Laptop Choice - high end

firthy15 · 11 Sep 2007 at 13:30

Right so getting a laptop got a pretty unlimited budget

Choices so far are either

Dell vostro 1700 / 1500
Dell XPS M1710
Alienware high end lappy
Apple Macbook pro 17"

Right, i would push up the specs on the vostro which makes it a very nice laptop and i have been hearing good things from the vostro thread.

The XPS looks quite nice and has a lot of "oooh shiney" factor, not so sure about how good the GO 7950GTX holds up to the vostros 8600GT M.

The alienware is pretty much out of the picture as they cant deliver it till october :mad:

And finally the Apple, really like the look and build quality of them. Also would have to really put windows on to have the occasional game and maybe use mac OS for videos etc.

Really cant decide, money pretty much isnt a factor hence getting a "gaming" laptop otherwise id get say a 13" macbook and save the money elsewhere.

So any opinions on any of the laptops or any others i havent mentioned?

*edit - Forgot to mention it will stay in one place a lot of the time, hence portability isnt too much of an issue

Thank you in advance
Firthy

manic_man · 11 Sep 2007 at 13:50

I could be wrong, but id imagine that other than the fact the 8600 GT is DX10, the 7950 GTX (even the GO version) will eat the 8600 alive

I personally am looking to get a 1500 Vostro with an 8600 GT in the near future as there really isnt anything else in the "middle" market to beat it, but id probably consider the XPS if its outright performance (and shiny glowyness) you want.

Might want to take a gander at Rock laptops too. Some proper gaming monsters on there if cost isnt an issue, and im told they are superb quality.

sidethink · 11 Sep 2007 at 13:51

For me, totally subjectively I'd go for the Mac. I use my desktop for gaming and my next laptop will be a Macbook of some sort.

A good Macbook gets you all the usual benefits: Cool OS, Design and then the flexibility of Bootcamp or Fusion.

manic_man · 11 Sep 2007 at 13:56

What are the graphics like in the 1700 macbooks?

8600M GT it seems.

For the same price, Rock will supply you with:

X770-T7700

Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 2.4GHz, 4MB Cache, 800MHz
New Nvidia GeForce 8700M GT 512MB (DX10)
WSXGA+ X-Glass rock logo
2GB DDR2 667MHz RAM
160GB 7200rpm S-ATA
Windows Vista Home Premium

Looks like a good one to me! Thats just under £1600 direct.

sidethink · 11 Sep 2007 at 16:02

Unless I'm mistaken, Rock can't supply OSX with their laptops....

manic_man · 11 Sep 2007 at 16:34

As he's interested in Dell's AND macs and he specifically states he would put windows onto the Mac if thats what he chose, I didnt see that OSX was a requirement?

Just thought id point out that Rock could offer almost twice the power of Apple at the same cost

melbourne720 · 11 Sep 2007 at 16:38

Top end laptops, it's got to be Rock.

sidethink · 11 Sep 2007 at 17:29

manic_man said:
As he's interested in Dell's AND macs and he specifically states he would put windows onto the Mac if thats what he chose, I didnt see that OSX was a requirement?

Just thought id point out that Rock could offer almost twice the power of Apple at the same cost

Yes, but he doesn't list Windows as a requirement either.

The main reason (well the only really valid one) that people buy Macs is for OSX.

Its a way of life....

manic_man · 11 Sep 2007 at 17:33

well without totally derailing the thread, I use OSX, Windows, Linux and a variant of Unix on a 256 core BuLL HPC machine.

As far as I can tell, each has its own use. OS X is fine if you dont want to game and arn't a "tinkerer" while Linux is.. well.. good for cheapskate universities like mine

They all seem to have their advatages and disadvantages.

Either way, I think most will suggest Rock at the higher end of the market, that 8700 will well out perform the 8600 in the mac for example. Though Im unsure as to whether the 7950GTX would still be faster than an 8700, Rock seem to offer it as an "upgrade" for £45 over the 8700.

Hugest_UK · 11 Sep 2007 at 18:26

manic_man said:
I could be wrong, but id imagine that other than the fact the 8600 GT is DX10, the 7950 GTX (even the GO version) will eat the 8600 alive

Correct the 7950 GTX is the fastest notebook card currently available. I was pretty set on a vostro and a 8600M GT but I feel the fact they only have DDR2 memory (in the dell) is really gonna hinder them in the future.

I feel unless you can wait for the 8800M then right now the 7950GTX is the right option. It is for me

I have also been playing Bioshock in Direct x 9 mode on vista because the DX10 version doesnt support AA and it sill looks totally amazing. TBH I think DX9 is still here to stay for a while. Although if money is no object then the 8700M GT isnt far off the perfomance of 7950GTX and has DX10. But if it were me I would get the 7950GTX now and wait for a better DX10 mobile card.

Take a look at this page for more info on notebook GPU's:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

Cheers,
Hugest