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Buying Concerns

post #1 of 9
6/21/08 at 12:04pm
Thread Starter 
I have been looking recently into buying a new Laptop because my current one is no match for any of the new games coming out. I have always bought from Dell and so when I first started to look into buying another laptop that is where I started and I came up with this:

XPS M1530
Tuxedo Black

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9300 (2.5GHz/800Mhz FSB, 6MB Cache)

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1

High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2.0 M

4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)

Speed: 250GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Free Fall Sensor

Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)

256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT

Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card


Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)

Free Upgrade to a 9 cell Battery


Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition

Finger Print Reader XPS M1530

My Big Problem: I plan to play some real kick-butt games with this system and I really don't think this video card can handle it. I know everything else looks good and works, but the video card has me worried. I currently have a 15.4' screen laptop and I love the size of it and so I really don't want to upgrade to the 17" (I also don't think I can afford the 17"). Will they sometime put a better video card in XPS 1530 or in another 15.4' model and when can I expect it to happen or is this video card good enough for games like Crysis (and newer)?

My Small Problem: I do a lot with Photoshop, gaming, surfing the web, listening to music, and every once in a while I do a movie. What would be the best resolution for a system like this? There is so many resolutions out there and I just can't seem to decide which one would best fit ALL my needs.

Any help would be greatly apperciated!
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post #2 of 9
6/21/08 at 12:46pm
You might be able to play crysis on this pretty well, granted however you wont be able to play it on its highest settings but im pretty sure what you have should run it fairly well
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post #3 of 9
6/21/08 at 7:43pm
The vostro 1500 I had could play Crysis at 1280x800 mostly low or 1024x768 with shaders on medium and that had a DDR2 8600GT,not a ddr3 like the XPS has,which seems to perform a fair bit better.....it depends on your expectations with a game like crysis......your pretty much assured everything else will run much better for a while yet.

The rest of your spec looks great.....I would probably go for the LED screen as well,although have been reading a bit that the WUXGA has better colours [blacker blacks,warmer colours etc] but dimmer,so maybe the WUXGA might be better for photoshop?......you won't be playing any new games at that native res though.

You didn't mention the price for that spec,but maybe the gateway 17" with 8800GTS,might not be that far away from your price?
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post #4 of 9
6/22/08 at 1:56am
Thread Starter 
Thank you for your help first of all.

My problem is that I think that the 17" is too large for me and doesn't have enough coupons to bring it down to a price I can handle. That is why I was wondering if the card was good enough. I have heard a lot of talk about my favorite game of all time, GTA4, coming to computer and so I really want my new system to run that. If you look at GTA4 then you will easily see that this will not be a small game for a computer to handle. I think I really need to just wait and hope for a nicer video card to come into a 15.4". I don't know how long it will take, but it shouldn't be too long with how fast computers are upgraded and changed everyday.

Thanks for the resolution help. I will probably just go with what I had already planned to get.
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post #5 of 9
6/22/08 at 2:07am
Nvidia has already announced part of their new mobile graphics lineup. It looks like notebooks with Intel's Montevina chipset and an Nvidia 9650M GS or better video card should be coming out within the next month or so. Those ought to have a decent graphics performance boost over the 8600M GT that's in the XPS M1530.
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post #6 of 9
6/22/08 at 2:08am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Djembe View Post
Nvidia has already announced part of their new mobile graphics lineup. It looks like notebooks with Intel's Montevina chipset and an Nvidia 9650M GS or better video card should be coming out within the next month or so. Those ought to have a decent graphics performance boost over the 8600M GT that's in the XPS M1530.
THANK YOU...You just made my day...I would hug you, but I don't know you, and that would be weird...
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post #7 of 9
6/22/08 at 6:46am
hehe.....yeah Djembe's right,if you can wait a little while,there should be some nice refreshes coming up,hopefully with the cooler graphics chips,we're going to get a bit more power in 15.4" notebooks this time round.

I just sold my XPS as I'm not really a 17" fan either and am waiting for the montevino models which will hopefully contain something nice in the 15" workstation line for me

Has it actually been confirmed that GTA4 will make it to the pc?
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post #8 of 9
6/22/08 at 10:46am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gerryjoson View Post
hehe.....yeah Djembe's right,if you can wait a little while,there should be some nice refreshes coming up,hopefully with the cooler graphics chips,we're going to get a bit more power in 15.4" notebooks this time round.

I just sold my XPS as I'm not really a 17" fan either and am waiting for the montevino models which will hopefully contain something nice in the 15" workstation line for me

Has it actually been confirmed that GTA4 will make it to the pc?
GTA4 has not been confirmed yet, but their is a lot of talk about it. I have seen that it may have been leaked that October is when they are releasing the game. Another thing is every single other GTA has come out on computer and the GTA series actually started on computer so chances are that it will come out on computer. It will need a pretty hefty computer to do the job of running it, but oh well.
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post #9 of 9
7/20/08 at 7:50pm
hey, does anyone know if UT3 would work with a HD3450 video card?
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