RAM and CPU in Dell XPS1330

I'm about to purchase a Dell XPS1330 (or XPS1530, haven't decided yet) as my college laptop, and I will at max use it for some light gaming, not looking to use it for very resource-consuming tasks. And my question is this:

Is it worth it to get 3 or 4 GB of RAM instead of 2GB? I mean, do you really notice the difference in Windows XP?

I will of course not get a T5xxx, they're too outdated, but I'm still undecided between the 2.0 Ghz T7250, the 2.1 Ghz T8100 and the 2.4 Ghz T8300. How do their performances differ, and which one is a better bargain?

 

If you're certain the max you're going to do is light gaming (i.e. games dating back to 2005 or earlier), then you will not notice much difference between 2GB and more RAM.

For the tasks you have described, you will not notice any difference between those CPUs. You might want to instead consider getting a faster or bigger HD to improve boot up times.

 

the T5xxx are just OEM versions of T7xxx, not outdated at all, just cut down versions.
My t5670 is EXACTLY the same as the discontinued t7100 apart from the name.

the t8300 should be good for the money, but if you're not doing intensive tasks, I suggest the t8100, cheaper than t8300, runs cooler and faster than t7250.

 

In my opinion, it most certainly is worth having 4GB RAM, even if you're using a 32bit OS.
It's so cheap just now (even SODIMM), it would be a sin not to buy/use 4GB!

But I wouldn't upgrade it at the time of purchase.
Buy it yourself, from wherever you normally do your online shopping, because it'll undoubtedly be quite a bit cheaper.

For instance, my Dell XPS M1730 had 2GB RAM as standard, and Dell wanted an extra £70 to upgrade that to 4GB.
I stuck with the 2GB RAM, and bought 4GB Patriot Signature PC2-5300 for just £6.
I now have the 4GB Patriot installed, plus I still have the original 2GB (2x 1GB) modules it came with in the first place as well... all for less than it would've cost me to upgrade to 4GB through Dell!


As for which CPU to get: That depends on what you'll be using the laptop for.
If you're a gamer, you'll want as fast a CPU and graphics card as you can afford.
If you're not a gamer, just get as fast a CPU as you can afford

 

But the T7xxx have higher bus speed than the T5xxx, they have 800Mhz compared to 667Mhz. But if they are the same, what would recommend, a T5850 at 2.16Ghz or a T7250 at 2.0Ghz? They cost the same.
But in any case: is the difference in performance between a 1.86Ghz and a 2.00Ghz or a 2.10Ghz noticeable? Because if it's not, I might as well just get the basic CPU.

I'm not looking for a large Hard Disk, I just bought a 160GB USB external drive. If I could, I would get 120GB. And I think I'll stick to 2GB of RAM. I could upgrade that in the future, so that's not a problem.

 

T5xxx and T7xxx are not the same.... they are different as they vary in bus speeds which makes a pretty huge difference.

If I were you, I'd get the 2GB and the T7250 (unless going up the the 8100 is like, 50 bucks or less). It will support your needs just fine.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. Upgrading to the T8100 from the T7250 is 40€. Might be worth it.

 

some new oem chips just rolled out I think.
t5670 1.8ghz, 2mb l2 cache, 800mhz fsb

I am 100% sure thats exactly the same as t7100.
but you're right, most t5xxx are bad crippled versions with less cache or slower fsb.

 

It will be. you won't regret it , the 45nm penryns run cooler as well.

 

The T7100 has newer and more updated features so It'll still run faster and more battery life effecient than the T5670. That's why the T7100 costs more.
Also, since the T5670 is not a "retail" CPU, you won't find it on Intel.com

 

what features? and I think you can't find t7100 now, my point was that they been renamed t5670.

 

did some googling.
t5670 IS t7100 without virtualization
t5870 IS t7250 without virtualization.
same architechture/clocks/cache/manufacturing process/instruction sets.

 

Does anyone know of any comparative benchmarks that show the difference between all the Intel Core 2 Duo processors side-to-side? The upgrade from a T5550 to a T7250 is 70 €, and to a T8100 it's 110€. It's not cheap, which is why I want to know if it's worth it and if I'll notice the difference.

 

You won't feel any difference in everyday usage. but if you do ANY sort of cpu intensive tasks like video encoding, go for the t8100.

 

Yeah, i've been leaning towards the m1330 too for this year. But seeing as im not graduating till 2009, I've decided to wait until next year for a laptop. What I was going to get was the min. 1/2gb RAM then go and buy the 4gb myself (way cheaper). I'd also go with the 2.4ghz T8300 because you want the Penryn system instead of the old one. All T8xxx and T9xxx are the new Penryn. Upgrade to the Nvidia graphics card and you should be good to go. Post a message on the Dell forum to tell me how it went

 

I was thinking of getting 2 GB of RAM and the 8400M GS, but leave the T5550 CPU. I know the Penryn's are more powerful and energy-efficient, but the upgrade to the T8100 is just too expensive. And as tianxia said, I don't think I'll feel the difference. I could always upgrade the CPU later anyways.