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Stupid: [Indy racer] Inspiron vs [Jeep] Latitude

post #1 of 12
6/29/06 at 8:32pm
Thread Starter 
Hi,

Well I'm trying to find a laptop for college which will be a present from my parents. $2000+ isn't out of the question , but here's the delema:

WMU is pushing Dell laptops (full on-site dell services & repair center), specifically the Latitude series. Now, the D820 laptop is absolutely perfect except for one vital flaw - the GPU is a 512MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 120M. "NOT for gaming..." - is what's posted all over the net.

The obvious solution would be to go for the Inspiron E1705 with the 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS [awsome!] and at $200 less I might add. "Rickedy plastic POS" - is what's posted all over the net for inspirons.

[Apparently I can't just buy the Go 7900 and install it myself - I have to either live with the Quadro or get a different laptop]

Please help me! At this point I'm considering other laptop brands that have that rugged build my dad wants and the ultimate gaming I need (that's right, need.)

I'm lost ANY advice is greatly appreciated,

Eric
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post #2 of 12
6/29/06 at 10:27pm
How about you look at a fantastic desktop with a great LCD screen? Cost much less than notebooks AND you can play all the games that you want. Notebooks are not the greatest for gaming.

Not sure you are going to get many responses when you use terms like "NEED" for gaming.

If only children knew how hard it is to earn $2500 to $3000, then pay $500 to $1000 in tax so their snot nosed kids can ask for "needs" so they can play games with a $2000+ computer. I suggest you buy a desktop to save your parents some money and buy a game console to play games with. Both of these should cost well below $2000. Why spend $2000 to turn it into a $500 game console?

Smiling while saying this --> spoiled kids
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post #3 of 12
6/29/06 at 11:06pm
Bowmah you do have a point there but there's no need to call him or people who have $2000 notebooks spoiled kids..

@Kibble:

Check out other brands... Even the dell latitue isnt that "tough". Asus for instance usually has a much better build and they're great performance and cost wise.. and so are the sagers..

If you want true gaming power, check ou the sager 5760:

http://www.powernotebooks.com/product.php?itemId=1415

Core duo, 7900GTX, 17" WUXGA for about $2400

Now if that beast is too expensive or a bit too much, check out the asus s96j, wich is well built, has a X1600, core duo and should cost you about $1300 with decent specs...
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post #4 of 12
6/30/06 at 9:22am
The Inspiron E1705 is an awesome gaming rig. If sturdiness is your primary concern, you could look at IBM, but their machines aren't typically aimed at gamers.

Whatever you decide to buy, just make sure that your parents insure it under their homeowner's policy. That way if your machine is dropped/broken/lost/stolen you'll be covered.
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post #5 of 12
6/30/06 at 11:41am
if u want ultimate gaming,or close to it, u will either need a mALX notebook(its so big i probably cant call it that) or a desktop with Quad SLI configuration, the alienware m9700 is very good for gaming, and i think it has a solid build, or get an asus, just look on their website to see what fits your needs, i would recommed a W3J or an S96j or from dell, an inspiron e1705, and yea, if you absolutley need sturdiness, you will have to go to lenovo, its not technically not IBM anymore (they just use their name for marketing), but you will have to sacrifice all gaming for that sturdiness.
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post #6 of 12
6/30/06 at 2:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Filippo
Bowmah you do have a point there but there's no need to call him or people who have $2000 notebooks spoiled kids..
People with $2000 notebooks are not necessarily spoiled kids. But kids going off to college for an education AND who wants to purchase a $2000+ computer for gaming is spoiled. See the difference? Not sure kids nowadays understand how difficult it is to earn post-tax dollars to make that big purchase. College to me means an education. Once the students graduate, make their own money, they can purchase whatever notebook they want. While parents are helping out with finances, let's try and focus on wants versus needs. I can just see it now on the extreme... "But dad, I need that duo core unit with the 256 meg of video card and 2 gigs of RAM, otherwise, I won't be able to do my assignments. And if the screen isn't 17 inch or bigger, my eyes will go bad too! <-- still smiling
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post #7 of 12
6/30/06 at 2:10pm
lol good post, your right that he doesnt NEED the ultimate gaming or a 17inch screen, in fact a 17 incher would be absolutley horrible for college unless you are shaq or a body builder, and you dont NEED anything, you can just get an asus W3J with a gig of ram and it will do the job
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post #8 of 12
7/1/06 at 7:01pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, update:

I decided against a "gaming laptop" because of the cost. I figure I'll just et a cheaper one for now and get a nice desktop later if I need it. So far I've gotten down to $1360 on a pretty nice E1505, but I need some clarification on two issues:

1. Will 1GB of RAM be enough? I only ask this because the card is a Radeon x1400 with "HyperMemory" which I guess means it shares half of the 256MB with the RAM. (is that right?)

2. That $1360 is the lowest I can get with the config I want, but this particular model uses the solo 1.83GHz CPU. My friend says I don't need the dual core, but I'm not completely convinced... any pointers?

As for bowmah's comment, I saved my parents a lot (about 8 of those laptops worth) of money by applying for scholarships - so butt out...

So yeah, just those two questions for now I guess

Thanks,
Eric

BTW I got my refurbished iriver ($61 shipped) T30 today... 1GB and way too features and settings to play with! Saved about $40 or more by going refurb'ed so I'm really happy
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post #9 of 12
7/1/06 at 8:13pm
go to www.ibuypower.com and get the Asus S96j, you can get a great config for $1200 or so...

if you're willing to spend a tad more to get quality service and a 3 year warranty, go to http://www.powernotebooks.com/product.php?itemId=1430
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post #10 of 12
7/2/06 at 2:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kibble Fat
As for bowmah's comment, I saved my parents a lot (about 8 of those laptops worth) of money by applying for scholarships - so butt out...

So yeah, just those two questions for now I guess

Thanks,
Eric

BTW I got my refurbished iriver ($61 shipped) T30 today... 1GB and way too features and settings to play with! Saved about $40 or more by going refurb'ed so I'm really happy
Sounds like you are trying to justify yourself by telling everyone you saved money becasue you opted to purchase a "refurbished" product. I think you should be congratulated for winning scholarships in your academia. No doubt about that. But I think you are mistaken in thinking that you "saved" your parents money by doing so. Again, good work for getting some scholarship money. And your parents, like most parents, would probably gladly pay for you to have a good education. And if you truly think that you are "saving" them money because they PAY less for your education, then I have nothing else to say

As for Q#1, I personally think 1 Gig of Ram is enough if you are not into heavy gaming. Many business machines used for calculations, home video editing machines and even web development machines have 1 Gig and runs smoothly. Hope that helps.
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post #11 of 12
7/2/06 at 3:10am
Thread Starter 
bowmah, please stop trying to belittle me. It hurts. I was kidding in my first post when I said I needed an ultimate gaming rig... shame on me - but thanks for the RAM help. Also the mp3 player was a totally unrelated comment and it was my money to boot. Flamewars are fun and all, but we can stop now.

I'll check out those other sites, but unless it's an amazing deal, my dad will still want Dell...
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post #12 of 12
7/2/06 at 3:57pm
Good luck with the purchase. I think Dell is a decent buy. Sometimes they break but most electronics do at some point or another. Your dad can defenitely look into the extended warranty plans from Dell. They are pretty good and many businesses rely on next day service to minimize downtime.

By the way, Dell has weekly specials. They usually start on a Friday and end thursday night. And check around, there are quite a few Dell coupons to be had if you are from the US and they make a big difference in savings.

Good luck with the purhcase and with school.
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