Need opinions...

SkyLegend

SkyLegend

SkyLegend

Associate
Joined
11 Sep 2008
Posts
19
Hey guys,

I have narrowed my search down to a few laptops and would like to know what people think and give me any details regarding any flaws or anything I may have missed in my search...

Thanks in advance, here they are:

Choice Number 1:

Dell XPS M1730

£1,879.00

Components -

- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.50 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2 cache)
- Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1- English
- 17.0" UltraSharp™ WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT with TrueLife™ with Integrated 2.0MP web cam
- 4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
- 400GB Free Fall Sensor Raid 0 Stripe - 2 X 200GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive
- DUAL SLI 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTX card
- Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW (DVD read/write) drive, including SW
- Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)

Choice Number 2:

Ultima Extreme Mobile Plus - 17.0" WUXGA Laptop

£1,892.85

Components -

- 4GB Ram
- Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz
- WD Scoprio 320GB (7,200RPM)
- Vista Home Basic 64-bit
- 8X DVD+ RW
- Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTX 1GB
- 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- Biometric Fingerprint Reader + Kensington Lock Slot
- 8 Cell Lithium-Ion Battery

Choice Number 3:

Sony VAIO VGN-AW11Z/B (Due out this October)

£1,498.99

Components -

- Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
- Intel® Core™2 Duo T9400 w/ Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology 2.53GHz 6MB L2 Cache
- 4GB Ram 800MHz
- 640GB (5,200 RPM) Serial ATA Hard Drive
- Blu-ray Disc™ Drive: BD-R/-RE/-ROM/ DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM Drive (reader/writer)
- 18.4" X-black LCD with double lamp technology 1920 x 1080
- NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT GPU 512MB
- 1.3 Megapixel Camera
- Biometric Fingerprint Reader
- Lithium-Ion battery (VGP-BPS13/B)


Conclusion

So basically, you can see my problem... I have 3 potentially amazing laptops listed, each having their own personal touch.

The Dell and the OcUK Laptops are almost the same price and similar in spec... while the Sony VAIO has a little less power, but blu ray and a very nice size screen.

Basically I am not asking which one to pick, but rather... what are the flaws and catches about each of these systems? I know that Dell probably is the 32-bit version of Vista, which means its 4GB Memory may not even be used fully... and that may happen with the Sony as it does not classify if it is a 64bit or 32bit.

I want to be able to used my laptop for gaming and want to be pre-paired for the next gen games coming out in the future. However, I would also like to have blu ray as my partner will also use the laptop for editing in High Definition.

If anyone could give their insight on what to do and how to break it down so that I can come to a choice, please feel free to say so... the last thing I want to do is buy a laptop and it not to be perfect for me...
 
you could just add the blu ray drive to the OCUK Ultima Mobile Laptop? it does make it over £2,000 though :(
also i imagine the dell laptop would be the same? you should be able to add-in the blu ray drive as an upgrade if your on the dell website.
Why not build a cheaper Desktop system? it would be a lot more powerful albeit not portable. or do you prefer a laptop? and does the laptop need to be on battery a lot or ?
 
Well all 3 are very high spec machines, and I doubt you'd be disappointed with any of them. Here are pros and cons of each one in my view:

Dell XPS M1730
+ Best gaming machine of the 3. The SLI'ed 8800's will offer some degree of future proofing and will even run Crysis at high settings at the panel's native res of 1920 x 1200.

- Not portable - the unit is very thick and heavy and the power supply is literally the size of a house brick. It also has a fake carbon fibre exterior and lots of bright LED's which look very tacky in my opinion. Also it gets very hot when both GPU's are at full load.

- No blu-ray drive. Adding one will take the list price up to £2.2k


Ultima Extreme.
+ Again, a good gaming machine - the 9800m gtx is Nvidia's latest and greatest mobile GPU. However, it is only equivalent to a desktop 8800GT and you only get one of them, so it may struggle to run future games unless you drop the res.

+ It uses a Clevo M570RU chassis, which is known for it's high quality.

+ Thinner than the Dell, so it should fit into a standard 17" laptop bag with room for the power supply.

- Expensive. Again no blu-ray and adding it will take the price over £2k.


Sony -
I've not seen or used one of these personally, but the specs make it look like a good general purpose desktop replacement machine. The 9600m gt GPU is a bit weak for gaming though, and you won't be able to run current games at 1920 x 1200. However, it has the biggest screen, comes with a blu ray drive, and is cheapest.


I've personally got the Dell, -same spec as you listed but I added BluRay, Vista Ultimate and a PhysX card. I think its great and it is actually faster than my desktop, so I use it for everything now.

Hope this helps.
 
I thought all the M1730's came with the physX card anyway?

I have the Dell aswell and it's a cracking machine, but as said it does run quite hot and there is no hdmi connection.
 
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