Dell Inspiron e1505 v. e1705

Hey there,

I'm sure you've seen plenty of these posts so sorry if my question was already proposed. I'm graduating this year and my grad party is tomorrow - I plan to buy a pretty good laptop. I'm debating between the e1505 and e1705, simply for screen size and graphics card. I plan to get the same core system specs below:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM

The only difference will be the monitor/video card. I plan to play some games like CS (1.6 and source), WC3, maybe some of the newer MMORPGS... SC2 if it ever comes out

I'm wondering if the 17'' is too big, or if the x1400 is a good enough card. I'd love to get the e1705 but it'll be a bit more ... I was considering building my own custom dual core desktop as well, so maybe the e1705 isn't necessary.

I guess my main question is can the x1400 w/ 15.4 view size work for the games I listed, and what is UltraSharp Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife, is it worth the extra money?

Also, I read that the T7400 is worth upgrading to? It's another $175 for it though...

Thanks,
Jake

 

Yes 17 is better and the nicer screen is worth it. Here is why: If you don't get what you want you'll have buyers remorse, taking years of your life away in the long run. T7400=no. T7200 is smoking fast.

 

All personal preference though. I could NEVER own a 17" laptop, too much for me. Not that I wouldn't like the power, but the bulk kills me.

And to the TC, if you are building a desktop for gaming, I would say the 15" is enough for casual gaming on medium settings when away from the main rig. I use my XPS-m1210 when away from my desktop, and that's fine for gaming every now and then.

 

The 17'' screen will be nice, but I'm planning on putting together a desktop as well ... would be a lot cheaper. Will the x1400 run all those games I said fine?

 

For the e1505 it'll be $1225, e1705 $1516.

 

X1400 is a pretty weak card. It'll plow through WC3 and CS (cause those run well on anything) and WoW as wel. And most likely SC2 will run pretty well (since blizzard have track record of scaling well). But newer MMORPG's might not run as well, especially at WSXGA resolution. And the T7400 is not worth the price UNLESS you absolutly need as much processing power as possible (like video editing HD-material and such) and thinks those extra seconds/minutes it shaves off is needed. Any serious gaming needs a better card (like the 7900gs available on the e1705), but since you're building a gaming desktop, go for the e1505 (it's smaller).