14.1 vs 15.4

TerrorFirmer

It might sound like a silly question, but how big do people reckon the size makes in relation to carrying it around, portability, etc? When comparing too laptops of those sizes? Does the 1.3" Make it seem much smaller, or is the difference negligible?

I'm torn between the 14.1" Vostros with 8400GS and the 15.4" Vostros with the appealing 8600GT, I do a reasonable amount of gaming so the 8600GT is winning me over but it will also be for a lot of college work, where the 14.1 and 8400gs giving longer battery life would come into play, etc.

Also, I know you can get the 8600GT in 14.1" laptops, but not from Dell. Anyone know anywhere that sells them? Not necessarily just the 8600GT, but the 8400GT would be OK as well, just not so keen on the weak 8400GS.

Tom Dunne

HavoK wrote:

It might sound like a silly question, but how big do people reckon the size makes in relation to carrying it around, portability, etc? When comparing too laptops of those sizes? Does the 1.3" Make it seem much smaller, or is the difference negligible?

1.3" is noticable. It's not just the physical screen itself, it also the support structure of the laptop, which in turn affects portability. My old HP that I am always ranting about is a 15.4" and I'd say it is more luggable than portable. Granted it is three years old.

I've been playing around witha a new Toshiba that has a 13" screen and it's infinitely more portable than my IBM with a 15" screen.

HavoK wrote:

I'm torn between the 14.1" Vostros with 8400GS and the 15.4" Vostros with the appealing 8600GT, I do a reasonable amount of gaming so the 8600GT is winning me over but it will also be for a lot of college work, where the 14.1 and 8400gs giving longer battery life would come into play, etc.

It's down to the usual trade-off of portability vs. functionality. Which is more important? I lug my IBM on the train most mornings, but I would be doing mostly office apps. If I was buying again, I would certainly go for the portability option over screen size.

Ghost Train

Can comfortably work on a ultraportable 12"-13" screen. For web browsing, office, video. Usability I think wouldn't be an issue. Dont really do any laptop gaming, so for me the performance differance wouldnt be an issue, so cant really comment much on that

For ultra portables though your talking about a weight of about 1.5kg, moving up to a light standard laptop 14" (2.2-2.5kg) youre adding 50% more weight, which is a big differance, and for a 15.4" laptop (around 3kg) your adding close to 100% more weight over the ultra portable, obviously very noticable

When going from a lightish standard laptop 14" to a heavier 15.4" youre only actually adding 20-30% more weight, which is noticable, but not as noticable, in a laptop bag carrying it about, not much differance, lifting it out of bag or using it on your lap you'll notice the differance, just feels/looks bulkier, not as neat

RoyalMarine

ive a 17" laptop.
i use it for gaming, and i travel a lot.
i didnt like carrying it around in a carry case, so i bought a backpack from targus. its great now. sits on my back and i barely notice it.
plus the backpack fits loads of other things. plenty of room for books, notes, c.d's etc.

AlmightyCushion

RoyalMarineComm wrote:

ive a 17" laptop.
i use it for gaming, and i travel a lot.
i didnt like carrying it around in a carry case, so i bought a backpack from targus. its great now. sits on my back and i barely notice it.
plus the backpack fits loads of other things. plenty of room for books, notes, c.d's etc.

Couldn't agree more with this. The only time I notice the weight is when I take it out of tha bag.

RoyalMarine

yeah thats the only bad point. nearly broke my wrist when mine kinda slipped from my grasp. it was either let it smash ( 2 weeks old €2400 to waste ) or risk breaking a bone in my wrist.

been out of service for a few days now... feeling is coming back slowly

Soundman

Haven't had a problem hauling my 15.4" laptop around to work for the last 4 years. Bare in mind I use public transport and it's 20+ miles to work.

I'd go for the 15.4 myself and get a good laptop backpack which does help. Distributes the weight more evenly.

TerrorFirmer

Yeah I have a 15.4 already but am selling it, battery life is OK but not the best, so I'm looking to get a Vostros with the 9 cell. the 14.1 is really calling out to me, with its sleek form and smaller screen, but I know I'd be kicking myself over the 8400GS....college VS games....hmmm..:D

dulpit

I've used both the Vostro 1400 & 1500, i own a 1500 & we have a 1400 in the office... The size difference is kinda noticeable, especially when carrying it around...

I personally went with the 1500, as I'll be mainly using mine at home and stuff, not gonna be bringing it to college every day or anything... If I had to carry it around every day then i would advise you to get the 1400, however, if you're not so much into portability there's nothing wrong with the 1500, sure it's a bit heavy, but it's not so bad...

TerrorFirmer

Well I decided I'm getting the 14.1, it is for college after all so I really should prioritize that. I was even thinking of getting the X3100 instead of the 8400GS but once you upgrade the ram and processor to match the precustomised model with 8400GS it ends up costing the same.

Truelife, yes or no? Ten euro extra...

Also, is there anyway to get them to bundle it with XP? Because, I don't want Vista, and if I'm forced to use that I'll be installing a clean XP anyway.

AlmightyCushion

HavoK wrote:

Well I decided I'm getting the 14.1, it is for college after all so I really should prioritize that. I was even thinking of getting the X3100 instead of the 8400GS but once you upgrade the ram and processor to match the precustomised model with 8400GS it ends up costing the same.

Truelife, yes or no? Ten euro extra...

Also, is there anyway to get them to bundle it with XP? Because, I don't want Vista, and if I'm forced to use that I'll be installing a clean XP anyway.

Truelife is meant to be great for watching dvds but shít for everything else so I would stay away. I'm pretty sure the Vostros can be configured with xp. It shouldn't add to the price either. Given it's a vostro I'm willing to bet that it has Vista business. Vista business allows you to downgrade to xp.

KStaford

AC

Is truelife a hardware or software tech ? If you get it with the laptop is it
then optional to use, i.e can I switch it off if I dont like it ?

Also, with batteries, what does Whr mean ?
How long does the 6-cell 56WHr last (normal use) compared to the 9 cell ?

I found this review of Dell batteries here - not good

Also, regarding the wifi technologies
on Dells web site they always describe wifi as "mini card" i.e.
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card Wireless

Is this an actual card (pcmcia) that you have to maintain/manage/keep safe etc or is it built in to the laptop ?

AlmightyCushion

KStaford wrote:

AC

Is truelife a hardware or software tech ? If you get it with the laptop is it
then optional to use, i.e can I switch it off if I dont like it ?

Also, with batteries, what does Whr mean ?
How long does the 6-cell 56WHr last (normal use) compared to the 9 cell ?

It's a hardware thang. I don't know what it's like personally but I've read it's just a really glossy screen. I think it's a coating on the screen so that means it can't be turned off.

It's short for Watt Hour although google 'whr' and you get a load of things nothing to do with this. How long a battery will last depends on all sorts of things. The size of the screen, the type of backlight used in the screen, how fast the hard drive spins, and god knows how many other things I've forgotten. A 6 cell would be the minimum some one should go for whenever I recommend a laptop. You should contemplate getting the 9 cell battery, it will add a bit of weight to the laptop but will give you a lot better battery life.

AlmightyCushion

KStaford wrote:

I found this review of Dell batteries here - not good

Also, regarding the wifi technologies
on Dells web site they always describe wifi as "mini card" i.e.
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card Wireless

Is this an actual card (pcmcia) that you have to maintain/manage/keep safe etc or is it built in to the laptop ?

Hmm that definitely doesn't look good. Although it could be down to the fact that these reviews are from companies. I'd say that most people using them have them plugged in whenever they are at their desk. 9-5 monday to friday. Keeping the laptop plugged in while it is not chaarging kills the battery (I believe it's the heat that causes the problem). Although this guy seems to have dealt with other batteries and still thinks the dell ones are crap.

These are by far the worst batteries I've had to deal with, Dell needs to come up with a solution and correct this problem.

The wireless cards is built in so don't worry about that. Just to let you know the laptop won't have a pcmcia slot. This has been replaced with an express card slot.

TerrorFirmer

AlmightyCushion wrote:

Truelife is meant to be great for watching dvds but shít for everything else so I would stay away. I'm pretty sure the Vostros can be configured with xp. It shouldn't add to the price either. Given it's a vostro I'm willing to bet that it has Vista business. Vista business allows you to downgrade to xp.

Yeah its Vista business, no option to use XP in the custom menu, wonder if I rang them to place an order would they be able to do it? I'm thinking of actually saving some cash and going the 1gb/X3100 route instead - 1Gb is plenty for XP but I'd be wary of running Vista on 1gb.

Truelife....well, I won't really ever be watching DVDs! So I guess I'll leave it. Don't suppose there's anyway to look at comparisons between normal and truelife screens somewhere?

AlmightyCushion

HavoK wrote:

Yeah its Vista business, no option to use XP in the custom menu, wonder if I rang them to place an order would they be able to do it? I'm thinking of actually saving some cash and going the 1gb/X3100 route instead - 1Gb is plenty for XP but I'd be wary of running Vista on 1gb.

The license for Vista Business allows you to downgrade to xp but it is meant to be a nightmare. See here. If you ring you should be able to get xp on it.

HavoK wrote:

Truelife....well, I won't really ever be watching DVDs! So I guess I'll leave it. Don't suppose there's anyway to look at comparisons between normal and truelife screens somewhere?

Don't know. I think the hp, toshiba and all the rest would use the same thing but named differently. So maybe try checking one out in pc world or somewhere like that. Pretend like you want to buy it and I'm sure they'll be glad to show you.

TerrorFirmer

thanks for the help. You can configure the 1500 with XP just not the 1400. And the 1500 works out at about 50 extra, but with the 8600GT. So tempting...

What's battery life like, what would I be realistically looking at using the 9cell? My old laptop, was never used outside of home, so it was nearly always on mains...but now I'm definitely going to be bringing it alot more out with me.

WithCheesePlease

I placed an order yesterday for the 1500 with the GT card and TrueLife. Think I might be regretting it now. I thought it was a sharper display. I hope it doesn't look cr@p. Should really have looked into it first I suppose!!....

AlmightyCushion

HavoK wrote:

thanks for the help. You can configure the 1500 with XP just not the 1400. And the 1500 works out at about 50 extra, but with the 8600GT. So tempting...

What's battery life like, what would I be realistically looking at using the 9cell? My old laptop, was never used outside of home, so it was nearly always on mains...but now I'm definitely going to be bringing it alot more out with me.

Yes that would be very tempting. I have no idea what the battery life is like with the two. Maybe someone who has a votro (most likely half of the people on boards ) could tell us.

rgt320q

So which would be better for gaming, with or without TrueLife?

AlmightyCushion

rgt320q wrote:

So which would be better for gaming, with or without TrueLife?

Truelife will make games look nice but note that because of the glossy finish, if you have a light souorce behind you there will be glare on the screen.

Ghost Train

Here's an interesting poll

personally, i have both type of displays, glossy definitly better for video(better black level/contrast), but sometimes the reflections can be annoying. But really doesn't bother me too much which type of display I'm using... would probably go for the glossy though... some people really can't stand it though *shrug*

TerrorFirmer

I just went for the matt screen. I'll be using it in alot of different places so I don't think the glossy screen would agree with me too much. In the end, I got the 1500 instead of the 1400 - E950 for 2Ghz Core 2 Duo, 2Gb Ram, 8600GT, 1 year full accidental cover. Still amazed at the price.

AlmightyCushion

HavoK wrote:

I just went for the matt screen. I'll be using it in alot of different places so I don't think the glossy screen would agree with me too much. In the end, I got the 1500 instead of the 1400 - E950 for 2Ghz Core 2 Duo, 2Gb Ram, 8600GT, 1 year full accidental cover. Still amazed at the price.

That's a great laptop for the money.

TerrorFirmer

And that's including vat and delivery, and the accidental cover too of course. Last year it cost me 1,100 for a 1.6Ghz Core Duo, 1Gb Ram and a 7400. People give Dell so much stick but I think they're fantastic...

AlmightyCushion

HavoK wrote:

People give Dell so much stick but I think they're fantastic...

The only thing I can fault dell about is the sheer amount of crap they install on the computer before they ship it. A nice format sorts that out though.

TerrorFirmer

Do orders go through on sat/sun? I ordered it Sat morning, it went through fine said that order was placed and all that, but now when I sign into my account, it's still listed in my basket?? Just want to be sure it actually went through...I can't check the email the receipt was supposed to be sent to as its my mothers work email one...:rolleyes:

AlmightyCushion

I haven't a notion. Why did you use your mothers email?