A laptop v. my current desktop?

Craig321 · 15 Apr 2007 at 01:21

Hi,

I'm still a few months off getting a laptop, but I've been looking anyway (prices should drop and things may change by the time I actually get the laptop).

Anyway, I've been looking at a Dell Inspiron 6400 with the following specs:

Code:

Intel® CoreTM  2 Duo Processor T5200 (1.60 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 533 MHz FSB)
1024MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x512)
80GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7300 TurboCache™
Vista Premium
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display

I mainly want the laptop just to have a nice portable PC, but I know I'm going to end up wanting to multi-task and play games on it, so I just wondered how it'll compare to my current desktop:

Code:

3.0GHZ 1MB L2 (note: it isn't C2D :p)
200GB SATA HDD
256MB NVIDIA 7600GT
Asus P5P800-SE
1GB Dual Channel DDR Corsair XMS3200 Pro (2x512)

I know it probably won't match up to my desktop on gaming (I don't expect it to), but how will it be for speed (starting programs, multi tasking, general stuff)?

Also, anyone got a rough estimate on how the GeForce 7300 will match up to a desktops 6800GT please?

One more thing, has anyone got any idea how upgradeable Dell laptops are? When the warranty runs out I wouldn't mind upgrading the HDD and RAM.

Okay, another thing (I keep editing and adding questions

):
Has anyone got some close-up pictures of the Dell Inspiron 6400 showing sizes, thickness, style etc. please?

Thanks,
Craig.

Oops, just realised I posted this in the CPU section, it was originally only going to be on the CPU...

Clarkey · 15 Apr 2007 at 03:02

Not going to beat your desktop thats for sure, but it will be allright. I have a lesser specced laptop and it plays games acceptably well, 1280x800 isn't a massive res so you dont need big gpu power.

skanky · 15 Apr 2007 at 08:05

i use a lenovo t60 as a general machine and a c2d desktop for gaming. i prefer the laptop as its more quieter than the desktop, of course its nowhere near as fast or as well spec'd as the desktop.

Mattus · 15 Apr 2007 at 16:11

I have a C2D desktop (E6300 at 3.15, 1GB, X1800XT, Seagate 7200.10) and a CD laptop (1.66Ghz, 1.5GB, GF Go 7400, 80GB).

The desktop is a lot quicker all-round, not just in gaming. I get the feeling a lot of this is down to the hard drive. My desktop seems to run nicely with no bottlenecks, but on the laptop I seem to spend ages waiting at 0% CPU usage for the rubbish 4200rpm HD to catch up. Fortunately yours is 7200rpm so hopefully performance will be OK.

The mobile Intels are very good processors. Subjectively, I found my 1.66Ghz Core Duo to be about as quick as my old Opteron at 2.9, when the HD didn't come into the equation.

dante6491 · 15 Apr 2007 at 16:22

i doubt the performance would be that dis similar.The laptop processor is better, dual core and it is a C2D, the ram is also slightly better (clocked higher). The hard drive is not that slow 80gb 7200rpm and sata. The only thing is the graphics card, which is a fair bit weaker.

IAmATeaf · 15 Apr 2007 at 16:55

The laptop spec is not that bad but if going for it I'd up the RAM to 2gb, remember that TurboCache will take system RAM.

Craig321 · 16 Apr 2007 at 00:43

Clarkey said:
Not going to beat your desktop thats for sure, but it will be allright. I have a lesser specced laptop and it plays games acceptably well, 1280x800 isn't a massive res so you dont need big gpu power.

I would have thought it'd beat my desktop in processing applications etc as the CPU is better, isn't it?

IAmATeaf said:
The laptop spec is not that bad but if going for it I'd up the RAM to 2gb, remember that TurboCache will take system RAM.

Might up it to 2GB when the warranty runs out (so I don't void warranty upgrading it myself). It'll make it too expensive going for 2GB so start with.

oweneades · 16 Apr 2007 at 20:25

Just to point out in case this hans;t been mentioned but the processor in the op post is the older yonah based dual core centrinos and not a mobile core 2 duo (merom sp?!) therefore in single core applications it will be roughly the same speed as a 1.6ghz yonah and in multi threaded apps about 160% of the speed of a single core yonah.

The mobile C2D's are slightly different and based off of the desktop variant however have a slower FSB (667FSB) but the same amount of cache (2mb and 4mb - for the 7x series).

My philips X56 has the C2D T5600 (1.83ghz) and when not in laptop mode (ie plugged in) its pretty swift - quicker than my desktop which is a celeron D 356 (512k L2 cache) running at 4.3ghz.

To give a quick example the laptop runs a 31second super pi compared to my desktops 36 seconds(51 seconds at the stock 3.33ghz). Not blistering but swift enough.

EDIT: It appears the spec in nthe op post is miss leading, the T5X series denotes that its in fact a Merom based processor however the clock speed (1,6ghz is incorrect for a merom (should be 1.66ghz) and the FSB is also wrong (533fsb whereas it should be 667 for the merom). Might be worth checking this out (the op) in more detail before commiting.

Craig321 · 17 Apr 2007 at 00:33

oweneades said:
Just to point out in case this hans;t been mentioned but the processor in the op post is the older yonah based dual core centrinos and not a mobile core 2 duo (merom sp?!) therefore in single core applications it will be roughly the same speed as a 1.6ghz yonah and in multi threaded apps about 160% of the speed of a single core yonah.

The mobile C2D's are slightly different and based off of the desktop variant however have a slower FSB (667FSB) but the same amount of cache (2mb and 4mb - for the 7x series).

My philips X56 has the C2D T5600 (1.83ghz) and when not in laptop mode (ie plugged in) its pretty swift - quicker than my desktop which is a celeron D 356 (512k L2 cache) running at 4.3ghz.

To give a quick example the laptop runs a 31second super pi compared to my desktops 36 seconds(51 seconds at the stock 3.33ghz). Not blistering but swift enough.

EDIT: It appears the spec in nthe op post is miss leading, the T5X series denotes that its in fact a Merom based processor however the clock speed (1,6ghz is incorrect for a merom (should be 1.66ghz) and the FSB is also wrong (533fsb whereas it should be 667 for the merom). Might be worth checking this out (the op) in more detail before commiting.

31 second super pi, very nice for a laptop.

Your laptop is a slightly better spec than the one I'm looking to get so super pi will be a bit longer on mine.

My current desktop does 1MB Pi in 46 seconds, the laptop I'm looking to get should beat it by roughly 10 seconds?

Is your laptop the newer C2D mobile rather than the old one you talked about?

oweneades said:
EDIT: It appears the spec in nthe op post is miss leading, the T5X series denotes that its in fact a Merom based processor however the clock speed (1,6ghz is incorrect for a merom (should be 1.66ghz) and the FSB is also wrong (533fsb whereas it should be 667 for the merom). Might be worth checking this out (the op) in more detail before commiting.

That's weird, it definitely says "Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T5200 (1.60 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 533 MHz FSB)" on the Dell website when I'm customising the laptop.

The next option down (+£90+) is the same as your laptops CPU (T5600). Maybe Dell just wrote the T5200 specs wrong?

Craig321 · 18 Apr 2007 at 02:30

bump!

Energize · 18 Apr 2007 at 14:10

The cpu is significantly faster, enough to help make up for the poor gpu, well at least in dual core games.

Craig321 · 19 Apr 2007 at 02:41

Energize said:
The cpu is significantly faster, enough to help make up for the poor gpu, well at least in dual core games.

That's an answer I like to hear

I was expecting and really don't mind that my desktop may beat the laptop on the gaming side, but as you say, the CPU will make up for the graphics.

I probably won't be playing many (or any) high graphic games on the laptop, the most graphically intense game I'd have on there would be something like Black & White 2.

Has anyone got any idea how fast a laptop of that spec could do pi to 1mb please?

Thanks,
Craig.

l33t-krew · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:06

th 7300 is terribly weak. The rest of the laptop is cool,but if the graphics are holding it back its next to useless. However if you are playinv VERY old games then it should be alright.

Still skeptical though. I had a turbo Cache 7300 for approx 2hrs. Got it for my destktop and sent it back withing 1hr. It was so appaling.

Still your choice!

Dr_Evil · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:12

I'd trade my inspiron in for a lattitude any day. They are just too heavy and thick.

Craig321 · 19 Apr 2007 at 21:45

l33t-krew said:
th 7300 is terribly weak. The rest of the laptop is cool,but if the graphics are holding it back its next to useless. However if you are playinv VERY old games then it should be alright.

Still skeptical though. I had a turbo Cache 7300 for approx 2hrs. Got it for my destktop and sent it back withing 1hr. It was so appaling.

Still your choice!

Weak as in? How would it compare to a desktop 6800GT?

Dr_Evil said:
I'd trade my inspiron in for a lattitude any day. They are just too heavy and thick.

I've been looking at some pictures and it doesn't look too chunky. I also found out it's roughly 2.7kg. My Dad's old Toshiba is 3.8kg and that's just about a fine weight (a bit on the heavy side, but still carryable).

Energize · 19 Apr 2007 at 21:47

Craig321 said:
Weak as in? How would it compare to a desktop 6800GT?

Awful.

Craig321 · 19 Apr 2007 at 21:48

Energize said:
Awful.

So a desktop 6800GT would be way better then?

Energize · 19 Apr 2007 at 21:48

Craig321 said:
So a desktop 6800GT would be way better then?

Yes. At least 300%.

Craig321 · 19 Apr 2007 at 21:53

Energize said:
Yes. At least 300%.

Are you sure? Dell add £105 for a 7300 (upgrade from onboard intel accelerator) & it's the best you can get for the Inspiron 6400 (or atleast, it's the most expensive!

)

EDIT

I've read a couple of pages and it looks like it is a bit of a bad card (apparently the lowest range nVidia make...).

What would a 256MB ATI® Mobility™ Radeon® X1400 HyperMemory™ graphics card be like?

EDIT

Got my answer on MSN from you

Thanks very much Energize.

Dr_Evil said:
for a lattitude any day.

They look good, nice and compact. Rather expensive : £1000+ though

Thanks,
Craig.

Craig321 · 19 Apr 2007 at 22:17

Another question I just thought of.

Can I upgrade the laptop without voiding warranty? I see Dell sell Insprion 6400 RAM (Kingston stuff) so I'm guessing I can upgrade without messing up the warranty?

And how hard would it be to upgrade something like the graphic card? For example: if I was to save for a top of the range graphic card for that laptop would I be able to put it in without troubles? Same for the RAM and hard drive?

Thanks,
Craig.