What is THE laptop at the minute?

conzy

Im not talking about the stupidly priced Alienwares or Dell XPS..

But what is the best, well priced laptop, with decent processing power and graphical power?

The Dell Vostro 1500 with 8600m gt seems good, but the video memory is only DDR2..

Rock seem to make some good models, but they are a tad expensive...

What would you buy for around 800-1200 euro?

Sarn

The machine I'm looking at is a Macbook Pro (if there is a big update at Macworld SF I'll get one) although they'd be beyond your budget, failing that a Zepto 6224W but it depends on what you're looking for. Personally I prefer a lighter machine with decent dedicated graphics.

Have a look at www.zepto.com they give a lot of customisable options in different form factors at a reasonable price.

There are very few laptops around with DDR3 dedicated graphics cards at the moment e.g. Apple and Asus.

conzy

bah, dont like mac books (i have used one with windows and OSX all summer) Also to get a decent spec they are north of 2500 euro, and in that budget range you could get a better XPS or Alienware system...

I'll look into Zepto though o/

dloob

Doesn't the Dell XPS 1530 have the GDDR3 version of the 8600m GT?
With the 10% off voucher it just makes your 1200 limit too.

quarryman

conzymaher wrote: »

The Dell Vostro 1500 with 8600m gt seems good, but the video memory is only DDR2..


What would you buy for around 800-1200 euro?

i have the vostro 1500 with the 8600 gt and its the business. well able to play the latest games and inside your budget. ddr2 versus ddr3? pft!

fatal

quarryman wrote: »

i have the vostro 1500 with the 8600 gt and its the business. well able to play the latest games and inside your budget. ddr2 versus ddr3? pft!

I have the same vostro as you and it is more than capable of playing the latest games

BostonB

I doubt that ram speed is going to make a significant difference. The 8600 gt is only a mid range card even the older 7900 GS/GTX is faster. So I wouldn't worry about the RAM.

Voodu Child

You might be surprised at the difference with the GDDR 8600M GT in the M1530 (versus the DDR 8600M GT in the Vostro).

In any reviews i've seen, a decent M1530 seems to get 3Dmark06 scores around the mid-4000s with stock drivers.

Don't forget the M1530 can be ordered through the EPP, and the current 10%-off code still works with that.

BostonB

http://www.laptopforgaming.com/top-gaming-laptops
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread157393.html

I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

TerrorFirmer

It does make a considerable difference though that said, the DDR2 model is still pretty decent. Runs CS:S at 1680x1050 max no problems, Company of Heroes at 1280x800 high settings same, runs COD4 1280x800 medium settings no problems either. I have the ddr2 in the 1500 and I'm fairly happy.

The Cheap Macbook Pro's only have the 128mb DDR3 model - pretty crappy, and a cheap stunt to pull. Only the very expensive model comes with the proper 256mb dedicated.

The Asus G gaming laptops have the ddr3 model...

for 800-1200, I would just get the Vostro 1500 to be honest. You could also look into a second hand xps - the 'old' 7950GTX runs rings around the 8600GT and you could probably pick up one still in warranty for that price.

RoyalMarine

is there any laptop card available now that beats the 7950gtx 512mb?

i know they're releasing the 8800 soon.

AlmightyCushion

I think the gtx is still available in some laptops. You can get the dell xps 1730 with dual 8700s. If you have a really high resolution then they might come close to the gtc.

BostonB

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

is there any laptop card available now that beats the 7950gtx 512mb?

i know they're releasing the 8800 soon.

7950gtx SLI beats all AFAIK incl 8700 SLI

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-Go-7950-GTX-SLI.6936.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Alienware-Area-51-m9750-Notebook.5535.0.html

TerrorFirmer

The 8800M is already out but I don't know if you can get it here...

BostonB

HavoK wrote: »

The 8800M is already out but I don't know if you can get it here...

Alienware and Rock come up in searches for it.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/02/review_rock_x770/
http://www.alienware.com/intro_pages/m17x_m15x.aspx

conzy

Rock look very good actually.. Saw a friends one recently and it was really nice