XPS1530, 1920x1200 vs LED, SSD vs HDD, HELP!

Hello laptop experts,

Finally I have found a forum to answer some questions. I have found myself in the precarious position of having to spend ~$4000 on a laptop (I have a government grant that will expire soon and they take back all unused money, we can't have that!). I am spec'ing out a XPS1530 with all the best features, but am torn on two options.

1. SSD. I've seen the SSD demonstrated on two identical laptops and the SSD is much faster...you can seriously tell the difference. I was also impressed by how much cooler they ran than the 7200rpm HDD. The only downside for me is size, 64GB. I was considering an external drive for my videos, pics, and music, although even with all those files I still only am using ~45GB on my current system. Does anyone have this SDD drive in their M1530 that can comment on it?

2. 1920x1200 full hd screen vs. 1440x900 LED. I've heard rave reviews about both screens. I likely won't be watching too many movies on the screen (I am getting the blue ray drive but will likely use it hooked up to my plasma TV). I wish I could see these two options side by side, but that seems impossible to find. I tried searching the threads for comparisons of the two, but really only found individual threads about each. Can someone point me in the right direction? I don't want to wait a month for delivery and then wish I had gotten the higher res or LED instead.

Thanks for your advice,
G

PS here are the specs I am looking at:
2.6GHz
4GB RAM
256MB Video Card
Blue Ray Drive
Soundblaster X-Fi (it's got optical out!)
SSD 64GB
1920X1200 HD screen

 

Why even bother with the M1530?

How about an Alienware M15x...


http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4328

 

Because the Alienware is unreasonably priced.

From what you have said, it seems like the LED screen is better for you. If you aren't going to be watching many movies on the laptop, go for the LED. Your eyes will also thank you.

As for the SSD, if you can live with the lower amount of space, go for it. I have heard that there has been a high failure rate for those drives however.

 

Yea, I heard too, but Dell is denying that rumour. They say it's completely false.

But yea, I think you would benefit from the LED screen more than the larger resolution. The larger resolution is for people who need to have some serious productivity on their laptop or for those who watch full HD movies. You seem to not fit in either of those categories.

 

@OP...what will you be using your notebook for?

 

The fastest laptop I've ever seen was fast because of the SSD. Although it wasn't one from dell, it was an after market one and it was supposed to be one of the better ones on the market.

 

Yeah it is completely false apparently because the company that interpreted the data made many faulty assumptions and their conjectures were based on invalid premises (remind you of COXibs?? (i.e. Vioxx))

To be honest, SSDs are very reliable based on their nature - no moving parts. Moreover, the newer Ultra Performance SSDs that Dell sells are really nice - see Les' review (in the same thread I included benchmarks of Dell's older SATA I 64gb ssd and the new SATA II 64gb ssd just to show the performance jump).

Ooh one more thing (to the OP) - how are you going to justify a 4k+ laptop to the grant provider? Ethically speaking, shouldn't you be using the rest of that money to purchase supplies or research equipment?

 

Which company is this? I've heard the failure rate is pretty high from multiple sources.

 

The company is Avian Securities.

Full details here:

http://direct2dell.com/insideit/arc...failure-rates-fails-to-include-the-facts.aspx

 

That is entirely a matter of opinion,also,if you would take the time to price both machines with the same upgrades,you would SEE the M15x is only +300 or so more than an M1530. As long as the OP stays away from utilzing the 8800 GPU the M15x is easily within reach with the other components he wants.

 

The Alienware looks awesome, but so much more expensive (I'm not sure how you figure only $300). I get $599 instant savings on the web + 12% student discount (another ~500) so maybe that's why.

 

Obvoiusly if you are taking multiple discounts,stacking coupons etc then sure,there is a substantial difference in price between the 2.

Your 1st post indicated you have $4000 available,so I don't see the problem.

 

My advice would be to configure it like this

T9300 processor(2.5) - This will save you like $300 compared to the 2.6ghz (im assuming T9500) you have chosen there. You will *not* notice that extra 100mhz of speed, the extra cash is by no means justified.

1440 x 900 LED backlit screen - Its just so damn pretty to look at, as opposed to the full HD screen that, though allow for some multi-windowed viewing, will seriously be overkill and could strain your eyes if you don't constantly keep fiddling with font size/zoom. Plus you can't go wrong with lighter, brighter, and more efficient.

(whatever size you need) 7,200 rpm HD - SSD's are still a fairly new and evolving technology, I wouldn't jump in just yet. I think over the next few years will bring major changes to them in the forms of higher capacity drives, as well as much cheaper prices as they begin to get more main stream and thus mass produced on a greater scale. A 7,200 rpm HD is still going to be really quick so I will almost guarantee you wont complain about the speed of it. Plus you get nearly 4x the capacity for $550 less. Sounds pretty good to me, more for less.

So if you go with those I think you can take a good size chunk out of that large bill you have accumulated for yourself, but it doesn't sacrifice anything you will miss. Other than that, the rest of your choices seem good.

 

why is everyone calling that 1920 screen full HD ?

as far as i know, full HD resolution is 1080

 

The more I look at the Alienware, the less I think it will be the appropriate choice for me. 1st this computer is not for gaming. The most intensive functions it will have are running software to analyze microarray data, to play video recordings of various lectures, to be used in presentations with both audio and video, and of course standard everyday use with Office, Photoshop, etc, while looking at large TIFF scans 1600dpi/color. Obviously I want as much as I can get per dollar, this equipment will stay in our lab after I graduate. I'm not sure the university would necessarily prefer the "Alienware" gaming machine, as it clearly stands out from the Dells you see around the hospital!

That being said, with the XPS1530's pricing, I can get a much better machine anyway for what I am paying. Granted you can't opt for the 2.8Ghz processor or the 512MB video card, I seriously doubt that will be necessary for my needs and I wouldn't notice the difference. So I am leaning toward the above conifig for the Dell.

With regards to the screen, I just don't know....I wish I could see them side by side..that would make it an easier choice.

And I am going for the SSD...I will let you know how I like it in 2 months or so. By then they might even have a 128GB (I know...). I am going to use an external drive to store the aformentioned video's, etc.
-G

 

Full HD is 1080p. the 1080 refers to the vertical pixel count. The resolution of full HD videos is 1920x1080 which is a 16:9 aspect ratio. The WUXGA has a resolution of 1920x1200 resolution which is a 16:10 aspect ratio. The horizontal pixel count is the same, that means you will be able to view a full HD video on a WUXGA screen with NO stretching or compression. You will still have the black bars above and below the picture since 16:10 has a larger vertical pixel count (1200 vs 1080).

Hope that clears it up for ya.

 

It's also the exact terminology the Dell website uses.

 

I don't understand how anyone could live with the 1920 screen. You will not be able to lean back from the machine and still read text at their default sizes. If you have a 15.4" screen now, then look on Google images for a 1920x1200 desktop screenshot, with some windows open and such. View it in full-screen (save the image, open with windows photo & fax viewer, hit F11) and you'll see how small they are.

 

dells are awsome, get it fully loaded and try to call dell to get a 4-5yr warrenty w/accidental protection..that way you can really juice that grant and be set laptopwise for a while

i just speced it out and fully loaded w/4yr warrenty + accidental your looking at under 4k

deff go for th LED + SSD..if you ever claim your warrenty and there's a bigger SSD out you'll get that same goes for chip..you get high end, they replace w.high end

 

The more pixels the denser the image. But of course that is hardware. The software needs to be adjusted accordingly. Leaving a WUXGA screen on software settings suited to a WXGA screen is sure going to be difficult to read! As long as you match the software setting to the hardware, the higher density screen the better - for everything. Text is much clearer; photography is superb. I used a 15" UXGA 133 ppi screen for 4 years and now a 15.4" WUXGA 147 ppi screen for 3 years, and they have been fantastic. It's much closer to the experience of reading hard-copy print than low density screens.

 

As much as I do not like AW (even though I own one) I would recommend the M15x considering how much you are paying for that computer. I mean like the 4GB of ram is an upgrade you can do yourself. SSD's are alright but I doubt you will notice the speed increase and the storage limitation kind of sucks considering there are going to be 500GB hard drives out real soon.

If you are spending 4K I would go for the M15x, if you are spending 1 - 2K I would go for the M1530. However I know that you have that government grant. What I would do is spend 1.2K on a M1530 (they had an awesome $800 off deal) and spend the rest of that money on a nicely spec'd PC with dual 24" monitors or something nice like that.