Performance to Price ratio

I'm in a complete dilemma at the moment and I seriously don't know what to do. Basically, I was almost going to buy the Sager 5791 until I carefully scrutinized the Sager 9261 again. I've stretched my budget but the price difference between my two setups is at $500 (bear in mind that my original budget was 2200 TOPS while the 9260 is going to set me back $2700).

Here are the two configurations.

So my questions are:

1) Is it worth that much money to move from a 2.2 Core 2 Duo to a 2.4 Core 2 Quad

2) What is the difference between a 7950 GTX and a 7950 GTX MXM IV?

3) Are these two considerations worth $500?

4) Is moving down from a 1920x resolution to 1680 a fatally bad move?

5) I'm not using the RAID function on the 9261 because of my low budget, am I being stupid here?

Thanks a lot for you time and I'd really appreciate your help on this issue!

 

Those are some pretty pricey laptops!

Anyways, i wouldnt get that quad core! its a desktop processor that is really hot and power hungry! laptop quad cores will be out in a few months, but not yet. I would have to advise to stick away from that one.

 

I see. Yeah, overhearing can be a bit of an issue, I just wanted to know how much of a performance difference there was between the two.

I don't think they're pricey though, I'm a bit of a hardcore gamer and I'd need a very strong graphic card. Most Asus's and Toshiba's with good processors come only with 8600GT's and they don't perform nearly as well as 8700GT's or 7950GTX's.

 

If you value battery life at all, go with the cheaper one. Also consider that only multi-threaded applications will be able to take advantage of the majority of the Quad's power - for all the rest it will be a 9.09% increase in processing power. I'd check and see whether your favorite games are multi-threaded (remembering if they're only dual-threaded, the Quad still isn't helping you much).

The MXM IV means, if I understand correctly, that the video card can be upgraded relatively easily - it is not built in to the motherboard.

I don't think it's worth $500 for a processor upgrade that most programs won't be able to use, or need, not to mention drastically reducing battery life. I'd go with the less expensive one here.

 

I have used both the NP5791 and the NP9260. Right now I'm typing on the NP5791. If I had to get one I'd choose the NP5791 because it is a lot easier to transport and looks a lot better in my opinion.

Neither of the laptops are going to overheat so I wouldn't worry about that . . .

1) Depends on what you are doing. I'd say no.
2) The video card is the same in both notebooks, they are probably just labeled inconsistently.
3) The video cards are the same but the processor isn't worth $500 extra.
4) Nope, I'd get the 1680x if you want to game a lot because the Go7950GTX can easily handle any game at that resolution with details pretty much maxed out. However at 1920x it may have some difficulty. Both screens are beautiful.
5) No, just because you are not using the extra HDD bays does not mean you are 'stupid'. It's nice to have though; you can add drives later.

I'd say go with the NP5791. If you want specific comparisons between the two you can post your Qs here and I'll answer to the best of my ability. PM me if I don't reply with 12 hours or so after you post, that probably means I missed it!