New Laptop

Camelite

Hi, I'm replacing a 5+ year old Dell Inspiron & I'm pretty much bamboozled by all the options out there & trying to source a particular model in Ireland.

I'm looking for a decent (T6600 Processor, 4GB RAM, HD 4570 512Mb Graphics or better) for 850 or less (ideally sub 800) to play recentish games on etc. 15" screen is fine. I'm using the Dell Studio 15 for 715 as the benchmark cause I'm leaning towards just going for the tried and tested route. Specs below.

A few questions:

What difference does 1366x768 vs 1920x1080 make for a 15" screen for games, watching movies etc? If the budget allows it does a 17" screen make a big difference in the experience?

My main concern is, I haven't much idea of which manufacturer makes the best displays or how noticeable the difference is. Is the Dell Studio screen decent? It doesn't have to be amazing, just up to standard.

Is the extra 150 for a 3 year guarantee worth it?

How does the 256Mb HD 3650 compare the the 512Mb HD 4570?

Any decent HP, Toshiba etc machines out there yee can recommend?



It's a very open question I know, so thanks to anybody with some advice.







Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6600 (2.2GHz, 800MHz, 2MB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT) - English
Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word)
1 Year Limited Warranty - Collect & Return
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English
No Accidental Damage Support
15.6in Widescreen High Definition (1366x768) WLED with TrueLife
FailSafe® Theft Protection - track and protect lost or stolen laptops - 30 days free trial
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
250GB (5,400rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
512MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4570
Fixed Internal DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive including Software
Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery
Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g)
No Bluetooth Upgrade
2.0 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard
Black chainlink

Voodu Child

Camelite wrote: »

A few questions:

What difference does 1366x768 vs 1920x1080 make for a 15" screen for games, watching movies etc? If the budget allows it does a 17" screen make a big difference in the experience?

Higher res is sharper, and gives you more 'screen space'. If you are watching blu-ray (or downloaded 1080p films), having a 1920x screen will allow you to see the full resolution of the video.

However, the flip side is that if you try to play games at a higher res, it is much more taxing on the GPU and will run slower. You can of course lower the resolution of the screen for gaming, but because of the way scaling works, this results in a blurry image most of the time. So if gaming is important, I would probably stick with the 1366 screen. Nothing in your price range would be powerful enough to game at 1920x1080 (except for older titles).

To be honest, id consider 1920x a little high for a 15" screen, and 1366 too low. Somewhere in between would be better, but unfortunately Dell don't always give that option.

My main concern is, I haven't much idea of which manufacturer makes the best displays or how noticeable the difference is. Is the Dell Studio screen decent? It doesn't have to be amazing, just up to standard.

LED backlit screen should be very decent.

Is the extra 150 for a 3 year guarantee worth it?

Depends on the value of the laptop. I'd recommend it for expensive laptops. Just something you have to weigh up yourself to be honest.

How does the 256Mb HD 3650 compare the the 512Mb HD 4570?

4570 is slightly faster. Not an awful lot in it though.

Camelite

didn't know about running low-res games on hi-res screens & I'm not getting blu-ray, so that's good to know.

leninbenjamin

have a look at the Dell Vostro range.

you an get a 1720 for around €750 with:

• Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 3 MB L2 cache)
• 17.0 inch WXGA+ Anti-Glare Display
• Integrated 1.3 Mega Pixel Camera
• 4096MB 800 MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x2GB)
• 320GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with Free Fall Sensor
• 512 MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9600M GS Graphic Card Black
• Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Tray Load Drive including Software
• Primary 6-cell 56 WHr Lithium Ion battery

dunno what the res on the screen is though.
edit: it's 1440x900. €121 extra for the 1920 * 1200 option.

it's a fairly better processor anyway, a faster Hard drive and i *think* the 9600 is slightly faster than the 4570.

from my own experiences (i have a vostro 1700) i'd recommend getting a 17'' if you're doing a lot of movies/games. It's not just about the resolution either, that additional 2 inches can make a big difference. When you get used to it like I am, 15'' and below seem to strain the eyes more, even if there's no difference in resolution.

Camelite

vostro definitely looks interesting. tkx.