So, my old computer died..

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2006-01-30 04:21pm

And I bought a new one..

A Dell XPS M170 M770
2.13 GHZ M
2 Gigs of Ram
256 NVidia Ultra
100 gigs of HD space

and a happy smile on my face.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-01-30 05:19pm

The mobile 7800gtx would have been a hugely worthwhile upgrade.

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2006-01-30 05:33pm

InnocentBystander wrote:The mobile 7800gtx would have been a hugely worthwhile upgrade.

I was debating strongly about that, but the extra 350.. that's a lot.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-01-30 06:05pm

You bought a dell? *shuns*

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-01-31 03:11am

Trytostaydead wrote:
InnocentBystander wrote:The mobile 7800gtx would have been a hugely worthwhile upgrade.
I was debating strongly about that, but the extra 350.. that's a lot.

You're alreadying spending nearly 3 grand. The 7800gtx is a MASSIVE leap forward compared to the 6800 ultra, not to mention it's less power hungry and more energy efficient. You're already shelling out big bucks, you might as well get the most for your money.

Note that I'm not exactly sure how much energy/heat you'll be saving on, but I think it's a decent amount (of course unplugged that thing won't run games terribly long anyway).

Seems silly to spend 3000 on DAS ULTIMATE GAMING LAPTOP, and get the farly inferior graphics card (most important), ya know?

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-01-31 03:37am

Gaming laptop? Burt?

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2006-01-31 03:51am

Stark wrote:Gaming laptop? Burt?

Don't laugh. Gaming laptops have made massive strides towards catching their desktop peers. The 7800 mobile can easily be the fastest video card at a LAN party, even with reasonably serious gamers, and mobile processors or DTR ones are also closing the distance. They're still not as good as high-end desktops, and there is a price premium, but anyone who claims that a good gaming laptop doesn't cut it with modern games is wrong.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-01-31 03:55am

Well, that's fine... but the price premium you pay for your 'relatively portable' computer is insane. The laptops with 7800s in AU cost around twice as much as a desktop. Madness.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-01-31 05:15am

General Zod wrote:You bought a dell? *shuns*

Hey, don't be so hard to knock them, Dells have served us well for the past eight years...

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2006-01-31 06:14am

Ah, the Dell. Great source of comedy trying to get that bastard open.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-01-31 12:32pm

Stark wrote:Well, that's fine... but the price premium you pay for your 'relatively portable' computer is insane. The laptops with 7800s in AU cost around twice as much as a desktop. Madness.

You pay about twice the money for the ability to pick your computer up and walk around the house with it, put it in your lap, carry it with you on a plane, in a car, on the train, to work (heh), etc. Relatively portable is more a term for say, a small form factor. This is a genuine mobile device, even if it's battery life is somewhat limited.

Acutally.. hrm, this is interesting. Dell makes a model called the E1705, with the dual core moble processor, and a mobile 7800, non-gtx? I was unaware that there were two mobile 7800 cards? Is this the case?
Because if they're the same, or even if that is roughly the equal of a 7800gt, I'd say that's a great gaming laptop for about a grand less than the XPS.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2006-01-31 03:06pm

General Zod wrote:You bought a dell? *shuns*

LOL!! I can't really cap on him for the dell, because I'm the pilot of a big black Buick^WHP Media-Center boat (which btw has a neutered Windows install; fuck Media Center edition!), but it runs pretty good, even with a tiny OC on the 6600!

Ford Prefect wrote:Ah, the Dell. Great source of comedy trying to get that bastard open.

I know that from firsthand experience. That 'clamshell' arrangement isn't as good in practice as the theory would suggest. I prefer the time-honored 'metal-side-panels-and-screws' arrangement anyway.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-01-31 03:08pm

On mine all you have to do is pull the latch and the side panel pops out and off... really quite convenient.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2006-01-31 03:19pm

InnocentBystander wrote:Acutally.. hrm, this is interesting. Dell makes a model called the E1705, with the dual core moble processor, and a mobile 7800, non-gtx? I was unaware that there were two mobile 7800 cards? Is this the case?
Because if they're the same, or even if that is roughly the equal of a 7800gt, I'd say that's a great gaming laptop for about a grand less than the XPS.

There are two mobile 7800's. The 7800 is about 30% slower than the 7800gt.

Incidentally, a whole bunch of Apple fanwhores are going to die a little bit if they ever see that system you linked to. The 7800 still crushes the graphics in the MacBook, and it costs significantly less than the MacBook despite being a 17 incher and having features like more RAM. When you take into account Dell's almost comical penchant for coupons....

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2006-01-31 03:28pm

Ugh, I hate the inspiron line- too much damn space between edge of laptop and keyboard...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-01-31 03:52pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:LOL!! I can't really cap on him for the dell, because I'm the pilot of a big black Buick^WHP Media-Center boat (which btw has a neutered Windows install; fuck Media Center edition!), but it runs pretty good, even with a tiny OC on the 6600!

The only thing missing from Windows MCE that is in Windows XP Pro is AD/domain membership support, and even that can be hacked in via registry modification.

Master of Ossus wrote:Incidentally, a whole bunch of Apple fanwhores are going to die a little bit if they ever see that system you linked to. The 7800 still crushes the graphics in the MacBook, and it costs significantly less than the MacBook despite being a 17 incher and having features like more RAM. When you take into account Dell's almost comical penchant for coupons....

Dell has always been better at price:performance than Apple. It is also rather heavier than the MacBook and I'd expect the build quality inferior. That said, I fully expect the IBM/Lenovo T60 to be better than the MacBook.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2006-01-31 04:04pm

Master of Ossus wrote:
InnocentBystander wrote:Acutally.. hrm, this is interesting. Dell makes a model called the E1705, with the dual core moble processor, and a mobile 7800, non-gtx? I was unaware that there were two mobile 7800 cards? Is this the case?
Because if they're the same, or even if that is roughly the equal of a 7800gt, I'd say that's a great gaming laptop for about a grand less than the XPS.
There are two mobile 7800's. The 7800 is about 30% slower than the 7800gt.

Incidentally, a whole bunch of Apple fanwhores are going to die a little bit if they ever see that system you linked to. The 7800 still crushes the graphics in the MacBook, and it costs significantly less than the MacBook despite being a 17 incher and having features like more RAM. When you take into account Dell's almost comical penchant for coupons....

So that put's it in the same area as the 6800gt, and the 7800gtx (mobile) far superior to it then, bah!