Dell latitude e5500 v xps m1530

scorcher6

HI guys i trying to decide between these two laptops.

latitude e5500
core 2duo p9400 2.53ghz 1066mhz 6m
4gb ram 800mhz ddr2 (2x2)
intel media accelarator graphics card
200gb 7200 prm ata hard drive free fall sensor
6 cell battery
15.4in Widescreen WXGA+ (1440X900) Antiglare
Genuine Windows Vista ™ Business SP1 32Bit
8x dvd+- drive

xps m1530
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.50 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 6 MB L2 cache
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1- English
400gb ata 5200 hard drive
4gb 667mhz ddr2 sdram
15.4in widescreen wxga+(1440x900) tft truelife
9 cell batery
8x dvd+- slim slot drive
Nvidea go 8600gt with 512mb dedicated memory

The pricing difference between the two is very little both with one year guarantee. The lattitude is more powerfull with faster RAM and faster hard drive. THe xps has a 9 cell battery far superior graphics card and slim slot dvd drive. It also has a larger hard drive.

The battery or dvd drive dont bother me. 200gb hard drive is plenty for me. MY main areas of proirity are as follows;
1/ laptop speed and durability.
i use my laptop to browse the internet, watch dvds, microsoft office and music. I normally have more than one window open and often quite a few. I convert videos from various formats and rip the odd dvd. My main priority is that it can complete these functions fast. By durability i mean the length of time it will last not the punishment it can take.
I think from the above specs the lattitude has an advantage but do i run intensive enought applications to notice this and how much faster is the lattitude.

2/graphics
I would like to be able to watch dvds in good quality. i do not play games bar at times championship manager. i do not want a top end graphics card but are the graphics in the lattitude up to the standard i want. also i hear the screen in the xps is poor in any kind of light does the lattitude have the advantage hear.

looks and weight do not bother me that much. i feel the lattitude has better specs and i would get it only for my concern over its graphic card.
also How long will a 6 cell battery last?

I would appreciate peoples views on this.

pwd

The xps screen is good. The reflective coating can make it like a mirror in very bright light, but if that will effect you then just get the matte version (ie:not trulife)
The graphics card on the xps is very good, but redundant if you don't play graphically intensive games. You'll be able to watch dvds in good quality on either one. Also the gpu in the xps is supposed to have a higher than normal failure rate - due to overheating afaik. Certainly the xps gets very hot.
How long a 6cell battery lasts depends on how intensive the operation is. Watching a dvd on high brightness will gobble it for example. I have an xps 1530 with a 6 cell battery and it doesn't have a great battery life by any means (i didn't expect it to or care).
I'd say go for the lattitude since you won't have to worry about the gpu going pop and you wouldn't make any use of the graphics capabilities of the xps anyway.

IamMetaldave

Pwd is right, if you aren't looking for graphics power and looks don't bother you the Latitude is your laptop. I have an XPS 1330 and it's an awesome little beast does everything I could want, it has a 6 cell battery and on performance setting I get about 1.5 hours out of it but on balanced / power saver that doubles. I personally haven't experienced any over-heating *touch wood* as of yet. I got a Latitude E5500 for one of the people in the job here. It's a beast in terms of power. It has a 9 cell battery and it was showing yesterday at full charge that it was good for 4 hours. I have to say though, it is unsightly to look at!