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XPS Gen 2 or 9300

post #1 of 51
3/3/05 at 12:54pm
Thread Starter 
I would buying this via my companies EPP with Dell. So I get an additional 12% off, but I have to pay Taxes. I know the GPU is a downgraded verison in the 9300 then what is in the XPS. But it's about a $400 difference in price between the two, plus I get an additional 512MB of ram on the 9300. I have to stay around $2500.

I'm not going to be able to order it until the 31st of March. Do you think there will be better discounts on the XPS by then?


Inspiron 9300

Intel Pentium M 760 - 2GHz/533 FSB
17" UltraSharp WUXGA w/TrueLife
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
80GB Hard Drive
8x CD/DVD Burner
256MB nVidia Geforce Go 6800
Intel PRO/Wireless 2915
9-cell Battery
Carbon Fiber QuickSnap Cover
Large Backpack Carrying Case
3Yr Warranty
Windows XP Professional

$2415


Inspiron XPS Gen 2

Intel Pentium M 760 - 2GHz/533 FSB
17" UltraSharp WUXGA w/TrueLife
512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
80GB Hard Drive
8x CD/DVD Burner
256MB nVidia Geforce Go 6800 Ultra
Intel PRO/Wireless 2915
9-cell Battery
Personalization Shield w/Inserts
XPS Gen 2 Backpack
3Yr Warranty
Windows XP Professional

$2840
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post #2 of 51
3/3/05 at 1:03pm
depends on if you're a hardcore gamer or not. also i don't know if anyome's whether the 6800nu in the 9300 is ddr1 or ddr3... although i'd be very surprised if it was ddr1.

the ultra is the only reason i see to get xps2 over the 9300. unfortunately they designed to the 9300 to not be compatible w/ the ultra either. the heat sink in the 9300 only has 1 heatpipe vs the 2 in the xps2
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post #3 of 51
3/3/05 at 1:09pm
Some say the lights on the XPS is a factor to consider, but I am not one of those people.

I wonder if the XPS will be cooler, that would help me decide to keep my XPS order intact over the 9300.

Plus with the XPS you get specialized support. That could be a bouns with specific issues in the future.

BTW, I ordered the XPS, but I never saw anything about the snap on case. Does it come standard, or do you need to odrer it, and if so, where?
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post #4 of 51
3/3/05 at 1:10pm
no Ultra decides it for me
Wouldn't even consider a 9300
Plus I like the pretty lights
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post #5 of 51
3/3/05 at 1:19pm
Thread Starter 
I'm not that hardcore of a gamer. I like playing games, but my desktop does a very good job of that. I want a notebook that will give me the option of playing games on it. Hopefully there will be some better discounts on the XPS by the time I get to order one.
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post #6 of 51
3/3/05 at 1:47pm
then you should get the 9300 and save $400. i like the leds alot too, but they're really more for showing off to friends at lans and such.
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post #7 of 51
3/3/05 at 1:54pm
The Ultra is the only reason I see for getting the XPS.

If you do not play games which demand alot out of your GPU, then save the money.
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post #8 of 51
3/3/05 at 2:00pm
GBit Ethernet also.
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post #9 of 51
3/3/05 at 3:25pm
I personally don't play games on my PC, (I have a PS2 & Xbox) so I wouldn't on a laptop but I still want the XPS2 as it has the spec I would want on a laptop.

Looks wise I think the XPS2 looks much nicer than the I9300 and that is not even considering the LED's which I am not sold on.
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post #10 of 51
3/3/05 at 4:04pm
remember that the battery life of the 9300 is over 5 hours compared to a little over 2 for the xps2. Granted the performance of the 9300/6800go is a little more than half that of the xps2/6800go ultra, but half that still means being able to play every game at 1280HQ. Personally I'd rather have the longer battery life (like my cousin said you don't care about battery life until you need it, but when you need it, you need LOTS of it) and put the savings towards getting 2GB of RAM or a new set of Klipsch speakers or something that I'd use everyday.
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post #11 of 51
3/3/05 at 4:07pm
We don't know the battery life for the 9300 yet. If you read the footnote, the 5.2 hours is for the 9200, which is a very low-wattage machine compared to the 9300 with go6800.
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post #12 of 51
3/3/05 at 4:19pm
I bought my system primarily for games. So, I would go with the XPS2. If you need ultra-portability and lots of battery power, then i guess 5 hours is a lot better than 2.
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post #13 of 51
3/3/05 at 4:46pm
XPS 2 is for people who want a laptop that can perform like a desktop p4 3.4ghz with a geforce 6800 GT. It sounds to me like you really only want your laptop to tide you over until you can get to your desktop, so you should most definitely get the i9300. The XPS 2 will be my only computer, and I want my only computer to be as fast as a high end desktop and still mobile with some battery life, only the XPS 2 can offer that.

On a personal note, I like the XPS 2 looks better than any other laptop I've seen. It's a home run for me.
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post #14 of 51
3/3/05 at 4:47pm
I can run modern games on a 9500 Pro. If you run the most demanding games (ie. farcry, doom 3) a 6800NP will run them with all settings maxed (perhaps not max AA/AF, I'm not sure on the benchmarks). If the 400$ are worth it to you for that extra 5-15% performance increase, then go for it. Personally, I think I'm going to be buying the 9300 for a college laptop because of the (probably) longer battery life and the significantly lower cost for a very similar system.
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post #15 of 51
3/3/05 at 5:06pm
Go with the 9300.

Daley
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post #16 of 51
3/3/05 at 5:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by qwazi
I can run modern games on a 9500 Pro. If you run the most demanding games (ie. farcry, doom 3) a 6800NP will run them with all settings maxed (perhaps not max AA/AF, I'm not sure on the benchmarks). If the 400$ are worth it to you for that extra 5-15% performance increase, then go for it. Personally, I think I'm going to be buying the 9300 for a college laptop because of the (probably) longer battery life and the significantly lower cost for a very similar system.
It's not 5-15%, it's 200% 3d video performance increase. And in fact, the deal I got Monday in SB prices out about the same for the same configuration except for the video card of course. So that's a free video card and "case mod" from Dell. And that includes subtracting out a FatWallet 3% rebate. If you exclude the FatWallet rebate, the XPS2 is cheapa.
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post #17 of 51
3/3/05 at 6:05pm
Actually 100% increase, 200% is 3x
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post #18 of 51
3/3/05 at 6:33pm
It's not even 100%. Get your facts right... All you xps2 people pimping out your systems... :P

You have to remember the video card is not the only consideration when playing games. To actually get 2x the speed, you really need 2x the CPU power/RAM bandwidth to feed it and 2x the video card power.

I'm gonna guess about a 40-50% increase (max) in performance at HIGH AA/AF settings and so forth.
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post #19 of 51
3/3/05 at 6:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by chuck232
It's not even 100%. Get your facts right... All you xps2 people pimping out your systems... :P

You have to remember the video card is not the only consideration when playing games. To actually get 2x the speed, you really need 2x the CPU power/RAM bandwidth to feed it and 2x the video card power.

I'm gonna guess about a 40-50% increase (max) in performance at HIGH AA/AF settings and so forth.
you are incorrect. thats all i have time to say. oh except video card IS all that really matters to 3D games.

Edit: I changed my sig to have a link to my 3Dmark05 score. Because I am tired of giving out the link. Have fun.
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post #20 of 51
3/3/05 at 6:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maklar
Actually 100% increase, 200% is 3x
Correct, I got my semantics messed up. It would be correct to say the Ultra has 200% the performance of the non-ultra, but not that the Ultra is a 200% increase in performance.

simply put, the 3dmark05 score of the ultra has been shown to be 5233 wheres the non-ultra in hypersonic 2500, that's double.

Doom 3 fps 1600x1200 ultra=65, hypersonic non-ultra=35, that's very near double again.

Anyway, it's not just a 5% increase. And games are just going to get more and more demanding, the non-ultra won't be able to hang with the 1920x1200 screen of the 9300/xps2, in fact taking into account that 60fps is considered the baseline for liquid smoothness, it is already below standard in some of the most popular games out right now.

In short, the Ultra pwns the non-ultra (and every other mobile card as well.)
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