Which laptop?

Jonno02 · 28 May 2011 at 21:13

Sorry for another thread but decided against last laptop I asked about in my previous thread. Main uses will be general internet surfing, music production and if they can handle it the odd game. Sorry about linking so many. Budget is £500. Been looking at these and come to ask opinions on them:

MSI CX623 (Intel Core i3 380M, 2.53GHz, 1GB GeForce G310M, 4GB RAM, 640GB HDD, DVDRW, WLAN, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium) - Silver(£501)

Samsung RV511(Intel Core i3-380M Processor, 2.53GHz, 6GB RAM, 640GB HD, DVDSMDL, WLAN, BT, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium) - Black/Silver (£502)

HP DV6-3120SA (Intel Core i3-370M Processor, 3M cache, 2.40 GHz, 4GB Ram, 500GB HDD, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit) - Sonoma Red (£480)

BobbySixKiller · 29 May 2011 at 15:55

Dell XPS 15 :I3-2310M processor 2.10 GHz 2 GB DDR3 GT 525M GFX 250GB HD

£528.99 deliver £30 over you budget but the cpu and gfx are a lot better than your choices

area512003 · 29 May 2011 at 22:42

If you want casual gaming (at low to medium detail on DX9 & maybe DX10 games) then the HP (HD5470) and the XPS 15 (525M) are your only choices of the four choices so far.

With music production being one of the main reasons the OP is buying a laptop are we talking about software like Cubase,Reason,Cakewalk etc?

I own two synths (M3 and Juno Di) which I use software as above through MIDI to USB in my GX660R and I have noticed on occasion whilst in the midst of composition (with 10+ tracks already in place) I can be using 2.5Gb + RAM so if the OP is using the above type of software I would recommend as much RAM as possible meaning the XPS 15 may struggle.

Another thing to consider is the price difference which the XPS 15 is £50 more expensive than the HP but for more money you will have 50% LESS system memory and 50% LESS hard drive space.The I3-2310M is not 50% better than the i3 370m (more like 10%) and the Graphics 525M is not 50% better than the 5470 (again more like 10%). Sorry BobbySixKiller, the CPU and GFX are only really slightly better in the XPS 15 than the HP DV6-3120SA

The XPS 15 is nice but for what the OP wants and with a budget of only £500 the HP DV6-3120SA would be my choice.

BobbySixKiller · 30 May 2011 at 02:19

I still think that the GT 525 is a lot better card than the 5470 and the folks at notebook check seem to agree its got higher Fps in nearly all cases. Just wondering where you get the idea that I said things were 50% better from as that never happened.

Jonno02 · 30 May 2011 at 02:52

@area521003 - I actually thought the HP was the worst out of the 3 I listed?

tals · 30 May 2011 at 09:44

That Samsung looks good for the price

TheEnosFam · 30 May 2011 at 10:56

Samsung

area512003 · 30 May 2011 at 22:15

@ Jonno02 - Why would you put the HP as the worst when you mention you like the odd gaming? The HD5470 is the most powerful graphics card of the three you chose. The difference between the i3-380M and i3-370M is so small you would not notice the difference. Also 4GB is a plentiful amount of RAM for any laptop on Win 7.

And its the only one of the three that leaves cash in your pocket out of £500 for maybe a case to keep it in.

area512003 · 30 May 2011 at 22:33

BobbySixKiller said:
. Just wondering where you get the idea that I said things were 50% better from as that never happened.

That was your idea. I never directed that specific sentence at you.

It was merely that my ethics are when you lose 50% of something ie. the RAM & HD in the XPS 15 compared to the HP, I would hope to gain 50% somewhere else on the XPS 15 or a lower price.