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opinions needed, XPS right for me? (Tosh 1955 user)

post #1 of 6
11/18/04 at 3:37pm
Thread Starter 
Hi there

My lease is about up on my Tosh 1955 (2.5GHz PIV Mobile, 512M Ram 7200RPM Hitachi 60G) and I'm considering an XPS.

I occasionally play 3d games on this machine (hl2, EQ I), but mostly run XP Pro and do Visual Studio web/app development.

I am somewhat unhappy with the fan noise and gimmicks of the 1955, including the dead built-in wireless mouse, the "removable" keyboard, etc. I am very unhappy with TOshiba service, and they relase bios perhaps once a year (and I'm still running old, old rev drivers for the GF440 gomobile)

I have a Dell poweredge server, and it's great, and have owned several insp notebooks. I would probably get onsite service, as I develop on this machine and could never send it back to the factory.

I'm considering others, such as the higher end HP's, but I think this one would suit me fine... The Sagers look interesting, but the "cottage industry" pc's scare me, I'm afraid of not getting the support I need, seeing as how I depend on the machine daily.

Is there a reason not to buy from apparently reputable ebay sellers, like this one? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...721814506&rd=1

Thanks for your thoughts,

DMA
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post #2 of 6
11/18/04 at 3:39pm
Wow, I'm glad I didn't have to pay near that much.
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post #3 of 6
11/18/04 at 3:40pm
Thread Starter 
Wow, tell me how you got that for $1145 would you? auction?

The main reason I'm looking at the XPS over the 9100 is the video ram, did you upgrade your video card?
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post #4 of 6
11/18/04 at 6:29pm
well they don't sell the i9100 straight from dell anymore... i got mine for 1600 (bought a few weeks before Dells $750 off coupon took effect) but still cheap for my setup.

i'd go with the sager or maybe even the alienware7700 for that price because of the jump in performance... try to find a i9100 with the MR9800 in it on ebay, it shouldn't cost you that much since the machine isn't the fastest anymore and new lappys with the 6800go don't cost too much more than the XPS in the auction there.

be advised though there are rumors of a iXPS replacement being announced in the next few weeks that might have the ATi M28 graphic chip (mobile x800 or whatever) i mean it'll probably cost close to that of the XPS in that link you provided... just a lil FYI
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post #5 of 6
11/18/04 at 7:45pm
I'd keep an eye on the dell outlet for a few days, and wait to see what next week's big announcement is going to be.
otherwise the XPS is a good machine what what it sounds like you'll be doing.
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post #6 of 6
11/19/04 at 1:24am
DMA, I've owned a bunch of laptops over the years -- mostly IBM's and Toshibas. I use them mostly for development, but like the idea of being able to run some CPU/GPU-hog game on the box occasionally as well. The 9100 is the first Dell I've ever owned, and I can tell you:

1) The build quality and ergonomics are the worst of any lappy I've ever owned.
2) The 9100 weighs a ton -- I haven't seen a box this beefy since the luggables of the 1980's.
3) (1) and (2) don't matter -- this thing is the closest I've ever had to a portable desktop. Performance is great, and you can get them for cheap (mine was under $1000 after I upgraded it from 256MB to 1GB).
4) For the hot running components inside the box, this thing runs remarkably cool and quiet. I was expecting much more heat and fan noise -- no problem running the 9100 on my lap.

Check out Dell's outlet for bargains. Find a box with 256MB and upgrade the RAM yourself. Occassionally you can find a good deal on a refurb with an MR9800, but if you're only going to game once in a while, the M9700 works fine. You can upgrade the GPU if you really need the extra juice.
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