sooo... I'm lost on a graphics card/dell issue

Ok.. so I called dell a while back and was talking to a sales represenative about what I was looking for in a laptop (bad idea... sales reps aren't excatly comp literate). So anyway.. I was looking for a 15.4 inch laptop capable of playing oblivion. My understanding is that its possible to play with a x1600 by radeon.

The salesman said and I quote "its impossible to put a more powerful graphics card in then the nvidia 7400 go without upsizing the moniter" yet, after digging around on these forums I found many laptops with the 7600 go and the x1600 by radion.

So what I don't understand is why the hp nc8430 (which is what I have every intention of getting) can handle that graphics card.. yet, the dell can't... even thou the hp is 15.4 inches.. is the dell guy just full of **** and has no idea what he is talking about? or what..

 

Different designes. It may have the same monitor size, but the similarities may stop there. Inside they are likley designed complatly different. So the HP was designed in such a way that it could support the X1600, while the 1505 im assuming your talking about wasnt designed as a gaming notebook, but as more of a multimedia one, thus the 7400 is max for it.

But you dont have to go with the dell, lots of companies have 15.4" notebooks with 7600/X1600's in them. Alienware has a really nice one, id check that one out along with the HP.

 

It boils down to Dell's design of the machine...they didn't build it with the X1600 in it.

What they are refering to is that you would have to get a 17" Dell (E1705 or XPS M1710) in order to get a more powerful GPU in it (the 7900GS or GTX).

Here's the break down on the highest level card you can get in any machine...
12.1": GMA, or Integrated...the only exception (that I know of) is the M1210 with a 7400 GPU.
13.1-14.1": 7400/x1400...the only exceptions (that I know of) are models based off of the HGL30 with x1600.
15.4": x1600/7600...no known exceptions
17": No limits...but I don't know of a 17" machine with SLI
19"+: No limits...but SLI might be possible here.

 

Yes don't talk to Dell reps. I talked to one in person at one point just to play around. I was asking him if he knew anything about Conroe (this was a few montsh ago) and he thought it was a place in Utah! Ha, oh boy was it funny. Anyways though, if you want a 15.4" gaming notebook, I don't think Dell is going to be your best bet. Good luck!

 

Try out a w3j if you want a good gaming rig with the x1600. The hp nc notebook is also a good choice.

 

The Alienware Aurora m9770 is 17" and features dual 7900GS' in SLi. Alienware also has a 19" notebook with dual 7900GTX's. And if I'm not mistaken, both Clevo and Voodoo have a 19" with dual 7900GTX's.

Yeah, Dell doesn't offer a 15.4" with an x1600/Go7600 unfortunately. I've always found it pretty funny that Dell offers top of the line GPUs in both their 17" notebooks and their 12.1" notebook, but insist on putting sub-par graphics cards in their 14 and 15" notebooks. It's just sad.

 

Never trust a (dell) sales rep. I had one attempt to convince me that a dual core 32bit processor was a 64 bit processor. I think this may be polocy becuase this isnt the first time I've heard of something like that happening.

 

If you're not satisfied with the x1400, your only option is to go 17" with Dell.

Or you could go with the other 15.4" gaming systems that were suggested to you in a number of your other threads. Pretty much all of those will give you better ownership/gaming experience anyway.

 

I stand corrected
I didn't even think SLI was possible in a 17" notebook...I'd sure love to see the battery life though!