inspiron 1720 or xps 1530

Inspiron 1720

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
Anti-glare, widescreen 17.0 inch display (1440 x 900)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
Size: 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini-Card
Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)
Integrated 2.0 Megapixel Webcam
85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition

$1669

OR

xps 1530

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7700 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1440x900) & 2MP Camera
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
Size: 250GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition

$ 1,620

its just .2 Ghz more processing power but lacks 17" and is small and slim.
Some people have said the GPU is a different spec, xps's 8600 gt being better? can anyone confime this.

This pc will be more of a sit on my desk and bring home on weekends and hoildays sort of one. Hopefully do a bit of gaming. will be playing alot of the older games, like warcraft 3, not so old BF2142 and the new, i.e. crysis.

O, and how do you thing these will preform on the latest game such as crysis and bioshock.

Are they future proof? and for how long?

thx for sitting (in many cases) through that, any comments will be welcome

 

the 8600gt is the xps is better by 10-15 perecent as it isthe gddr 3 version other than the gddr2 version present in the 1720.for gaming get the xps has it will have better preformance. u can play boishock on it at mostly high settings at a good resolution. crysis will probably be medium.the card should be able to play all upcoming games in atleast the next 2 years

 

i would drop the processor down to at most the t7500 as that is more than enough and u wont see the difference between the t7500 and the t7700

 

Go for XPS 1530 .It has powerful VGA card(DDR3 version) + CPU.

BTW like sly97531 said there are no huge difference between T7700 & T7500 .

 

how come they dont tell you that there different on the dell website.

right point on processer duly noted

 

Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera [subtract $50]

High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1440x900) & 2MP Camera [Included in Price]

High Resolution glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1680x1050) & 2MP Camera [add $50 or $2/month1]

which is best. forget the price cause dropping the t7700 to t7500 2.2 GHz saved me $150

O do i need more memory

 

The 1530 has a better GPU - the memory type s DDR3, versus the 1720's DDR2 card.

Get the XPS...

 

because they want to make more money

 

about the resolution it is personal preference. can u handle small text

 

ya i can handle small text.
sly whats your experince of the laptop?
does it need more than 2 Gb?
how do you cope with the heat given off?

 

Why do you have to handle small text? The more resolution, the better job the LCD will do at emulating other resolutions. I say get the most res you can get and run at 1440x900 if its too small for you.

 

if u run it a non native resoution it becomes a little blurry

 

On a 15" screen, the blur is hardly noticeable at 1680x1050. Any less of a resolution and it is very evident.

 

Like they said the Xps has a stronger GPU.

I have an inspiron 1720 and I must say it's amazing, especially since it replaced y desktop...the huge screen is really awsome.

It helps with movies, and games. I run everything really well actually, Hellgate london on high and very high, CoD4 on high, and Crysis on medium.

I guess it's preferance.

 

how does your 1720 compare with my config.

Is it worth having 3Gb?
what is a good processor speed for core 2 duo. 2.2?

 

Its only worth having 3gb if you can find two 1.5gb sticks. But Dell installs a 1 and 2gb stick so its not worth it. 2gb would be better (2x1gb).

 

Get the XPS 1530. For res I tend to agree with those that say go for 1680x1050. Even if you scale down to 1400x900 from the native res the quality dropoff is very unnoticeable. But scaling down to 1200x800 there will be some bluriness. If you're not sure then take a trip to Circuit City or Best Buy and check out the different screens at native res. If you think 1680x1050 might be too tiny then 1400x900 is a good compromise.

Also if you want a bigger screen and since the XPS1530 has HDMI you can hook it up to a larger screen (22" /w 1680x1050 native res) and still get good quality..beats the VGA out on the 1720.

 

For Vista 2 Gigs is a minimum gut since it's it's only 32-bit it will only recognize 3.58Gb. In my experience more RAM is better.

 

i agree, and love my 1720 too, its a great machine,i had A 15,4" screen laptop before,and this 17" screen is so much better for gaming and dvds etc, the machine is a joy to use and own, and its a nice sturdy laptop and very well built !

they have both got good configs,its just preference weather you want that little bit more power of the xps, or the bigger screen of th 1720 , the xps will be a tad better performance, but nothingsignificantly amazingly more, so if your not going to really deperatly need that little extra, the 1720 is great for having the bigger screen as your not going to be always on the move with it !

i currently have installed and all run great ..

pro evo 2008
crysis
call of duty 4
rainbow 6 vegs
battlefield 2
call of juarez
hitman blood money
fear combat
colin mcrae dirt !

 

what is the point of getting a very high resolution if you're not using it? The card will be slow to run newer games at very high resolutions and you are running the desktop at a lower resolution, why not save a few bucks? And I think the blur is worse in static things like the desktop for example.

 

1.5 GB sticks? What 1.5 GB sticks? They don't exist.

Dual channel is overrated. More RAM is always better.

 

so what are your experinces with the 1720. I mean the m1520 is light sleek and slim. if the 1720 is anything likke its predessors then it will be heavy and thick. right or wrong?

the xps has a wide screen like my brother and i see little difference between that and my mums 17" hp

so 3Gb ram or 4?
how big sould your hard drive be? lots of games plus pics and music and many docs?

 

The more HDD the better, sometimes I think my 200GB are the minimum you would want on a gaming machine, specially now that there are 12 or 15 GB games.

 

or u can store 10 games like a normal person. any more and u want a desktop not a notebook

 

like i said before....the 1720 isnt a always carry portable type machine, its quite heavy but well built and solid, and its a always use on a desk type laptop, not an always use on your lap always on the go type

and as for hard drive and ram etc....the bigger and more you get,the better, just get as much as your budget allows.

 

1. When you're running at 667MHz you want all the speed you can get.
2. Without pairing memory, you're bypassing the very point of DDR.
3. More RAM is better so its better to go with 1GB, 2GB or 4GB. Its not possible to pair 3GB unless you have 4 slots.

 

but the 1530 only comes with 3Gb then you can upgrade it to 4Gb for $250!!!
is pairing really that good

 

1. I never mentioned memory bandwidth, why are you bringing this up? Of course you want both RAM sticks to run at the same frequency, or else the higher frequency stick will run at the speed of the lower frequency one.
2. Pair whatever memory you want, 1.5 GB sticks do not exist.
3. 3 GB is better than 2 GB, even if you have to use different sized sticks [1 GB + 2 GB] together. That's the whole point of my post.

 

That's true, the new intel chipset 965(?) in the XPS can handle Dual Channel even with different sized sticks, but it's only using 1gb +1gb as dualchannel and 1gb as "normal" RAM...(confirmed by a Dell rep)

 

the XPS has the 8600M GDDR3 in it, so the XPS is better for gaming. It also has a better processor.

 

Dont worry about the ram you can purchase a good 2 gig stick and just replace the 1 gig for really cheap($30 ish) if you really care a bout pairing just buy 2 sticks of gskill geil or corsair. Shouldnt be more than 100

 

I was considering both of these machines as well. I ended up ordering a refurbished Inspiron 1720 through the Dell Outlet. This is my first Dell purchase ever.
Order details:
Inspiron 1720 Notebook: Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
90W AC Adapter
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate Operating System Label
Remote Control for Media Center
Dell 1505 Wireless-N
Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED HD Audio Software Edition
9 Cell Battery, Primary
4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)
Bluetooth Wireless Card 355
250 GB EIDE Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Integrated 2.0 Mega Pixel Web Camera
17 inch WXGA+ TrueLife Glossy Notebook Screen
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

I paid $1,319.00 + tax. Got free shipping.

It was a tough decision. Right now Dell is discounting new XPS 1530's over $600.00. I want to be able to play the latest games, but I am not a hard-core gamer. Ultimately, the 17" screen and keyboard number pad pushed me towards getting the 1720. I ordered a refurbished machine to save money and get upgraded memory and operating system. I think I am going to be happy with my purchase. I haven't received it yet though.