Laptop Upto £600ish.

syke · 24 Sep 2007 at 11:10

Looking to get a final laptop to replace the last desktop of which was used for the odd game & for my mum to use.

My college is offering a new scheme where its 17.5% off laptops.

This spec is £589;

Intel Santa Rosa T7300 (2ghz)
15.4" Screen
2GB PC5300 RAM
250GB HDD
nVidia 8600 Go 256mb
7.1 HD Audio
Card Reader
Bluetooth & Webcam

And the usual other features.

Theres that and a cheaper one which is £529;

Intel Santa Rosa T7100 (1.6ghz)
15.4" Screen
1GB PC5300 RAM
160GB HDD
nVidia 8600 Go 256mb
7.1 HD Audio
Card Reader
Bluetooth & Webcam

My question is, can that spec be beaten for Under £600?

Also, the 8600Go, could that handle a few games?

For example COD4, MoH:A not on full settings?

Ta for any help.

syke · 24 Sep 2007 at 11:48

Just seen the Vostro specs.

Theres;

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 Processor (1.8GHz,800MHz,2MB L2 cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)
Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display

For a total of £610 delivered.

That a hell of a lot better or just an improvement on the graphics card?

GuruJockStrap · 24 Sep 2007 at 12:22

What's the manufacturers of the laptops in your first post?

The 8600M laptop GPU's come in 2 flavours, the 8600MGS and the 8600MGT.

The 8600MGT will be better if you're looking to play the odd game or 2. Look in the big Vostro thread to see what kind of games you'll be able to play with the 8600MGT.

I'd personally be tempted by the first one. Thats a huge HD (make sure its a 5400RPM drive though. A few large capacity laptop HD's are 4800RPM), you get bluetooth that you'd have to pay extra for with Dell plus a faster CPU.

syke · 24 Sep 2007 at 12:27

GuruJockStrap said:
What's the manufacturers of the laptops in your first post?

The 8600M laptop GPU's come in 2 flavours, the 8600MGS and the 8600MGT.

The 8600MGT will be better if you're looking to play the odd game or 2. Look in the big Vostro thread to see what kind of games you'll be able to play with the 8600MGT.

I'd personally be tempted by the first one. Thats a huge HD (make sure its a 5400RPM drive though. A few large capacity laptop HD's are 4800RPM), you get bluetooth that you'd have to pay extra for with Dell plus a faster CPU.

The ones above are called "Revo Max".

The Vostro does look very good.

For the money, id be tempted to go for the Vostro though.

Bluetooth isnt essential, got a dongle for it - got blueooth on this laptop.

Not sure what speed the drive is.

southcoastgeeza · 24 Sep 2007 at 13:08

I've got a Revo Max, albeit a slightly earlier model, does what it says on the tin with a certain amount of gusto.... no complaints on the build quality. Screen is a little too glossy for me personally but more than usable. The track pad is occasionally a little less responsive then i'd like but i'd have no hesitation in recommending it...