Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
Hard Drive : 500GB Free Fall Sensor (7200RPM)
Graphics : 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5470 graphics card
Wireless : Intel WiFi Link 5300 (802.11 a/g/n) Half Mini Card
Wireless : Europe Dell Bluetooth 370 Card
85 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
Keyboard : Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Backlit Keyboard
Operating System : English Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT)
Price: £782.66(Include everything) which is equivalent to 1,209.90 USD

 

well that has a low resolution screen. And photo editing is best with a nice, big 1080p res.

Your original set up looks nice. You should always call them with your configuration and order that way. It can turn out to be much cheaper.

You can also get over 10% (i forget how much, 10 for alienware, usually closer to 20 i thought) for epp, $50 epp signing up for the newsletters, 3% dpa off right away. depending if you qualify for any of them.

And while calling you can barter, as it is your money to spend, and they want a sale. there is a lot of this help in the alienware forum. dell owns alienware if you dont know.

 

That 768p screen is the deal breaker.

 

It's a nice build. Sorry to hear they aren't offering the Core i5 5xx chips. I checked out what was available on the Canadian site and it's still the 4570 for GPU. For what you are doing, you may want to consider the Core i7 series although they tend to suck down the battery a bit more than the i5 series.

Either way, you can't go wrong.

Good luck.

 

I would like the Core i7 although I've been told the battery performance loss isn't worth it.

 

The Core i7 will certainly give you more threads to work with if your applications can take advantage of it but I think it's overkill. Do most people really need a quad-core, 8-thread processor in a laptop? Probably not although desktops may be better for it because they tend to have better ventilation and most people will do their high-end multi-threading applications on a desktop (although some certainly do use a laptop). As for battery loss, you certainly will get a bit better battery life with the i5 series over the i7 since the former is built with a small nanometer technology allowing for cooler temperatures and less power consumption.

In the end, it's your choice but I can tell I am pretty happy with my i5 Studio 15 except for the heat of the GPU but there are always ways of fixing that!

Good luck with your decision.

 

@ Simkins.....That 768p screen is the deal breaker.

I could have 1080p and that would cost me £70 more. so the total price would be £852.66 which is equivalent of 1,316.41 USD. still far more cheaper than u, isn't it?

 

Anyone know why / if the Core i5 5XX will return to the Studio 15? Or, if the Studio 15z will be on the Dell site anytime soon?

 

No idea about the 15z. There have been some postings on other threads with people saying sales reps are claiming it will be coming soon but nothing concrete.

As for Core i5 5xx, the 520M is available in the US version of the Studio 15 but each country seems to have different offerings. Go figure...