As you may know and probably have seen throughout the last few weeks, I've changed my mind many times. I began with the iXPS, thinking that what I needed was a desktop replacement, something that played games very well.
I soon started to think maybe the i9100 would be a better choice because it would be much cheaper (price) for a very similiar system. I thought the i9100 would be a good choice because it had the WSXGA+ screen that people have said to be very nice, and I was starting to think the i9100 was for me.
I soon started to look into the Sager brand. I read some reviews and started to like the 8790 very much because of its looks and very nice performance. It had some nice features such as the cam, built in card reader, and raid. Though I started to think it wasn't for me, I didn't need those extra features.
As some of you may know, I will be going into college this fall. I started to think to myself, self you need something more portable. (I wasn't sure if I wanted to carry the ixps, i9100, or 8790 all over campus with me). I started to think I need something that had better battery life.
This is when I came across the Dell 600m, thinking it would be good for me, because it had okay graphics when I wanted the occasional game, and had much better battery life than the ixps and i9100, and weighed much less. Ok, so, I was set on the 600m. When I was in this stage, I started realizing the power behind the centrino processor, and found that even though it may say only 1.8 GHZ, it actually performs much better than that(upwards of 2.5 GHZ in comparison to the p4). Ok, I started to think the centrino would be perfect for me, because I would still get great performance and still have good battery life.
Soon after, I came to look more into the i8600, which also uses the centrino processor. At this time, I was hooked on the ability of the centrino to work so well using very little battery life. The i8600 started looking much better, and I read what many of you have said about it. I liked what I heard about it, being good for performance and mobility. I was happy to see it had the widescreen display, which I was hooked on with the i9100 and iXPS. I was also happy that I have the option to get very decent graphics card (9600 pro turbo) and the 7200 rpm drive which helps tremendously on performance.
My final decision, the i8600 has been ordered. I've spent many many many hours looking into what was good for me. I need something that had very good performance, could be portable(I've read that some of you get around 4 hours of battery life, which is great, not to mention, I bought a modular battery for even more battery life.) With the i8600, I will get the graphics I was looking for (though not as good ad the iXPSs, still very good in my opinion), more portibility(I know I will be carrying it everywhere I go), a nice SXGA+ screen with widescreen. I will also save a large amount of cash by going with the i8600. This extra money will go toward upgrading my desktop.
I've been all over, trying to choose the lappy that would be perfect for me, and I believe I've found it. Thanks DELL-sakor1 for your posts, for they were very helpful in my decision. Thanks to the rest of you, who have answered my PMs about games, brands, and features. I have become much more knowlegable about laptops after finding this forum, and it was an essential part of the search for the laptop that would be perfect for me.
I hope some of this information will be helpful to those of you who are still searching for your system.
I soon started to think maybe the i9100 would be a better choice because it would be much cheaper (price) for a very similiar system. I thought the i9100 would be a good choice because it had the WSXGA+ screen that people have said to be very nice, and I was starting to think the i9100 was for me.
I soon started to look into the Sager brand. I read some reviews and started to like the 8790 very much because of its looks and very nice performance. It had some nice features such as the cam, built in card reader, and raid. Though I started to think it wasn't for me, I didn't need those extra features.
As some of you may know, I will be going into college this fall. I started to think to myself, self you need something more portable. (I wasn't sure if I wanted to carry the ixps, i9100, or 8790 all over campus with me). I started to think I need something that had better battery life.
This is when I came across the Dell 600m, thinking it would be good for me, because it had okay graphics when I wanted the occasional game, and had much better battery life than the ixps and i9100, and weighed much less. Ok, so, I was set on the 600m. When I was in this stage, I started realizing the power behind the centrino processor, and found that even though it may say only 1.8 GHZ, it actually performs much better than that(upwards of 2.5 GHZ in comparison to the p4). Ok, I started to think the centrino would be perfect for me, because I would still get great performance and still have good battery life.
Soon after, I came to look more into the i8600, which also uses the centrino processor. At this time, I was hooked on the ability of the centrino to work so well using very little battery life. The i8600 started looking much better, and I read what many of you have said about it. I liked what I heard about it, being good for performance and mobility. I was happy to see it had the widescreen display, which I was hooked on with the i9100 and iXPS. I was also happy that I have the option to get very decent graphics card (9600 pro turbo) and the 7200 rpm drive which helps tremendously on performance.
My final decision, the i8600 has been ordered. I've spent many many many hours looking into what was good for me. I need something that had very good performance, could be portable(I've read that some of you get around 4 hours of battery life, which is great, not to mention, I bought a modular battery for even more battery life.) With the i8600, I will get the graphics I was looking for (though not as good ad the iXPSs, still very good in my opinion), more portibility(I know I will be carrying it everywhere I go), a nice SXGA+ screen with widescreen. I will also save a large amount of cash by going with the i8600. This extra money will go toward upgrading my desktop.
I've been all over, trying to choose the lappy that would be perfect for me, and I believe I've found it. Thanks DELL-sakor1 for your posts, for they were very helpful in my decision. Thanks to the rest of you, who have answered my PMs about games, brands, and features. I have become much more knowlegable about laptops after finding this forum, and it was an essential part of the search for the laptop that would be perfect for me.
I hope some of this information will be helpful to those of you who are still searching for your system.
