i7 Inspiron 1420 replacement?

Hello All,

I try to stay up-to-date with new models coming out, and have noticed that Dell is releasing a 17", 16", and 15" model with the new i7 processors. My question is will there be a 13-14" model coming out soon, or is that form factor too small for the new i7 processors? I have an aging Inspiron 1420 I am looking to replace sometime between now and the holiday season, but don't want to be waiting around for something I'm never gonna see.

Any info/speculation would be greatly appreciated

 

There won't be any replacement before Christmas in that type of form factor containing an i7. The processors currently available from that family are definitely geared towards the 15" > form factor.

 

Perhaps in Q4 2009 / Q1 2010 when Arrandale gets released (hopefully), then we may get to see new CPUs in <=14" models

 

Thank guys for your wisdom on the matter. So are there just not going to be any Dell's in that form factor with an i7, or will no manufacturer have any? And will the Arrandale i7 be more powerful, or less powerful than the i7's just released for the 15" > form factor? Thanks so much guys, I need to determine if I should buy now...or wait until Q1 2010 (which I really don't want to do)

 

Arrandale will use Core i5, i7's, and maybe Core i3's. They will all be less powerful than the current quad core i7's because Arrandale is dual core.

 

We don't know for certain, but I would not expect to see any 14" machines by any manufacturer housing an i7; just as there are very few (if any) 14" machines that currently house a quad core at the moment.

The thing is that 14" and smaller tend to feature more "energy efficient" processors, as people who opt for notebooks that size tend to do so for portability - something not aided by poor battery life.

Arrandale is a 32nm CPU whereas the current mobile i7 are Clarksfield 45nm CPUs. We are likely to see performance increases from the Arrandale over the Clarksfield in some areas; but for anything that can utilise more than two cores I would expect the current mobile i7 to outperform an Arrandale running at the same speed. It's difficult to say exactly though seeing that Arrandale processors have not yet been released.

Dell will no doubt release some Arrandale CPUs in their machines when they have been released to market, and yes they will come in several flavours, with the high end running at 2.6GHz I believe (although with turbo boost this will overclock higher than this).

I suppose the question "should you wait or not" is probably one of the most asked questions on these forums. Some people subscribe to the "buy when you need" theory; if you always wait for the next best thing you'd never buy. Others are willing to wait. The real question you should ask is one of yourself - what do you want to use your notebook for? If you still want portability, but enough power to get things done, then it may very well be worth waiting for Arrandale, which will hopefully be Q1 2010, but may end up being later. If you don't mind sacrificing portability for a little more umph, then buying one of the new mobile i7's wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

Thank you so much for all the help here guys, one last question I have is are the Studio 15 and Studio XPS 16 the same size? They list the same size screen...so it makes me think they are the same (or darn close) in size.

 

Studio 15
Width: 14.6" (371.6mm)
Height: 1.0" (25.3mm) front / 1.5" (38.9mm) back
Depth: 10.0" (252.9mm)
Weight: Starting weight of 5.54 lbs. (2.515 kg)

Studio XPS 16
Width: 15.15" (384.9mm)
Height: 0.95" (24.1mm) front / 1.34" (33.95mm) back
Depth: 10.02" (254.6mm)
Weight: Starting weight of 6.4 lbs. (2.91 kg)

 

Okay, so Studio XPS 16 is out then. If I get one now, it'll definitely be the Studio 15. One last question, you said:

"We are likely to see performance increases from the Arrandale over the Clarksfield in some areas"

What areas would those be? And to answer your question of what I'm buying this computer for, there are 3 simple answers.

1) I'm tired of looking at my Inspiron 1420, and I'm tired of it dying (nVidia GPU) and having to replace the mobo every year.

2) I'm also tired of just looking at it, would be nice to see a change of scenery.

3) I'm a computer professional, and it's always nice to have the latest and greatest (whenever possible). I got the Inspiron 1420 within days of it coming out (first C2D series for Dell I believe), and it would be nice to be one of the first with the new i7 releases.

 

Specifically Arrandale (as part of the Westmere line up) will feature additional instructions for the CPU for encryption; offloading the work accomplished by software coding directly to the CPU. It will be interesting to see what benefits there are with this running on a dual core Arrandale versus the quad core Clarksfield.

When I said "what do you want to use your notebook for?" I was referring more to whether you value portability more than processing power.

 

Well that's why I've grown to love the 14" form factor, I think it delivers the best of both worlds. 13" and smaller are too small for higher end components, while 15" can be a little too big to be portable - and I think 14" is the perfect compromise between the two.

But based on what you are saying, it'll be at least 1 year until we get a quad core laptop in the 14" form factor and that the new CPU's for 14" form factor only have two cores - so looks like I might have to settle for a Studio 15. I'll be on the lookout for new Dell Coupons, as the current ones are invalid.

 

I did not say it would be at least 1 year for a quad core in a 14" machine. To be honest I couldn't even put a time frame on it - we might never see a new Core i7 quad core in a 14" machine, or we could see one in 6 months time. I do however think the latter is unlikely. The Arrandale CPUs will be a jump ahead of the current C2D line up though; so if you prefer the smaller form factor (as it sounds like you do) then I'd probably say hold fire for the Arrandale line up. Whilst they do only have two cores, they will offer hyperthreading.

Not only will they offer better performance than your current C2D, but there are energy efficiencies to be had too - which will benefit you if you value the portability.

 

Of course no one can say for sure, but your educated guesses lead you to that conclusion - and being a member of the NBR Dell Team you know what you're talking about (at least a little bit ). Battery efficiency is important too though as well, very important. But based on what I read, the current i7 in the Studio 15 can intelligently turn off cores to save power, and is pretty darn energy efficient. Could all be lies though.

I don't want something a "jump ahead" my T7300 C2D though, I want something leaps and bounds above my T7300 C2D. Like I said I'm a computer professional, don't want a crappy setup, and spend lots (I mean, LOTS) of time on my computer. I want something that's an insane setup now, and will still be a respectable setup 2+ years from now.

My current setup is 2 1/2 years old, and is reaching its life expectancy for me. I was expecting to purchase a replacement over the summer, but put it off because of the new i7 mobile procs that were supposed to come out just in time for the retail release of Windows 7. I know the waiting game will just put you in a loop, and if you are always waiting for the next best thing...you'll be waiting for a long time. So considering that, and considering I've already put off my purchase 4 months - it's time for me to strike a deal with the Dell Sales reps for a Studio 15.

One of my thoughts was to see if I could get a Dell Sales rep to give me that "buy an expensive laptop, get a mini for $99" deal back. Then I could get a mini for an extra $99, and have portability when I REALLY need it (hopefully I can get someone to go for this one). I also probably should have mentioned my computer before my Inspiron 1420 was an Inspiron E1505 (obviously, 15" form factor) that I was relatively happy with. But relatively happy wasn't good enough, and I've been more than happy with my switch to the 14" form factor. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, while I would rather have had the 14" - 15" is something I'm okay with using, as it isn't THAT big of a deal.

 

You can always try to get something for free - you never know, they might buy it.

A compromise: take a look at the HP Envy 15. Very slimline, powerful CPU, powerful GPU, room for 4 DDR3 SODIMMS (yup, cheap 8GB, or full blown 16GB), lightweight for a 15" notebook, houses two HDDs (so you could have one SSD for programs and OS, and a 640GB HDD (the largest commercially available 9.5mm HDD) for storage (though you might need to buy the latter yourself. You can buy (or will be able to when it's launched) a slice battery which is indicated to give 7 hours battery life.

Downside: no optical drive - though they do offer slimline external one. Possibly may have heat issues - but as the notebooks has not been released yet, this is a bit of an unknown.
Ports are all on the right hand side - darned annoying if you like to use a mouse rather than the built in trackpad.

Just thought I'd bring it to your attention. I expect it will be substantially more expensive than the Studio XPS 16 or Studio 15.

Me personally, I take the route of having a larger machine and a smaller machine for when I need it. I typically use my Inspiron most of the time - dragging it back and forth to work etc, but when I go away with work (I often travel to the US, Germany, Japan & France) I tend to swap it for my Macbook Air. I don't like it as much, but it certainly beats carrying all that extra weight.

I myself am looking for a new machine, and am torn between the Envy 15 and the Sager NP8690. Whilst I do like Dell machines, none of them are really tickling me at the moment; ideally they'd put a better GPU in the Studio XPS 16, then I'd be sold.

 

And that's the problem, none of them are really ticking me at the moment either. While the Envy 15 sounds rather nice, its price tag isn't as appealing. I can get a suitable Studio 15 setup for $1100 (significantly less). As for the powerful GPU, it isn't that necessary for me - have the PS3 for that! Although I do need a dedicated GPU for the occasional game of Command and Conquer or something, it doesn't need to be anything huge.

But while on the subjects of compromises, do you know of any high end 14" laptops from other vendors? Thank you so much for your help here Fragilexx, it's people like you that keep NBR the great place it is - and the reason I consistently recommend NBR to my family and friends.

 

I'll have a think and let you know when I get home tonight. My immediate thought would be to switch over to business class models, but again you can end up paying through the nose. I'm a particular fan of the Dell Precision models, but also some of the Sony & ASUS line up. Which country are you in, as that will seriously impact the suggestions - for example the number of ASUS models available in the UK is quite frankly appallingly low.

 

Price is very important to me, and am not looking to spend over $1200 or so...I wouldn't mind a Dell Latitude or something, but they include 3 year warranty (which I don't need) and that causes the price to sky rocket. I'm in the US.

 

well. m almost on the verge on buying an inspiron 14.
how long do you think C2Ds will be the norm of the day of laptops, before the i5s/i7s become extremely commonplace?
i am a student, need mobility, occasional gamer (is ATI HD 4330 enough for that and worth the money over integrated graphics card?) and so dont exactly need the latest or best machine, but want something decent, not outdated the moment i buy it ...

 

Come January, dual core Core i5/i7 machines will start appearing very rapidly.

 

so, since i need to buy a machine urgently, is it better that i go in for something really basic(low cost now), and then within 2 years upgrade to the new ones (the latest stuff then, as per requirements)? anyways, i am not very extracting user, will be doing basic stuff mostly, with a bit gaming or some intensive processes once in a while.

 

This might be my interpretation, but isn't January when they are announced? And that new machines with them wouldn't start appearing until March or so?

 

You'd be looking at Q1/Q2 2010 most likely

 

Which is exactly why I'm leaning towards the Studio 15, because I cannot wait 6+ months for a new laptop...the one I have now is 2 1/2 years old (old for me), and I cannot wait that long. So were you able to find a suitable Sony or ASUS or other model that fit my specifications?

 

No, there were Clarksfield models leaking before the official announcement just days ago. Look for new machines to be announced in January, then maybe start shipping a month or two later.

 

Nope, trying to find a machine that would be as powerful as that Studio for that sort of money is proving a little tough. It would be remiss of me not to point out this Sager / Clevo though. It's a little more money, but you certainly do get a lot more for it:

http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8690-built-clevo-w860cu-custom-gaming-laptop-order-p-2659.html