Help with Laptop Purchase

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mMike01

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Dec 1, 2008
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Hi, a friend of mine wants a new laptop to basically act as his home computer. Things he would like to do with the laptop are: Home Video Editing, Music, Internet, burning DVDs and his wife wants to play Sims 3 (important requirement). His price cap is also 1500.00.

The specs of the Dell Laptop I put together are:

Core 2 Duo P8600 (3mb cache/2.4ghz, 1600mhz FBS)
Vista Home 64 bit
6gb DDR3 SDRAM 1067mhz
500gb 5400rpm SATA HD
DVD burner
ATI Mobility Radeon 4670 1gb

Unfortunately from at Dell in this price range, they don't have a 7200rpm HD at that density. It seems that the pc will do what he wants and act as a desktop replacement.

Anyone know about how good that graphics card is? and if it will play some games, Sims 3 in particular?

Any critiques, suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
mMike01 said:
Hi, a friend of mine wants a new laptop to basically act as his home computer.
Click to expand...
This is a very bad idea unless he's got a good reason for it (I want to walk around the house with a computer isn't one of them). For 1500$ you can put together a core i7 system with 12GB of RAM and probably 2xHD 4890s.
 
Friends don't let friends buy desktop replacements. They suck. We just aren't there yet.

If space is a concern buy a SSF like a Shuttle (they've come a long way -- or you can make your own obviously) and a 15" or smaller laptop.

After years of keeping a "gaming laptop" I think I've finally found the sweet spot -- badass desktop, ultra-portable laptop. I'm too impatient and demanding to deal with a netbook, but the ULV Core 2 Duo in my 12" HP is fast enough for day to day stuff while maintaining ~6 hour battery life in a 2.5lb package. I picked it up for ~$600 after live.com cashback about 6 months ago. My current desktop is worth around $1000 with a nice monitor (not my monitor, which would push the price much higher) and is capable of playing literally anything on the market at maximum settings at 1920x1200.

Laptops aren't realistically upgradeable either, so while a $1200 desktop can be revived in a year or two by another couple gigs of RAM and a new graphics card, the $1200 laptop will keep right on sucking for gaming.

Don't do it.
 
I fully agree with you, but lets say, this is not up for debate and they have their minds set on a laptop.

They are not gamers by any means and the most that laptop will see will probably be Sims 3. I was just curious if any thought it was powerful enough to do the things they wanted too (home video, pictures, music, movies, dvd burning, internet, word processing, excel, etc.), and the graphics was good enough for maybe some light gaming and Sims 3.

Anyone know about these ATI mobility cards? specifically the class of the one in this laptop?

Thanks in advance
 
The mobility Radeon HD 4670 is a decent graphics card. What is the cost of that Dell laptop that you configured? Is this a Dell Studio XPS model?
 
It is a XPS model, the Alienwares on their site are out of the price range, ty for the links, but it seems comparable systems by those to builders are more expensive than the dell.

I do agree with you all, but they seem to have their minds set on a laptop, and Dell as they trust that brand.

Anyone know if the Dell I posted will do the things they need? and play Sims 3 w/ that set up and gfx card?

Thanks in advance.
 
As HG mentioned, yes, its a decent card. What resolution is the screen they're getting?
 
Thanks for the replies, It's a Dell Studio XPS 16, the total is $1586, and the screen resolution is a 16" WLED at 1366x768.

The base price went up quite a bit because I thought it would be a very good idea to put 6gb of mem in the system, I also upgraded the gfx from the Mobility 3650? I think that was the model, it was a 3k series though.

Thanks again for the info
 
That's way too much for that machine -- get them a Gateway or Asus similarly specced for ~1/2 to 2/3 the cost.
 
Thanks for the advice, and I agree about the price. That 5400rpm HD really bothers me too, but there were no 7200rpm options except for the 320 gb.

I'll check those Asus and Gateway, but you know how some people are, they are prepared to spend the 1500-1600, they have a Dell Desktop at home, use dell laptops at work, and have no problems with them, so they feel it's the only trustworthy brand.

Maybe I can convince them to get a Desktop for there big tasks, and a netbook for the mobile convenience, probably cost the same.

Thanks for the replies.
 
I would ditch the 6GB DDR3 upgrade man. That is really adding cost to the laptop. Stick with the 4GB it should be good already. Also, there should be a 320GB 7200rpm option.
 
It really does up the price quite a bit. Thinking about it, they probably won't need 6, 4 should be plenty. As mentioned before, they want to play one game, and if they even play that, you know the pc is going to be used for Internet and maybe MS Office 98% of the time.

Thanks again.
 
They don't need no 6GB DDR3 Ram. As you go more than 4GB DDR3 it becomes very expensive especially when it comes to notebook RAM. If you adjust the specs to 4GB DDR3 and 320GB 7200rpm, the price should be pretty decent. If they need extra storage, just get an external drive later.
 
Agreed, I'll give them the option between more-but slower storage or less but faster and see what they say, not to mention less of a cost. I can make that one their call, but I will explain they will see a difference with faster as opposed to slower HD.

Thanks again.
 
I definitely would pick the smaller 320GB faster drive over the larger 500GB slower drive. They can also consider these options to.

Gateway P-7805u FX 17" at Best Buy for $1,089.99. It has an Nvidia 9800M GTS graphics which is faster than the Radeon 4670 1GB, larger screen at 17" (same res 1366x768) and a P8400 cpu (2.26ghz)though... slightly slower than the P8600 (2.4ghz). But, you save alot more though.

Or,

Asus G50Vt-X5 15.6" for $849.99. It has an Nvidia 9800M GS which is still faster than the 4670 Radeon, 320GB 7200rpm. $850 is a very good deal for a laptop with these specs.
 
Thanks Guru, that's good stuff. I'll give them these different options so they have a choice. From here, they can even do a little research on there own.

Thanks again.
 
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