A spot of laptop advice

[Earl Barrett]

A spot of laptop advice - Ordered

Hi All,

I'm thinking of the following spec for my new laptop build:

Chassis & Display Optimus II: 17.3" Full HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear
Glossy
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2630QM (2.00GHz) 6MB Cache
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BEKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE
(7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD (STANDARD)
USB Options 2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Battery Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery - 48.85WH
Power Lead & Adaptor 1 x UK Power Lead & 90W Adaptor (GT 540M) / 120W Adaptor (GT 555M)

Comes in at about £775.

I'm after something for both work and home. I usually have 2 monitors connected to my current laptop and tend to be running 7-10 programs at once so I'm after something powerful and also that will last for a few years.

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Jimbhoy]

You won't really need that much RAM but up to yourself. I would probably just get it to save putting it in if you ever need to in the future.

CPU turbo's up to 2.9GHz.

For £775 you'll stuggle to find better spec.

Could take about £80 off if you already have a usable OS.

The 555m GPU has just been released (to replace 540m) and seems stupidly cheap on here at the moment.

You might want to have a quick looksie here: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-XPS-17-Notebook-i7-2630QM-GT-555M.51949.0.html

HDD is prob best for the money.


And, if you haven't already, include the Silver Warranty which is only £5.

Just give them a quick call if you want some proper advice.

J

 

[Earl Barrett]

Many thanks for that pal

I've not included an OS as I've got some spares at work.
I'm thinking that the power load is going to be quite high but I didn't see an option for a larger battery.

Do these chaps offer it at all?

Thanks,

 

[Jimbhoy]

I think that battery should be OK - but depends how portable you want it to be.

At the risk of repeating myself, just phone them and ask them.

 

[Earl Barrett]

So, I've gone with the following spec:

Chassis & Display
Optimus II: 17.3" Full HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080) Super Clear Glossy

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2630QM (2.00GHz) 6MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
nVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 3 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)

Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & INTEL® CENTRINO® ULTIMATE-N 6300 WIRELESS upto 450Mbps

USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery - 48.85WH

Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W Adaptor (GT 540M) / 120W Adaptor (GT 555M)

Quite excited to see how the 500GB SEAGATE MOMENTUS XT HYBRID, SATA 3 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200 rpm) performs.
I had a read about it and it has a 4gb SSD built in that it apparently "learns" you most often launched applications and stores them on the SSD for instant launching. Pretty cool!

I also spoke to a chap at PC Specialist about the battery life and he assures me that the battery will run for 90-120 minutes with the graphics at full whack which is better than I expected.

It's a shame that they can't supply a bigger battery for this though. Does anyone have any experience of buying a larger cell battery than the ones supplied?