€2,500 to spend...

LegacyUser

Friend of mine is looking around for a pretty hi-spec laptop at the moment. He's looking for power and functionality more than mobility, and has been looking at this Inspiron.

What do you experts think? Or should he be looking elsewhere with his budget. What would you do with €2,500???

PS - He doesnt want a desktop!

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Inspiron 9300 (N08935) Qty 1

Intel ®Pentium ®M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 533 MHz FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional SP2

Base
Intel ®Pentium ®M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 533 MHz FSB)

Microsoft Operating System
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional SP2

Memory
1024MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x512)

Keyboard
English - (QWERTY) - Internal Keyboard

Video Card
128MB DDR ATI®MOBILITY™ RADEON®X300 graphics card, PCI-Express x16
28592

Hard Drive
80GB (7,200rpm) IDE Hard Drive

Floppy Drives
No Floppy Drive Option

Modem
Internal 56K v.92 Capable Fax Modem

CD/DVD Drives
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive with Software

Wireless Local Area Networking PC Card
Intel® ProWireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card

Microsoft Application Software
Microsoft® Works 7.0

Standard Warranty
Base warranty

Support Service
Svc Basic 3Y At Home Support 30day online MM Training

AntiVirus & Security Software
No security subscription

Power Supply
AC Adapter D-Series 90W Power Cord

Dell Photo Album
Photo Album ™ SE Basic

Paint Shop
Paint Shop™ Pro® Basic Edition

Primary Battery
Primary 6 Cell 53 WHr battery (does not contain a subwoofer)

Carrying Cases
No Carrycase

TV Tuner
AverMedia USB TV Tuner External USB2.0 TV Tuner

Futuristic
Futuristic Order Flag SKU

Dell Media Experience
Dell Media Experience 3.0 Delux - Inspiron

Adobe Reader
English - Adobe Reader 6.0

LCD
17" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920 x 1200) Display with TrueLife™

ACCESSORIES

European - Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth 2.0 Module

FREE Dell Colour Ink Printer 720 (including trial ink cartridges)

Webmonkey

I dunno, I really think you could get a better system than that for 2500. Is it from dell? If so better keep away from them tbh. Havn't got time to go sourcing you a good laptop now but im sure others will help...

Scruff

i'd say ye can configure a better one than that, definitely wants a better graphics card than that, an ati x800 or nvidia geforce 6800 go.#

heres a dell one:

N08XPS5 Inspiron XPS Gen 2 Qty 1 Intel® Pentium® M 770 ( 2.13GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional SP2 including MediaUnit Price Incl. VAT € 2,390.96

Catalog Number: 5102 Module Description [font=arial,helvetica]Show Details[/font]BaseIntel® Pentium® M 770 ( 2.13GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Microsoft Operating SystemMicrosoft® Windows® XP Professional SP2 including
MediaMemory1024MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x512)KeyboardEnglish - (QWERTY) - Internal Keyboard
Video CardNVIDIA® Geforce™ Go 6800 ULTRA with 256MB DDR video memory
Hard Drive60GB (5,400rpm) IDE Hard Drive
Network CardsInternal 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet NIC ModemInternal 56K v.92 Capable Fax Modem
CD/DVD Drives24xCDRW/8xDVDComboDrive
Wireless Local Area Networking PC CardIntel® ProWireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card
etc etc

TOTAL Incl. VAT:€ 2,390.96

heres a spec from alienware for €2580 (inc £200 mail in rebate)

1] Area-51m 7700

Case: Area-51m 7700 Case with 17" WideXGA+ 1400 x 900 LCD Display - Xeno Grey
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition UK with SP2 - English
Warranty: Aliencare Free Phone 1-Year 24/7 Warranty
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 550J w/ HT Technology 3.4GHz 1MB Cache
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 PC-4200 533MHz - 2x512MB
Video Card: Area-51m 7700 NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6800 with 256MB of DDR3 memory
Hard Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 60GB 7200 RPM ATA100
Optical Drive One: DVD-Burner: 8x Dual Layer DVD+/-RW / 24x CD-RW Combo w/Software
Floppy Drive: USB Floppy Drive
Sound Card: Intel® High-Definition Audio (24-bit, 192Khz) with 7.1 surround sound
Modem: 56K Modem with V.92 Technology
Ethernet NIC: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (DSL-ready)
Wireless network: Built-In Wireless 802.11 b/g miniPCI Card
Keypad: Mobile Keypad - English
AlienInspection: AlienInspection - Exclusive Integration and Inspection - £50 Value - FREE!
Free T-Shirt: Alienware® T-Shirt - Black - XL

LegacyUser

bump*

chump

Get a sony!

If I had that kind of money it'd be the first place I'd look...

jesus_thats_gre

Don't touch the Alienware machines, they are oversized, heavier, excessively hot, 30 mins battery like, over priced and worse performers than the nearest competitor..

I have had the XPS2 for over 2 months now and have nothing but positive things to say about it. It is also cheaper, lighter, more powerful, smaller and runs cooler than any P4 based laptop..

jesus_thats_gre

The XPS2 is the souped up 9300..

Do not get the X300, its basically crap for anything other than basic web browsing or watching DVDs..

Gandalf23

Have a look at the Acer Ferrari's. In my humble opinion the most powerful laptop commercially available today.

You can even get Windows XP64 preloaded if you want that all important geek cred factor...

http://www.acer.ie/acereuro/page3.do?dau7.oid=122&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam=0&dctx1=17&ctx1=UK&crc=1469313021

jesus_thats_gre

Gandalf23 wrote:

Have a look at the Acer Ferrari's. In my humble opinion the most powerful laptop commercially available today.

Most powerful in what context?

rick_fantastic

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ie/en/ho/WF06b/21675-38187-38191-38191-38191-12150796-38597115.html

i have recently purchased this laptop. i had the ram upgraded to 2gigs. its a real beauty of a laptop and really powerful

i wouldnt recommend buying any laptop or pc from now unless its got a 64bit chip in it
itll still run all 32bit applications but u'll b kicking urself in a years time when stuff starts going 64 bit

sorry just thought of sumthing... this laptop doesnt have very good linux support atm cos its pretty new and has an ati graphics card in it. there is a similar 5000 series pavilion laptop with a nvidea card in it.

i havent got around to installing linux on mine yet but i reckon with sum time and effort ill get it running smoothly

LegacyUser

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

The XPS2 is the souped up 9300..

Do not get the X300, its basically crap for anything other than basic web browsing or watching DVDs..

What X300 are you referring to?

Scruff

he's talking about the graphics card in the laptop. If you are configuring it make sure you dont go with the ati x300 graphics card. select an ati x800 or geforce GO 6800.

LegacyUser

Thanks for all your advice. Decided to go with the 128MB X 300 graphics, not a huge gamer so he felt that the extra €250 or so wasnt worth it. This is what he got in the end. Think the cost online was around 2,6, I know a contact and got it for around 1,8

Here's the specs.

Intel ®Pentium ®M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 533 MHz FSB)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional SP2
1024MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x512)
128MB DDR ATI®MOBILITY™ RADEON®X300 graphics card, PCI-Express x16
80GB (7,200rpm) IDE Hard Drive
Internal 56K v.92 Capable Fax Modem
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive
Intel® ProWireless 2200 802.11b/g Mini PCI Wireless LAN Card
17" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920 x 1200) Display with TrueLife™
Basic 3Y At Home Support
AverMedia USB TV Tuner External USB2.0 TV Tuner
Carry Case X-Large

Cheers

bru

Jorinn

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Don't touch the Alienware machines, they are oversized, heavier, excessively hot, 30 mins battery like, over priced and worse performers than the nearest competitor..

I have had the XPS2 for over 2 months now and have nothing but positive things to say about it. It is also cheaper, lighter, more powerful, smaller and runs cooler than any P4 based laptop..

That's a generalisation, not applicable to all of them, especially the likes of the sentia. Well, except for the overpriced part.

jesus_thats_gre

Jorinn wrote:

That's a generalisation, not applicable to all of them, especially the likes of the sentia. Well, except for the overpriced part.

Well if you are looking for anything that offers comparible performace to Dell's XPS2, its 100% accurate..

LegacyUser

On an aside, would the graphics card in the above-mentioned laptop make a difference in watching TV on it?

I've looked at TV on his laptop, and its great, only when watching sports, i.e. fast moving camera the images are not quite as sharp as TV, but that also could be because you're so close to the damn screen when you usually watching a laptop; you'd never sit that close to a television!

rsynnott

bruachain wrote:

On an aside, would the graphics card in the above-mentioned laptop make a difference in watching TV on it?

I've looked at TV on his laptop, and its great, only when watching sports, i.e. fast moving camera the images are not quite as sharp as TV, but that also could be because you're so close to the damn screen when you usually watching a laptop; you'd never sit that close to a television!

Graphics card makes no difference whatsoever to that.