Dell XPS alternatives

rowanh

Hi, im looking for a new laptop as mine has died.

Id like somethign with

-a 17" screen
-a slightly good graphics card, had a radeon x600 in hte previous one, this was perfect.
1 gig of ram would be good
close to 100 gigs hd would be good
good keyboard would be good

The thing is then i want to get something really cheap for what it is. I have found refurbished dell xps's for around 400 sterling that would be ok but im wondering what else to look for. I did also find some acer 190x series laptops which was going to go for but then found out the x1250 graphics cars in them are about as powerful as an integrated card.

So really i am trying to find out what laptops would have been compeditive with an XPS a year or two ago. 17" screen and a card that can run the game live for speed is really the only requirement other than beign cheap.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Voodu Child

The Dell Vostro 1700 has a 17" screen, and can be specced with a Nvidia 8600MGT graphics card, which is a popular mid-level card. It'll play LFS no bother.

All the other specs (ram, HDD etc) can be chosen yourself based on budget, needs, value etc. The only thing i'd say, is that a lot of laptops come with Windows Vista these days, so 1Gb ram is not enough. You'd really want to be aiming for 2Gb with Vista, it'd nearly take up a full gig on it's own if you let it.

I've seen guys spec good Vostro 1700s for well under a grand, it's one of the better value 17"ers out there. Seeing as you don't seem to want/need high spec processor or big HDD, i'd say you could build one for a great price.

ec18

alienware!!

rowanh

ill look into the dell though i dont see it being much under a grand.

I would be running xp on it i think.

Alienware is a good suggestion, this is the kind of thing i am looking for, dated previously state of the art stuff for cheap.

domania

Try this Sony for under 900

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Sony_VAIO_AR61E_Laptop_VGNAR61E_/version.asp


they have plenty of variety to suit all budgets. To be honest these refurbs on Ebay can be almost s expensive as a new laptop for older technology.

BostonB

I'm quite happy with my Dell 9400 with a GS 7900.

silvine

Alienware are expensive. Good luck gettting one for under a grand.

I've heard great things about the Vostro 1700. Thinking of picking one up myself. http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3937

The Acer Gemstone laptops are good and not too expensive.
http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Acer_Aspire_5720_Gemstone_Laptop_LX.AHE0X.161/version.asp

They've new models coming out soon too, with Blu-ray. The model is called the Acer "Blue".
http://gizmodo.com/367053/acers-blue-ace-aspire-gemstone-blue-notebook

Voodu Child

rowanh wrote: »

ill look into the dell though i dont see it being much under a grand.

I would be running xp on it i think.

Ah you should be able to put one together for under a grand alright. And they are available with XP also.

Heres one i put together:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.10 GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
Windows XP
1Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day Included - No Upgrade Selected
17.0" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display
Matte Jet Black without Camera
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)

€ 609.00 ex Vat, so shouldn't be more than around €750. Seems like a great price tbh.

silvine

voodoo_child wrote: »

Ah you should be able to put one together for under a grand alright. And they are available with XP also.

Heres one i put together:

€ 609.00 ex Vat, so shouldn't be more than around €750. Seems like a great price tbh.

Will that play Crysis?

TerrorFirmer

If you were happy with the X600, the latest integrated graphics these days are almost as good so I wouldn't dismiss something just for that reason....the X600 is generations old and extremely weak by todays standards.

The Sony posted above is a very nice machine for the price, considering it is a Sony...well balanced out, with a good video card.

I'd recommend the Vostro 1500, 17" and you can drop the price quoted above by settling for the 8400GS, which in itself is about 200% faster then the X600 anyway....the 8600Gt is a dedicated gaming card for someone specifically looking to game rather then the very odd gamer.

Live for Speed has very low hardware requirements so any current integrated graphics, even Intel ones, would run the game effortlessly. If you look at the forums, people have gotten it running on 8 and 16mb video cards.

TerrorFirmer

silvine wrote: »

Will that play Crysis?

Yes, easily. Being the most hardware intensive game ever released, however, means that it doesn't run particularly well unless you sacrifice a lot of visual detail - low resolution and medium settings is about right, though the game looks far better at said settings then you'd think.

Other recent games optimized for today rather then the future run very well - COD4 runs at 1280x800 medium settings, Gears of War does the same.

This is somewhat an old threat, but it gives you a good idea of the card.

silvine

Cheers to the link. Crysis is a little nuts!

I've COD4 on the Xbox 360 on a HD tv. Would it look better on the Vostro than on the console? Going by the pics on that link it would look about the same.

TerrorFirmer

I've updated the pictures to reflect online play, and at settings that make the game run at decent FPS (30-60) - someone less concerned could easily run at higher settings at FPS 20-50 and still find it playable.

I played COD4 on my friends 360 lately and I was looking at it with rose tinted glasses prior to that - I was very unimpressed with the game. Yes, I would say it looks maybe only slightly better then the 8600GT to be honest.

I'm also after realising I had V-Sync on for Bioshock, FPS would have been much higher without it, and thus could have drastically increased the settings...but ah well, still looked nice...

I thought I had a picture of Crysis up there, but I must have removed it for some reason....

Voodu Child

Crysis will 'play' on a lot of low-medium spec machines.. Im not sure it's worth bothering though.

I reckon if you try to run it (on the Dell 1700 linked above) at full res (1440x900) and all medium settings, it's going to be dog slow when the action gets busy, FPS in the 10-15 range (or worse). You'll be playing at a reduced res and probably a mixture of low/medium settings.

Very low-resolutions will start to look awful blurry on LCD screens, and 'low' settings in Crysis look pretty fugly (imo).

So i'd be tempted to answer 'It depends' to your question. It'll 'run' and you could play it through to the end, but much of Crysis's impact is in the graphics, so you'll be missing an awful lot.

I wouldn't worry about it tbh, there's so many games out there that'll play great on it, i'd nearly just forget about Crysis until you've a machine that can do it justice.

BostonB

voodoo_child wrote: »

...forget about Crysis until you've a machine that can do it justice.

QFT

silvine

I game a lot of the Xbox these days but the lure of Crysis is enough to draw me back to the PC for games. The price of the required hardware, on the other hand, will probably push me back to the black box whirring loudly underneath my tv for some attention.

Crysis aside, it looks like a great laptop.

rowanh

Thanks, some good info there.

We Are Leeds

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