Weight Really an Issue?

I'm going to be going to college this coming fall and I've been really looking at the dell inspirons/vostros. At first I thought the 14in. where perfect but then I noticed that the 8600gt came only w/ the 15in. I've read people's responses about this situation and many people say that you wont have much time for video games anyways.

I don't game heavily but I do on occasion - pc specs: 2.4 c2d, 2gb ram, 7950gt ko. I just built this comp about a half year ago and really enjoy the performance.

I just really want that card [sorry if this sounds selfish lol] just in case I need the power once dx10 games come out.

Things I consider in no particular order:
weight [small screen means lighter]
battery life [small screen should mean more up time]
build [ seems like all builds aren't too bad - I've always looked at the anti-glare screen because I don't really like glossy]
price [I can configure both the 14 and 15 in to generally the same price w/ just differences in processor speed but the 15 would have the 8600]


THANKS a lot guys. I plan to buy the laptop early august so it ships in during September

 

The MacBook Pro is relatively small (compared to other 15" notebooks) and has an 8600GT (with GDDR3, not the slower GDDR2 the Dell 1520 uses).

 

I have considered it but its too pricey for me at the moment.
I'm looking for a laptop around half the cost of the macbook pro [0-1000$]

 

I'm a CS major in college right now and trust me, depending on what kind of semester you're having you'll have plenty of time to game and do other things. So don't worry about what other people say. It all depends on you and your time management skills.

 

You will definitely feel the strain on your back or arms, weight stacks easily and after a while, you'll be feeling it.

I have a 15" notebook which weighs 5.4lbs and is 1" thick. Even with one textbook and one binder, my messenger bag is killing my shoulder after commuting for an hour and walking to class. It gets worse if I have multiple lectures in one day!

It's personal preference really, it may not seem like alot at first but oh boy, you feel the burn

 

yea awesome, lets pay 2x the price for a macbook...

How about you compromise and get the 14in, then upgrade your videocard for your desktop when you wanna play DX10 games. You won't really wanna play games on your laptop other than the novelty factor. Notebook gaming never really made sense to me... but then again, I don't game at all anymore (recent college graduate/gradstudent now). I think you might enjoy some gaming freshman year, unless you are one of the guys that kinda becomes a loser, you grow out of it and have a busy life soph year and on and outgrow gaming. Especially if you are only a casual one now.

 

Thanks for the speedy replies guys

Even though I'm used to carrying a pretty heavy backpack [I never really used my lockers, but I didn't have those large ass backpacks that cause me to lean over just to walk straight] I think it would be nice to have to only carry something much smaller; save some deskspace too.

thats a good suggestion tsunami @ changing my desktop card [but I just built my comp so I want that thing to last much longer lol; I can't put it in my older comp because it doesn't have the right slots]

thats true I guess, I mean sometimes my friends come over w/ their crazy laptops and lan w/ me and my desktop. I have a pretty old laptop [4-5 years] and I can't really play games on it but then again I don't use it very much.

lol, I'm not sure if I'll out grow gaming just yet because I had a pretty busy senior year but I still managed to push in some company of heroes skirms and a few rounds of bf 2142.

How big is the difference between a 8400 and an 8600?

 

Oh, I play HL2 on occasion and will probably pick up episode 2 just to play through it. Thats my one gaming treat every few years, Half Life. But my freshman year we played Halo on our network like... constantly. I.E. hours and hours a day. Our campus was utterly obsessed with it. I just meant, most of us grew out of that kinda gaming after fresh year, but I still play a good game when it comes along. And by then I started envying the people with the powerbook 12 inch and other ultra lights. For grad school i got an m1210 from my lesson learned.

 

cards and 3dmark06 scores:

8600M GT - 3566 (ranked 20)
8400M GS - 1456 (ranked 41)

source:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

I'm looking forward to episode 2 as well...hopefully I can play it and still manage the workload.

 

If you are a commuter it will hurt, depending on how far you have to walk. I took two rush-hour trains and walked about 2 miles each way to/from university in Japan, and with a 15.4" Acer laptop + AC adapter. Wasn't fun, but was great exercise

 

woah, the m1210 is 12 inches.... lol sorry I just started researching laptops recently......

Thanks alot for the numbers pragun though I'm dissappointed in the 8400's performance. That seems like a HUGE difference for generally the same price.

Are you guys getting the orange box? I have hl2 but I play css much more than hl just because i can just spend 30 min w/e w/ friends to play a few rounds.

dang nivek.....lol I'm kinda sure that my campus at UCIrvine isn't too big so i don't think I'll be walking too much w/ it.

do you guys have anything to say about the difference in battery life?

 

you're welcome =). but i think notebook check's number for the 8600M GT is with DDR3. AFAIK people on this board were getting around 3000 with it, but OCers were getting about 4000. since the 1520 is said to run cool, it seems rather safe to be OCing the 8600.

 

Wow my 7400go is listed just one step below the 8400g is this accurate?

Edit: hmm i guess other rankings show it more accurately in the lower middle class, where as the 8400 is upper middle class.

 

Well, battery life has really never gotten any better for laptops these size and with these mainstream components...usually you'll have to buy a higher capacity battery if you want it to push beyond the 2 hour mark on full brightness. It's pretty simple to calculate too, if you know what the peak power consumption of your laptop is.

 

i think so...i thought the NVIDIA cards were rated by the second digit (hundreds place) from the left...like 700 or 800+ are gaming "enthusiast" cards...up to 600 or 700 are performance cards...im not sure of the numbers...but i wouldnt be surprised.

 

well, thanks again for the clear up pragun lol. I don't think I'll be oc'ing a laptop though just because I don't feel like I should [no offense to those who do though]

I don't care for brightness or sound really, I just like it when I can use my laptop [like my old one] for more than the rated time.

@ tsunami - I think they just ranked it in terms of their score in the test. though I'mi not sure what your asking, sorry.


I really do plan on getting a dell though, unless someone can really suggest me to do otherwise.

 

I'd say if you already have a gaming desktop get an ultraportable, the m1210 can still play CS at 45fps. You wont' regret having something only 12 inches. If you wanna step up, get the m1330. If you snap up the last of the m1210's they are only 899! If you really really wanna game, then go all out and get the 15" i say. Don't do some halfway 14" think. Either get the 12" at reduced future gaming potential, or the 15" with much better.

thinkpads are incredibly well built

 

thats true, i don't want to do some half ass'ed sort of portable laptop...

I'll check those out man, thanks for the suggestion

I looked up more about the lenovo and I don't think there too great for me no offense. I heard good things about them but I think I'll stick w/ something else for now

 

I think I'll be using my laptop for media purposes as well, so after some thought and research I think I'll stick w/ 14 being my smallest size for now. Ultra portable may not be what I'm looking for at the moment.

btw, do Dell's always have coupons? like when the current one expires, will a new one appear?

 

not necessarily immediately after. you might get one during any current promotions or one after them...or maybe one-after-the-other. it's a gamble...have fun with it lol. also, you can call dell and haggle.

 

wow I did not know you can haggle. Does this occur after the purchase?I wouldn't mind trying my luck lol.

I hope the next coupons are good too!