Whats the diff?

XPS M1710

17" UltraSharp Widescreen UXGA Display with Truelife @ 1920x1200
Intel Duo 2 T7400 Dualcore 2.13GHz 4MB Cache CPU
2048MB (2GB) 667Mhz DDR2 RAM
NVIDIA 512MB GeForce Go 7900 GTX Videocard
100GB SATA 7200rpm Hard drive

vs
HP PAVILION DV9700T

DUO 2 CORE T9300 (2.5 GHZ)

2GB 667GHZ

nVIDIA GEFORCE 8600M GT 512MB

320 GB HARD DRIVE

These are both 2nd hand, one from a close friend. so which would be better for gaming? i dont have much time to choose (i have a friend who wants to buy the 2nd one today)..

 

Definitely the second one. Better CPU/GPU..

 

I was pretty sure the 7900GTX outperforms the 8600GT. ^Again, uneducated information. The 7900GTX will outperform the 8600GT is all cases.

 

hmm yeah that was my problem. i want it for some gaming as well, but i cant figure out which would be better (considering i've heard the 7900GTX outperforms the 8600GT)

oh and the second one is HP pavilion DV9700T

 

It does, in both real-world, and synthetic. The 8600m GT is a mid-range, or "Performance" card. The 7900GTX is a high end card.

 

but considering the other components would the system still outperform it in games?

 

Yes. Absolutely. Now it's just up to Hard-drive space... is 100G enough for you?

 

hmm maybe not. But the price difference is about $150. so i could just buy a new hdd for that much money i guess... wow i'm really new with this laptop stuff.

 

The 8600M GT does AA+HDR & DX10.

See what you need

 

Yes, the 7900GTX (even with the slower processor that will probably never affect you anyway) will be faster than the 8600GT and better/newer processor. Drive space is easy to upgrade, but the GPU and CPU are not...so I suggest the first option.

Make sure you verify warranty and all on the laptop first.

DX10 has for the most part been at a tie with DX9 for ages...it isn't getting better very fast at all, and it will take one or two generations more of hardware and drivers for DX10 to be a real winner. Most (all) games are coded in DX9 (with DX10 as well for most new titles) anyway, so who cares.

 

alright, well even though i plan on doing some gaming im not a heavy gamer or anything. I just want to be able to have the option to play some games whenever i get bored.

So i'm going with the XPS 1710, i'm going to ring the guy later today to say i want it...!!

unless theres any last minute warnings?? oh and is it possible to upgrade the cpu in it? i heard it is but if it involves any complicated soldering etc im not even going to try.

 

Doesn't involve soldering, just will void the warranty. Make sure you ask about the warranty, as Dell offers some pretty good options, and they do have a transferable warranty.

 

the dv9700 has an 8600GT?? I thought it was the GS?

 

Me too. (10 char)

 

hmm well thats what the guy in the newspaper ad was claiming... :/

Maybe its a good thing that i'm going for the xps then..

 

The XPS is an overall better computer.

 

AFAIK HP dv9700t has an 8600M GS, not GT. But if only it did...

 

The 7900GTX will easily kill the 8600M, be it GT or GS.
And the DV 9700 has a G S.

 

Upgrading the processor in the Dell shouldn't be too difficult. There are many dissasembly guides on the Internet, but your upgrade possibilities are limited. The only processor you could go for would be the T7600, which is an expensive processor. It won't be cost effective, and it won't bring about a massive boost in performance. It may be a better idea to invest in a faster hard disk.

 

The 8600gt is also a ddr2 card which makes it alot slower than the 7900gtx, you'll see a big difference in game performance.

But the dv9700 just sounds like a better overall system. the 2.5ghz will really help many multithreading tasks and improve the overall response of the system while windowed. 320 gb HDD is really spacious, even if its 5400rpm it'll perform > than a 200gb 7200 rpm hard drive.
Comeon, 100gb hdd? thats useless unless you're upgrading later. Ive used my laptop for half a year and im up to 130gb with moderate music and video files.

But man.. still, the 7900gtx vs 8600gt ddr2? thats a really obvious choice right there.

 

In everyday usage the CPU won't matter much. In fact, it will usually run at FSBx6, so 1GHz for the 1710 vs 1.2GHz for the dv9700. And both are more than enough for vista (if coupled with 2GB+ RAM), let alone XP.

 

ADD* just to give you an example of the difference between the 512 8600gt ddr 2 and 7900gtx.

An overclocked 660/880 8600gt ddr3 (~30% faster than a stock 8600 ddr2) will be on par with a 7900 gs

The 7900gtx is about 30% faster than a 7900gs.

Some food for thought

 

heh i'm glad this place exists. My google results showed up with alot of conflicting views on just how much the 7900gtx was better (most people were tellin me it only just beats it). Well anyway i called the guy and told him to save it for me. I'm going over with the money tomorrow!

The only thing thats making me think twice now is the fact its second hand with NO warranty. And the cpu is kinda slow...cant i upgrade it to any of the Penryns??

btw i dont mind fiddling with some milld overclocking

 

You can't upgrade it, and it isn't slow.

 

Why couldn't he upgrade it? If it's a socket P, and there is no warranty, there is no reason he couldn't upgrade.

 

T7400 is Socket M, not P.

 

Ouch, just caught that as you posted it.

 

No worries, Everyone makes mistakes.

 

Another thing to note is even though HP makes good laptops, XPS is optimized for gaming performance. So good choice.