New Laptop, Advice and opinions please

pipers

Im looking to purchase a laptop , and I have been mooching around the web looking at offers.

The spec below from dell looks ok to me, and im just wondering your opinion of it and the price.

Im looking to share my broadband connection between the new laptop and my current desktop, hence the wireless card.

The cost is EUR 1,519.00 + VAT

Dell Inspiron 5150:


512MB 333MHz DDR SDRAM (1x512)

Processor:
5150 with Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 3.06Ghz

Screen:
15" SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) TFT Colour Display

Hard Drive:
60GB Hard Drive

Video Card:
nVidia® GeForce™ FX Go5200 video controller with 64MB DDR


Integrated 8x DVD/24x CD-RW Combo Drive

Dell True Mobile Wireless:
Dell TrueMobile™ 1300 Wireless (802.11b/g) Mini-PCi Card

Looking forward to your replies

Thanks

GoneShootin

I too am on the look for a new laptop. My problem when deciding to buy a laptop is WHEN to buy. Do they change specs vs price dramatically as they do on PC systems ? Is there anyway of buying a laptop that is easily upgradable to future specs ? etc etc

CyberGhost

i have the exact machine you are looking for only my screen res is 1600x1200

i must say that it is very very fast! the wireless card works fine! the connection is good

keyboard is good!

in pictures it doesn't look very nice but in reality it's nice

the machine is very silent, you won't hear anything! fans kick in only when playing games

BUT! if you are planning on to play games on it, forget it! it's a horrible machine for games! HORRIBLE HORRIBLE! you can play UT but for UT2003 i had to minimise most of the settings to the lowest level to play smoothly, and the max i benced was 7116 with everything on performance in graphics settings, the normal i think it benches around 68XX - sucks!

bottom line is, if you want it for an office where games doesn't matter then go for it, it's silent, you never have problems with cooling(although i was thinking about purchasing Nexus heat-pipe cooler pad - if you find someone who ships them to Ireland let me know!), you can leave it for hours and hours, if something goes wrong the indian guys at Dell will always help you(i dunno why they say Dell support sucks, i'm very happy with it), i'm very happy with the machine, i'd defenately recommend it! also, if you are planning to do lots of HD intensive jobs on it, buy the cheapest HD awaylable from Dell and later change it to 7200 drive from Komplett, if you don't do any HD intensive stuff 4200RPM is OK! i have 4200 60GB drive from Dell and i'm pretty happy with it, i mean booting up windows in 18 seconds instead of 15 with 7200 doesn't worth 270 euro, if you purchase and when you get it, check for screws carefully, especially HD screws, their usually don't supply the 2 screws(a**holes!) for HDs(there is a place for 4), it's not a problem with a slow HD but with 7200, you're gonna have probs if you secure it with only 2 screws

if you are thinking about alternates there are 3 of them

Multivision Acrus 5070(www.multivision.co.uk) - very nice machine with a nice price, if you wanna have a look at it you can at Jarvis shopping centre, it's called Advend there, the machine is very nice with an audio dj(mp3 cd player on the from), it's very beautiful, a lot thinner than 5150, and has new Radeon 9600 64MB which benched about 8k to 9k in 3DMark01 but i have heard a lot of horror stories about the company and their builds, the ones who got lucky said that it's a very very fast machine and defenately recommend it(dunno, if you are lucky then maybe you should try)

Fujitsu-Siemens 8830(www.nicepc.co.uk) - another alternative, nice laptop, 5x USB 2.0 ports! this one too is a fast machine, i have heard less bad stories about it, but some people reported that it's screen sometimes overheats and does wierd stuff, but i haven't heard many of that stories, many people are very happy with it and recommend it

and if you have a wide pocket go for the SAGER!!!!!!!!!! the fastest laptop on the planet! 3.2GHz(800MHz FSB), 400MHz Dual Channel DDR Ram!, Radeon 9600 Pro with 128MBs, but it comes with a "good" price too
www.pctorque.com


if you need more info goto www.whatlaptop.co.uk check out their forum, lots of nice people with good advices! and you'll hear all the bad stories about every machine and company

---

sorry for any spelling mistakes i'm very sleepy now, got up very early today

CyberGhost

hey GoneShootin, just noticed your post, i think the best time to buy a laptop will be in december with lots of sales, but watch out for Dell's "special" offers, when they were offer you free double RAM they put 266MHz ram instead of 333MHz, special offer eh?

Do they change specs vs price dramatically as they do on PC systems - eeeh, not as fast as PCs but yea, usually once in a 6 month or so...not so fast

Is there anyway of buying a laptop that is easily upgradable to future specs ? you can upgrade Video card on 5150(must be copatible) and Processor(it has a mobile P4), and of course RAM and HD

but the best laptop for upgrading is Sager, it has a desktop CPU, i don't know if it's video card is soldered to the mobo

*edition of the post - Do'H forget another thing*

with 3Ghz machines i think it will be sometime before you'll need an upgrade if you are not "latest release freak" then you don't need a laptop because you'll wind up selling your house, if you want to buy Sager and want to save some money buy 2.4GHz processor and later upgrade it to 3.2GHz it's a desktop CPU so you can always put 2.4GHz CPU in your PC or sell it, but with other machines don't buy them with a thought "ah i'll but a less powerfull machine and upgrade later"

pipers

thnks for your comprehensive reply,

your opinions on the use of the machine are excellent, especially issues regarding to gaming, at the moment i only play mohaa (on my desktop) but it may be an issue in the future.

i was not aware that the HD was only 4200 rpm. Thats an interesting issue

Thanks again for your opinions

Pipers

GoneShootin

ya CypherGhost thanks for the time. Ill wit till December, and pay attention to those "special" offers.


/me now has a laptop tech should things go wrong

Doodee

heh, i heard bout someone selling one for €500, same dell and all.
ya can guess why it was so cheap

sci0x

Instead of a Dell Inspiron 5150 for €1,900 I would get the Toshiba Satellite P10-304 for €1,600. Firstly it looks much better then the Inspiron with its blue, silver, and shiny black casing. It has 15.4in widescreen compared to the Inspiron 15in.

It has 2.66Ghz Pentium 4 processor, 256Mbyte RAM and 30Gbyte HD. A small bit different from the Dell but its only a little difference for a big price difference. Graphics Capability is handled by Nvidia GeForce FX Go5100 card with 32Mbyte on-board memory. Also includes DVD/CD RW combo drive.

It has much more connectivity options then the inspiron with three USB 2.0 ports while Firewire and legacy ports are also present. Icludes Infra Red and built in Wireless Networking. One PC card slot, a Secure Digital Card slot.

Finally it has control buttons for the DVD/CD ROM combo drive at the front.

€1,650 - Very good for whats included in the package!

CyberGhost

But! for an additional 250 you get

512 RAM 333MHz(Toshiba has 266MHz)
3.06GHz HT CPU
the new Graphics chip GeForce FX Go5200 with 64MBs

and in todays fast moving computer industry i think 250 would make a big difference

*edit - spelling*

kaimera

my own laptop €1599 [pc world-mouse, firewire cable and 10 dvd-rs incl]

Advent P4 2.66
512 RAM
40Gig hd
64Meg Ati 9000 mobility
DVD-R

specific specs cos I *needed* them for my comp sys course.

Runs everything I've thrown at it so far - H&D2, CoD [no crashes and I've finished it ], BF1942

[edit]11meg wireless lan, 10/100 network adapter, infared, 2 usb 2.0 ports, 15" screen

Woden

Originally posted by CyberGhost

but the best laptop for upgrading is Sager, it has a desktop CPU

Just wondering is having a desktop cpu not an issue power wise, i though laptops typically had mobile versions of the athlon's and pentiums which where leaner and the power and gave increased battery life?

This might be an issue for him if he needs it to be portable?

sci0x

Originally posted by CyberGhost
But! for an additional 250 you get

512 RAM 333MHz(Toshiba has 266MHz)
3.06GHz HT CPU
the new Graphics chip GeForce FX Go5200 with 64MBs

and in todays fast moving computer industry i think 250 would make a big difference

*edit - spelling*

Yes but my main problem with the Inspiron is how ugly it looks finished in grey with blue lid. Its also pretty heavy at 4Kg.

CyberGhost

ou yea, the battery life is a problem

the max you can last with dual set up is 2.15 mins i think 1 hour and 30 mins with 1 battery

RicardoSmith

I like the look of the Sony's myself.

CyberGhost

yeah, sony make beautiful laptops

but my #1 is Sager, then Alienware(new) and then comes sony

sci0x

I prefer the Toshibas myself, and then maybe Dell and Acer.

RicardoSmith

I think the screens on the Sonys are much better.

CyberGhost

Dell is very picky about screens, their screens are the best!

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by CyberGhost
Dell is very picky about screens, their screens are the best!

Have you seen the new Sony 15" & 16" Onyx-Black display. Incredible.

CyberGhost

can't argue, never seen sony onix screens, i have seen couple of sony screens but i don't know if they were onyx ones

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by CyberGhost
can't argue, never seen sony onix screens, i have seen couple of sony screens but i don't know if they were onyx ones

You'd know. They look a bit like a TV screen.