Which laptop?

Ciano35

Hi everyone, i'm currently looking to buy a laptop for college and for gaming. I can't get a desktop because i'll need to bring the laptop home with me every weekend. I have found this two laptops, which one would be better for gaming?

1) Dell XPS 17" 1600x900
i7-740qm 1.73ghz turbo up to 2.93ghz
6gb ram 1333mhz (1x2048 + 1x4096)
500gb hd 7200rpm
nVidia GT445m 3gb 3d ready
Windows 7 Home 64bit

€780

2) Dell XPS 15" 1366x768
i7-2630qm 2.0ghz turbo up to 2.9ghz
6gb ram 1333mhz
750gb hd 7200rpm
GT540m 2gb 3dtv play
Windows 7 Home 64bit

€790

Which one would perform better in games such as dirt 3 and battlefield 3? Again I really need a laptop over a desktop and I wouldn't mind turning anti-aliasing and shadows etc off in games! I'd also be happy if ye could reccommend me a better laptop, my budget is €800 max

hillbloom

You are spending a lot of money on a Laptop for college. The life of a laptop is only about 4 years, or at least until it starts giving trouble. €450 would be loads to spend. Are you set on buying a Dell. When I was buying this one last August, I was told they don't repair Dell in Ireland any longer. Dont know if thats gospel but I bought TOSHIBA.

Ciano35

hillbloom wrote: »

You are spending a lot of money on a Laptop for college. The life of a laptop is only about 4 years, or at least until it starts giving trouble. €450 would be loads to spend. Are you set on buying a Dell. When I was buying this one last August, I was told they don't repair Dell in Ireland any longer. Dont know if thats gospel but I bought TOSHIBA.

I know but to be honest 4 years would be fine for me, no I'm not set on buying a Dell at all they're just two I happened to see. I need to spend this much though because I need the good processor, gfx card etc.

AlmightyCushion

hillbloom wrote: »

You are spending a lot of money on a Laptop for college. The life of a laptop is only about 4 years, or at least until it starts giving trouble. €450 would be loads to spend. Are you set on buying a Dell. When I was buying this one last August, I was told they don't repair Dell in Ireland any longer. Dont know if thats gospel but I bought TOSHIBA.

You'd never be able to play games on a €450 laptop though. I'd go with the second one, Ciano. It's smaller and lighter for a start which is a big plus for college use. It has the 2nd gen i7 vs the first gen in the other laptop although the 540m is probably weaker than the 445m

Ciano35

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

You'd never be able to play games on a €450 laptop though. I'd go with the second one, Ciano. It's smaller and lighter for a start which is a big plus for college use. It has the 2nd gen i7 vs the first gen in the other laptop although the 540m is probably weaker than the 445m

Thanks AlmightyCushion, do you reckon that even though it has a weaker gfx card it will still outperform the first laptop?

AlmightyCushion

Ciano35 wrote: »

Thanks AlmightyCushion, do you reckon that even though it has a weaker gfx card it will still outperform the first laptop?

In everything bar gaming, yes. Gaming is harder to tell. The 445m is more powerful than the 540m (I'm not sure by how much) but the higher resolution of the first screen will offset some of that performance gain. More pixels mean more work for the graphics card to do. If it was me, I'd get the second one.

Ciano35

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

In everything bar gaming, yes. Gaming is harder to tell. The 445m is more powerful than the 540m (I'm not sure by how much) but the higher resolution of the first screen will offset some of that performance gain. More pixels mean more work for the graphics card to do. If it was me, I'd get the second one.

Nice one, thanks.

AlmightyCushion

Ciano35 wrote: »

Nice one, thanks.

No worries, bud. Happy to help.