8600 vs 8800 and the wait for Dell

I'm in the market for a new Dell laptop because my old one is almost 4 years old. I feel its time to upgrade because I can not run Bioshock decently on my old system. Not to mention I would love to play A Company of Heroes on max settings (currently I'm on low).

Now I hear talk of an 8800 card and MXM. Got no idea what that means. I like good looking games and thats all. I don't need to brag about having the latest and greatest system.

On the otherhand, as you can see, I like to buy a notebook rig that will see me through at least 3, if not 4 years of use. Is this 8800 more like the next step upgrade, or something bigger?

I plan on buying an Inspiron 1520 because it fits my budget of no more than $1500 total. Is this newly announced card going to be available in that model soon, or more like 6 months from now (which is too long a wait)? And if it will be available in that model, will it be very expensive, or just replace the existing 8600.

I wouldn't want to buy a notebook now that a couple months later is obsolete because some new MAJOR tech gadget has come out. BUt if its really just a minor upgrade (a little faster,etc.), that costs alot more and will not be available anytime soon, I won't feel bad about getting a laptop now. I get it that every 6 months something better can come along, but I wouldn't want to find out that it was only a month or two away.

I tend to think only the XPS notebooks will see it now, with the inspirons a bit aways off. But I could be wrong. After all, you guys/gals are the experts. I'm new here.

Anthony

 

the nvidia 8800m gtx is coming out for notebooks this week, monday will be first look at Alienware's m15x and m17x notebooks which both include the 8800m. I would suggest that you wait for the 8800m since you like good looking games. I am not sure of what you are looking for (please fill out FAQ) but the Alienware m15x can be configured with a 8800m card, 1gb ram, 120gb hdd, 2.2ghz core duo for about 2100 USD. It is speculated that the 8800m will perform better than dual 7950gtx's.

This is not a minor upgrade, in fact, it is the first time ever that a 15in notebook will be equipped with a high end card such as the 8800m. Well worth your money to wait.

 

if you want to play high settings on most of the current games, 8600gt is sufficient. but it is already down to medium settings with next gen. games like crysis. so definitely wait to get the 8800 if you want 3-4 years future proofing, but you will end up paying quite a bit more as well (8600gt has already been in the market for over 6 months).

 

some dells are not compatible with the MXM type cards, so you might want to call them and ask if the 1520 will be compatible with the 8800m. 8600m would suffice for bioshock/COH and pretty much all other games (as the previous post stated). It would be very very hard to find a notebook with a 8800m for 1500, and an upgrade to the card will most likely run you 400-500. You should be fine for at least 3 years though, with the 8600m.

 

thanks Shin. Yeah, my budget is set to $1500, future proofing or not. Onlythe Dell Inspiron fits that. So it seems that even IF the card would be available in that line, it would break my budget anyway. And as long as the 8600m can get me through 3 years of gaming, I'm good. (and I understand that this year I'm at max setting, year 2 medium with year 3 at low).

Anthony

 

actually, if you have any experience with softwares like RivaTuner or any other overclocking software, you can boost the performance of the 8600m even more. Honestly i don't think that graphics will be improving very much beyond what we have now...there has to be a limit to how much can be put in a game. You should be able to play fine on mediumish settings for all those years. If an ATI xpress 200m can play games like Oblivion on low...you're good, trust me.