sorry if this has already been posted 8600 vs 5160

Mobility is not an issue. I'm not looking for state of the art, but I do like to play a few games so I do want a little performance. I guess my question is considering the price difference which one would give me the best all around performance? This is my first laptop and I must admit I having kept up with the difference in performance between the PM and the P4 with H/T. Thanks for any help. A pro/con would be useful.

[?]
Inspiron 8600
$1,874
Before $200 mail-in rebate
Intel® Pentium®M Processor 725(1.60A GHz/400MHz FSB) 15.4 WSXGA+
512MB DDR SDRAM 2 Dimms
128MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY® RADEON™ 9600 PROTURBO
24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive with Sonic RecordNow Upgrade
40GB Hard Drive


Inspiron 5160
$1,675
Before $150 mail-in rebate
Mobile Pentium® 4 Processor 532 w/HT Technology (3.06GHz, 533MHz FSB
15 inch SXGA+ LCD Panel
512MB,333MHz,2 DIMMs
64MB DDR NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX Go5200 AGP 4x Graphics
40GB Hard Drive

 

If you can afford it, I would go for the 8600. I actually used to own both.

The biggest problem I had with the 5150 is that it produced ALOT of heat. In fact some owners have had problems with the 5150 overheating.

I absolutely love the video card in the 8600. It will do a much better job playing newer games that the GeForce 5200 in the 5150.

I really do think the 8600 is a much better computer than the 5150. It is one of Dell's best sellers and I just think there are too many problems with the 5150.

Hope that helps some.

 

Thanks a ton. That does help. I feel special having my first post replied to by the moderator as well.[ ] Let me pick your brain one more time. Is there a chart anywhere online that compares the performance of the M chips with the P4? Thanks again.

 

There are a few good guides that compare the various CPUs, one of the better ones is this one.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2129

The PM can hold its weight against the P4 in most situations, and is in my opinion the best choice for notebooks at the moment.
a


ASUS M6Ne 15.4" WSXGA 1.7 PM ATI9700 80Gb HDD 512Mb RAM

 

Thanks underpants that was a very informative guide, just what I was looking for.[^]

 

One other thing, you said you like to play games a little so you want some performance. It's not the CPU that makes the difference in game performance. Pretty much all of the current CPUs are more than enough to handle the games because it's the GPU (graphics processing unit/video ccontroller) that handles all the graphics not the CPU. So for games it's the video controller that matters not the CPU. Between these two systems you have listed the 8600 has the Radeon 9600 which is a far better GPU that the Nvidia 5200, so by going with the 8600 you get the best of both worlds so to speak, the better GPU and the Pentium M CPU as well.

Get the 8600 over the 5160, it's an easy choice.
Jack

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" (Ben Franklin)
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

I would always choose the pentium M over the P4, it's designed for notebooks and use very little power and the 2.0 Ghz PM is faster than a 3.2Ghz P4 and since they use very little power, they produce very little heat so the notebook stays cool, runs quieter since the fan can be smaller and run slower and less often. Plus the battery if you ever need it is 2.5x longer than the same system with a P4.

Jack

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" (Ben Franklin)
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

i just got a 750 dollar off coupon for your notebook
let me know if you need it

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by DarkHavoct

 

I was wondering if anyone who had either of these Dell notebooks with the a 64MB DDR Nvidia GeForceFX Go5200 AGP 4X graphics card was able to keystone correct?

I already have a Toshiba Tecra M2 which is able to keystone correct, but I need a cheaper system with the same abilities.

Anyone tried this out?

Thanks

Mark