Best place to buy a laptop?

Casperbhoy · 07-02-2008 3:01pm #1

Looking to buy a high end laptop, the one I have is great but I need to run some 3d drawing software & its not capable of it basically...

2-3 gb of ram
2-3hhz processor
128mb min graphics controller
all the usual bells & whistles too, dvd rw etc

If you hear of any deals going in any shops, leave me know please
Thanks:)

Anti · 07-02-2008 3:28pm

Some of the top end dell laptops are pretty good. Same with Rock laptops, and asus make some good ones too. Although i dont think you will find a reseller for rock or asus in ireland so you will have to buy direct from rock in the uk. And asus you should be able to find on line at some etailers.

majiktripp · 07-02-2008 3:44pm

www.dell.ie - XPS Range for top of the line stuff, as mentioned http://www.rockdirect.co.uk/ have a good range to of high end laptops , mega bucks though. Also if you like bling try www.alienware.ie
Also www.laptopsdirect.ie has a good range too although mixed reviews and comments on the company as a whole.
For a walk in shop try The Laptop Shop in Stephens Green centre in Dublin or you local....Pc World (of all places).
Edit forgot www.elara.ie too, vast range of laptops there....

Casperbhoy · 07-02-2008 4:16pm

This is the one im looking at, what do ye think?

Is it value for money?

XPSTM M1330 (€1500)
Experience photos, movies, videos & games in amazing clarity on the cutting-edge, super bright 13.3" WLED display

Processor

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache)

Operating System

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium – English

Monitors/Displays

13.3" UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) White-LED Display (300 nits) with TrueLife™

Memory

3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [1x2048+1x1024]

Hard Drives

320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive

Optical

Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load Drive, including SW

Wireless Communication

Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card - Europe - Core 2 Duo Processors

Services
Base Warranty - 1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support)

zilog_jones · 07-02-2008 5:51pm

It's a pretty damn small laptop - I'm sure how practical that screen would be for graphical work. Not that high res either compared to some bigger laptops either...

AlmightyCushion · 08-02-2008 12:34am

The graphics card is crap as well. You may want a dedicated card if you plan on doing a lot of 3d work.

Casperbhoy · 08-02-2008 11:15am

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

The graphics card is crap as well. You may want a dedicated card if you plan on doing a lot of 3d work.

pardon my ignorence but where is the graphics card listed in the spec above?

Thanks

majiktripp · 08-02-2008 11:49am

Casperbhoy wrote: »

pardon my ignorence but where is the graphics card listed in the spec above?

Thanks

Zing! He's got you there AC, however I think hes refering to the 128mb Grpahics reference you make in first post. For heavy graphics apps/photoediting you need a fairly powerful graphics card to handle the tasks.

Casperbhoy · 08-02-2008 12:33pm

majiktripp wrote: »

Zing! He's got you there AC, however I think hes refering to the 128mb Grpahics reference you make in first post. For heavy graphics apps/photoediting you need a fairly powerful graphics card to handle the tasks.

I`ve been told that the graphics card is the geforce 8000 series ...is it any good?

Do ye think this is a good deal from Dell?

Thanks:)

majiktripp · 08-02-2008 12:46pm

8000 series is pretty vague, theres good and bad in that bracket so if you can get an exact model we'd be better positioned to give you some advice.

Casperbhoy · 08-02-2008 12:57pm

majiktripp wrote: »

8000 series is pretty vague, theres good and bad in that bracket so if you can get an exact model we'd be better positioned to give you some advice.

Thanks lads, top notch

rc28 · 08-02-2008 1:38pm

Hey, my sister is looking into buying the xps 1530 for photoshop and CAD use, would she need the higher end graphics card available;
"NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB dedicated graphic memory"
Also, which is better to have; 4GB of RAM or 2.2ghz core2 duo processor?

Anyone have any advice on a good external monitor forphotography( must display colours and photos very well)? Thanks.

majiktripp · 08-02-2008 2:17pm

Yes your sister would need a good Graphics card , along with that 4GB of Ram. The processor would be helpful also but you could get away with a lower speed one. I would buy the laptop with lower ram (ie. 2gb or 1gb) and install the extra ram yourself as Dell charge extortionate prices to upgrade ram.

rc28 · 08-02-2008 2:55pm

majiktripp wrote: »

Yes your sister would need a good Graphics card , along with that 4GB of Ram. The processor would be helpful also but you could get away with a lower speed one. I would buy the laptop with lower ram (ie. 2gb or 1gb) and install the extra ram yourself as Dell charge extortionate prices to upgrade ram.

Cheers.
It comes with 2GB as standard but the other option is 4GB, is it easy to upgrade the ram yourself, will it only take a certain "brand/form" of ram?

majiktripp · 08-02-2008 3:38pm

Upgrading the Ram is easy, goto www.memoryc.ie and look for the model of laptop and it will give you the correct ram for it. Swapping out the ram is as easy as undoing a screw, removing the old sticks, inserting the new. Theres even a guide on doing it in most laptop manuals.

rc28 · 08-02-2008 3:59pm

majiktripp wrote: »

Upgrading the Ram is easy, goto www.memoryc.ie and look for the model of laptop and it will give you the correct ram for it. Swapping out the ram is as easy as undoing a screw, removing the old sticks, inserting the new. Theres even a guide on doing it in most laptop manuals.

They don't have the dell xps 1530, only the 1330

Aside from that, should I be getting DDR3 or DDR2? Also, how does changing the ram affect vista? Will it need to be reinstalled?
That site also doesn't have the dimension 9150 with pentium D930 available, what kind of ram would be compatible with that system?

AlmightyCushion · 08-02-2008 4:16pm

majiktripp wrote: »

Zing! He's got you there AC, however I think hes refering to the 128mb Grpahics reference you make in first post. For heavy graphics apps/photoediting you need a fairly powerful graphics card to handle the tasks.

Actually I wasn't. I could have sworn that he said intel integrated graphics in his post. I guess I misread him.

Dell actually seem to be more reasonable with upgrades at the moment. Apparently they charge around €100 to upgrade from 2GBs to 4GBs. To buy a 4GB kit you would be spending about €100 anyways so if you don't want the hassle of doing it yourself then it isn't too bad.

@rc28 - It's ddr2 so-dimms you are looking for. You can get it from shop4memory either. They have 4GBs of ram for €100.

http://www.shop4memory.com/products/ddr2-so-dimm.asp

I think the dimension 9150 is ddr2.

rc28 · 08-02-2008 5:14pm

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Actually I wasn't. I could have sworn that he said intel integrated graphics in his post. I guess I misread him.

Dell actually seem to be more reasonable with upgrades at the moment. Apparently they charge around €100 to upgrade from 2GBs to 4GBs. To buy a 4GB kit you would be spending about €100 anyways so if you don't want the hassle of doing it yourself then it isn't too bad.

@rc28 - It's ddr2 so-dimms you are looking for. You can get it from shop4memory either. They have 4GBs of ram for €100.

http://www.shop4memory.com/products/ddr2-so-dimm.asp

I think the dimension 9150 is ddr2.

Thanks.
If 4GB ram is 100 euro then it's not much of a saving since Dell are offering 4GB on the m1530 for 100 euro also.

dhaddock · 10-02-2008 1:40am

a couple of additions:

be warned if your running a 32bit windows OS it wont read all 4GB, itll only show about 3gig

if your buying a dell the prices seem to change for the same system every week so id wait for a good deal and go for it. for instance i bought a dell vostro 1700 a week ago and it had money off, free delivery, a free bag:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7500 @ 2.20 GHz,
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
320 GB (5400rpm) SATA Dual Hard Drive (2x 160GB)
Vista Business
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe
Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps) with Enhanced Data
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)
Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera
17.0" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife

for €1200! its a beast by the way!!

there are also sites on the web that give you coupon codes to enter at dell to save yourself some €€€™

Casperbhoy · 11-02-2008 2:40pm

Jez, thats sounds like a great deal. How would I know if its a 32bit OS? Surely if you buy a laptop with 4gb of ram, the Os that comes with it will utilize all 4gb?

Thanks

dhaddock wrote: »

a couple of additions:

be warned if your running a 32bit windows OS it wont read all 4GB, itll only show about 3gig

if your buying a dell the prices seem to change for the same system every week so id wait for a good deal and go for it. for instance i bought a dell vostro 1700 a week ago and it had money off, free delivery, a free bag:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7500 @ 2.20 GHz,
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
320 GB (5400rpm) SATA Dual Hard Drive (2x 160GB)
Vista Business
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe
Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps) with Enhanced Data
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)
Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera
17.0" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife

for €1200! its a beast by the way!!

there are also sites on the web that give you coupon codes to enter at dell to save yourself some €€€™

Bubba · 11-02-2008 2:51pm

Wow that is amazing! I'm looking at maybe getting a laptop too and if i saw a deal like this it'd be hard to turn down! Are they still offering it do you know? That really seems to good to be true!

dhaddock wrote: »

a couple of additions:

be warned if your running a 32bit windows OS it wont read all 4GB, itll only show about 3gig

if your buying a dell the prices seem to change for the same system every week so id wait for a good deal and go for it. for instance i bought a dell vostro 1700 a week ago and it had money off, free delivery, a free bag:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7500 @ 2.20 GHz,
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
320 GB (5400rpm) SATA Dual Hard Drive (2x 160GB)
Vista Business
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe
Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps) with Enhanced Data
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)
Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera
17.0" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife

for €1200! its a beast by the way!!

there are also sites on the web that give you coupon codes to enter at dell to save yourself some €€€™

Casperbhoy · 11-02-2008 3:08pm

Bubba wrote: »

Wow that is amazing! I'm looking at maybe getting a laptop too and if i saw a deal like this it'd be hard to turn down! Are they still offering it do you know? That really seems to good to be true!

thats what I was thinking. I was on the Dell site & cant see anything resemblling a deal like that, maybe we missed the boat:mad:

dhaddock · 11-02-2008 3:31pm

when you are picking your OS it will say something like Windows Vista X64 Premium if it is 64 bit otherwise you can just assume it it 32bit. if you google "windows 4GB" you should get lots of articles explaining it better.

if you guys go to dell.ie pick small business (you dnt actually need to have a business i just put my full name as the company name) and then customize the vostro 1700 to your liking you will get a system like this. at the mo its €150 off and free delivery!! so go for it now!

to prove what i said that they change every week: i just did a system to check and the bag isnt free no more, you cant get the 9cell battery, it says the 1900X1200 screen isnt supported but i have it and the hard drive space is 250GB. but heres what i got when i just built it:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7500 @ 2.20 GHz
Vista Business
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card
Bluetooth Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps)
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
Carrying Cases Nylon X-Large Carrycase (17')
LCD 17.0" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display

for €1099!!

go for it lads while the gettings good

Bubba · 11-02-2008 5:23pm

I wish they did it in colours!

ha

dhaddock wrote: »

when you are picking your OS it will say something like Windows Vista X64 Premium if it is 64 bit otherwise you can just assume it it 32bit. if you google "windows 4GB" you should get lots of articles explaining it better.

if you guys go to dell.ie pick small business (you dnt actually need to have a business i just put my full name as the company name) and then customize the vostro 1700 to your liking you will get a system like this. at the mo its €150 off and free delivery!! so go for it now!

to prove what i said that they change every week: i just did a system to check and the bag isnt free no more, you cant get the 9cell battery, it says the 1900X1200 screen isnt supported but i have it and the hard drive space is 250GB. but heres what i got when i just built it:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7500 @ 2.20 GHz
Vista Business
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card
Bluetooth Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps)
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
Carrying Cases Nylon X-Large Carrycase (17')
LCD 17.0" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display

for €1099!!

go for it lads while the gettings good

Bubba · 11-02-2008 5:28pm

One question actually...why is it so cheap compared to like other laptops such as latitudes, precisions etc?
If you got similiar specs on another machine the price would be huge? Why is it so much cheaper with the Vostro? Is there something i'm missing here?

Like compared with this one

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/4x_precn_m90?c=ie&cs=iebsdt1&l=en&s=bsd

and thats the starting price like!

zilog_jones · 11-02-2008 6:23pm

The XPS M1330 (I assume you're still talking about that?) is small and mostly made of plastic. That Precision linked there has an all-metal base, a 17" screen and it's fooking massive. They weigh a ton too (I used to build those ones). Also, they have discrete graphics cards, i.e. cards separate from the motherboard in order to offer a wide range and/or upgrades.

All the Latitudes (and derived Precisions) except for the D520, 530 and maybe XT have magnesium alloy bases. They also have a lot more options and accessories like built-in fingerprint readers, docking stations, etc.

I don't get how the Vostros are so much cheaper. IIRC:
Vostro 1000 = Inspiron 1501
Vostro 1400 = Inspiron 1525
Vostro 1500 = Inspiron 1520
Vostro 1700 = Inspiron 1720

I don't know about the specific differences in specs, but besides being black the Vostros are identical systems.

Bubba · 11-02-2008 7:13pm

Ok cool thanks, you seem to know your stuff!
I'm seriously considering getting one now, the price is very impressive for what you get.

Few other simple questions,
Are the Vostro's big/bulky and heavy?
The annoying thing about buying online is you can't physically see and play with one before you purchase.

Also how long would the battery last for?

And cons so far?

These questions are more towards dhaddock mate as you recently got one.

Cheers!

zilog_jones wrote: »

The XPS M1330 (I assume you're still talking about that?) is small and mostly made of plastic. That Precision linked there has an all-metal base, a 17" screen and it's fooking massive. They weigh a ton too (I used to build those ones). Also, they have discrete graphics cards, i.e. cards separate from the motherboard in order to offer a wide range and/or upgrades.

All the Latitudes (and derived Precisions) except for the D520, 530 and maybe XT have magnesium alloy bases. They also have a lot more options and accessories like built-in fingerprint readers, docking stations, etc.

I don't get how the Vostros are so much cheaper. IIRC:
Vostro 1000 = Inspiron 1501
Vostro 1400 = Inspiron 1525
Vostro 1500 = Inspiron 1520
Vostro 1700 = Inspiron 1720

I don't know about the specific differences in specs, but besides being black the Vostros are identical systems.

Tar.Aldarion · 11-02-2008 7:21pm

Luckily all my friends have vostros so I could mess around with them before ordering one last week.
It's not too heavy/bulky and the battery lasts a few hours I think...That is for the 15.5'', 17'' is too much in my opinion, too bulky etc.

Bubba wrote: »

Ok cool thanks, you seem to know your stuff!
I'm seriously considering getting one now, the price is very impressive for what you get.

Few other simple questions,
Are the Vostro's big/bulky and heavy?
The annoying thing about buying online is you can't physically see and play with one before you purchase.

Also how long would the battery last for?

And cons so far?

These questions are more towards dhaddock mate as you recently got one.

Cheers!

kevin216 · 11-02-2008 7:39pm

i got a 15" a month ago works great so far really nice keyboard can't stress this enough the keyboard it's so soft for a button press

AlmightyCushion · 11-02-2008 7:45pm

kevin216 wrote: »

i got a 15" a month ago works great so far really nice keyboard can't stress this enough the keyboard it's so soft for a button press

I see I'm not alone in thinking that a touchpad and keyboard are very important parts of a laptop. I've tried some laptops with a horrible touch pad and I wouldn't buy one, no matter what the spec or price was, simply because the touch pad would piss me off too much. Unfortunately buying online means you can't check what they're like before you buy.

dhaddock · 11-02-2008 8:06pm

i was going to go for the 15" too as it is a laptop for college and id be carrying it but when i built both systems side by side on the site the 17" was only like €100 dearer so i just went for it!!

the 9cell battery works for about 4.5 hours when fully charged which is great but it also protrudes from the back a little bit which doesnt bother me as it just looks like part of the system.

on the 1700 you cant get XP preinstalled (i hate vista) and to get the SATA hard drives working required a bita research.

its easy to leave fingerprints on the finish.

my brother has a 17" alienware m9700 and thats really heavy so i expected the same for this but it nots that bad at all but keep in mind its not a feather either.

i attached some pics of it vs the alienware, the battery protrude and the keyboard

Best place to buy a laptop?

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