I need your advice: Should I buy a new laptop?

Hello guys, I am trying to decide if its time for me to buy a new laptop or wait 1 more year or 2 before buying. (My current system specs are in my Sig)

My current system I find performs pretty well for anything I throw at it except for high end gaming, by now the 7900GS is showing its age. The thing is I don't feel like going out and spending over 2000$ on a new laptop just to get a better GPU when the rest of my system seems pretty powerful. I was thinking about maybe getting a PS3 or Xbox instead for gaming or a desktop for which I can easily upgrade the GPU in the future


What do you guys think? I know a lot of people change laptop every 2-3 years or so. I am approaching 4 years with my current laptop. Should I just bite the bullet and purchase a brand new laptop? If I decide to no longer game on this laptop, are the rest of the specs on my laptop
still good compared to the latest hardware currently available?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

 

Well, if you have decided that you don't want to game on that anymore, then I'd keep it. The rest of the specs are really good, better than mine at any rate.

You could build yourself an extremely high end desktop instead of buying another mid range laptop. If you have the money for it, go for the desktop, parts are so much easier to get and buy, it's cheaper for more power, and your laptop is still a great machine.

 

Maybe you can upgrade the GPU only. I think you can fit in 7950GTX, but it's pricey, 400$.

 

Dell GPU's are soldered to the motherboard so getting a better one is out of the question.... but seriously , u should get a new laptop... if u don't want to game on the laptop , get a normal laptop and build a gaming desktop.. or u can get a gaming laptop.. one suggestion is Asus G73... 17 inch screen , full HD screen , Blue ray and ATI mobile 5870... for $1600... very good deal if u want a gaming laptop for under $2000...

 

For me, this laptop is still "up to date"
This is a high end computer!

You probably bought this computer at very high price 4 years ago...

Maybe a XBOX 360 at 199$ is a great "temporary" solution...

 

I'll second (or third?) the recommendation to buy an XBox and use the current notebook until you need to upgrade.

That resolution is awesome! I would find it hard to use a lesser machine (especially when you didn't want to spend the money in the first place).

The only suggestion I would have is run Win 7 on it (which you probably are, anyway). This machine is not worth giving up for gaming power - not when $200 gets you into the games you want/need.

Cheers!

 

as awesome as that laptop sounds the screen on the OPs current machine is leaps and bounds better.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions guys, you've pointed me in the right direction!

 

That's not true - you can remove discrete graphics cards from Dell laptops (not integrated ones, of course), with the trick being that only Dell GPUs can be used to replace it, due to a proprietary connection. In this case, the OP already has the best GPU available for the 1705, but if he had the ATI X1400, an upgrade would have been possible (though not necessarily economically worthwhile).

I agree with the general consensus, though. If you want better graphics performance, a desktop would be considerably cheaper, and in the event that you needed mobility (which I doubt is often given the size of the laptop) you could still use the 1705 - and the 7900 GS is still powerful enough to play almost any game, albeit not maxed out, so if a LAN or something like that comes up, you could take the easier-to-transport 1705 to that and still be in business. The XBox is also worth considering - its GPU isn't much more powerful than the 7900 GS, but it's inexpensive and would expand the library of games you could play.

 

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