gaming laptop

Andr3w

Andr3w

Andr3w

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Joined
6 Oct 2004
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England
been looking for a gaming laptop, i dont have the room for a full pc, and i will be moving around abit so i guess laptop would be best.

MAX budget of about £1200

i was looking at the dell xpsm1710 and for about 1200 i can get

BASE Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7400 (2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English edit
HARDWARE SUPPORT Base Warranty - 1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support)
LCD 17.0" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife™
MEMORY 4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048] edit
HARD DRIVE 250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD 512MB DDR3 nVidia® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX graphics card
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software - Vista
PRIMARY BATTERY 9 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (80 Whr)


the only problem is, the graphics card....i was hoping for an 8800 or something, whats the 7 series one like?
 
The 7950 is the best laptop gfx card apart from the 8800.

Just wait until the 8800s come down in price - ie been out for a bit. And wait for the penryn cpus in laptops too :)
 
so the 7950 is better than an 8600gt? I thought the 8600 was the newer range:o?

Im kind of wanting to get one sooner rather than later, i could wait, but then i could go to buy and then somebody else will say *wait for this one...* lol

Theres always going to be something better out.

Is this laptop the best i can get for the price?
Is 4GB worth it over 2, also should i pay extra to get the 7200 over 5400 HDD.
 
Bengaboy said:
The 7950 is the best laptop gfx card apart from the 8800.

Just wait until the 8800s come down in price - ie been out for a bit. And wait for the penryn cpus in laptops too
Click to expand...
The m1710 will never have penryn available as it uses socket M. 8600m gt is newer, supports more features, draws considerably less power and is much cooler than the go7950gtx but it is not designed to replace the go7950, it is a mid-midrange chip. The 7950 competes with (and is replaced by) the 8800m gts/x, the 8600m with the go7600. The m1710 does not use the Santa Rosa platform, rather, is Napa based. The 7200rpm drive, imo is worth it, 4gb can be retro fitted with ocuk's stuff for less than they sell it, if you are sure you will need 4gb (need a 64 bit os ofc)
 
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Does the OS i spec'd support 4gb? (can you tell ive been away for a long time?:p)

I've been reading about the 7950 etc and was getting excited, then i realised it doesnt support DX10 :(

Is it possible to get an 8800 in a laptop for £1200?
 
Dell supply 32 bit os' with their systems, however you can upgrade to 64 bit through the MS site. :) Your 32 bit os will support around 3.2GB of your ram. Ignore the lack of dx10 on the 7950, it makes up for it with its amazing speed at high resolutions with some aa thrown in for good measure (you can overclock them through the roof too). The rock xtreme 770 and the alienware m15x are able to have an 8800m gtx but they start at around £1.5k for a base spec with the gtx.
 
To say im wanting to keep the laptop for around 2-3 years are you SURE dx10 won't be a problem? im just abit worried, £1200 is a lot of money for me and i dont want to be regreting it in 6months.

Again in my research, i found that the 7950 gtx in SLI is very good (sli = dual cards right?) but in my spec its just single....?

heres a chart i found

second pic down
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3155&p=4
 
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1200 seems quite a lot for an 1710 - I picked up an identical one to yours (less 2GB RAM) for 1100 euros from their official outlet on a well known auction site. I would say your best bet is to try to get one (or perhaps an M1730 even) this way?
 
HI,

I wouldn't think about the 7950 personally. It is DX 9 which is kind of limiting. DX 10 games have started to appear already and will become more and more prolific over the coming 6-12 months.

I guess the biggest question is what resolution of screen will you go for ? This will make the biggest difference.

An 8700 can probably drive a 1440 x 900 (or lower) screen well but will struggle with a 1920 x 1200. The 8600 and 8400 are really pushing the limits of the mid range cards and really don't cut the mustard.

I would save the money on the ram and spend it on the GPU as this is probably the most critical part of the system

Cheers
 
Screen 17" WUXGA 1920 x 1200 TFT Screen
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7700 4MB Cache Dual Core Processor
Processor Speed 2 x 2.40GHz
Memory 2GB DDR2 667MHz Memory
Hard Drive 250GB SATA Hard Drive
Drive DVD/RW Multi Burner
Modem 56K Internal Modem
Graphics Nvidia 8800M GTX 512mb PCI Express Graphics
Sound Azalia High Definition Audio With SRS WOW Surround Sound
Speakers 2 x 1.5 Watt & 1 x 2 Watt Sub Woofer
Memory Slots 2 x DDR2 SO-DIMM
Memory Capacity 4GB
Audio In Port 1 x Mic-in
Audio Out Port 1 x H'phone/Speakers & S/PDIF Output
Networking Port 1 x Gigabit LAN & 802.11n Draft Wireless LAN
Serial Port Yes
Ext Monitor Port 1 x DVI-D Port
Power Socket AC Power Adapter
USB Ports 4 x USB 2.0
PCMCIA Port 1 x Express Card Slot (34/54)
Mini PCI Slot Yes
Firewire Port 1 x Mini IEEE 1394a Firewire
Bluetooth Yes
Webcam 1.3 Mega Pixel
Carry Case Yes
AC Adaptor AC Adapter Supplied
Internal Battery 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Touchpad Glidepad with 2 buttons & scroll button
Scroll Button 1 x scroll button
Dimensions (mm) 44h x 397w x 284d
Warranty 12 Mths RTB
Weight 3.95Kg with battery
OS Compliance Windows XP/Vista
Notes 7 In 1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/SD/MMC/RS MMC/MS Duo/Mini-SD), Bluetooth & 1.3MP WebCam

= £1349.01 inc vatwithout OS

Google X80R
 
mip said:
HI,

I wouldn't think about the 7950 personally. It is DX 9 which is kind of limiting. DX 10 games have started to appear already and will become more and more prolific over the coming 6-12 months.

I guess the biggest question is what resolution of screen will you go for ? This will make the biggest difference.

An 8700 can probably drive a 1440 x 900 (or lower) screen well but will struggle with a 1920 x 1200. The 8600 and 8400 are really pushing the limits of the mid range cards and really don't cut the mustard.

I would save the money on the ram and spend it on the GPU as this is probably the most critical part of the system

Cheers
Click to expand...
And current desktop dx10 cards are able to run dx10 with no problem?
Exactly, in its current state with the speed of current hardware, it's pointless.

An 8700 is an overclocked 8600, so if the 8600 is pushing the limits, then so is the 8700. The two I had in my now gone m1730, were faster with no aa and much slower with any level of aa over the 7950gtx I had. (19x12)

The thing about the rock extreme 770, X80R, and the sager, etc. Is they are all the same oem chassis. And have a much less mobile design compared to the m1710. If you need a 2.5-3.5 hr battery, get the m1710. If you don't need that much get any of the others.
 
im confused on what to do now :p

I was wanting a laptop as i do move around abit, i can take it to the other lads rooms and set up lans easy etc etc,and i dont have much room, however after looking round, i can buy a desktop for cheaper thats better...its really annoying :p
 
Andr3w said:
im confused on what to do now :p

I was wanting a laptop as i do move around abit, i can take it to the other lads rooms and set up lans easy etc etc,and i dont have much room, however after looking round, i can buy a desktop for cheaper thats better...its really annoying :p
Click to expand...

LOL , sorry shouldn't laugh but can't help it.

I am going to assume that to get a 7950 these days it would need to be second hand as nobody fits them anymore anyway.

A desktop will always be cheaper, higher performing, and more easily upgradeable than any laptop.

laptops are only any good if you have no space or want to move around.

I spent a chunk on mine as it is a DTR machine as I no longer have the space for screens and keyboards and need to be able to tuck the system out of the way hence a laptop. For what I spent I could have bought a snarling liquid cooled BEAST of a machine :-)

Cheers
 
hehe yeh, i would go for the 8800 if i decided. Trying to decide between rock/alienware (although they are abit over the top) or the dell m1730.

Is the upgrade from 32bit to 64 bit via the ms website free or do you pay?
 
2.5-3.5 hours lol

Under load (gaming) most gaming laptops wont go for an hour. I'd be lucky if mine lasted 30 minutes.

As far as GPU's go

8800>7950gtx>8700>8600 (only in a 15" machine)
 
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