Laptop Advice

OK, I'm in the market for a laptop that I will be running SL on, so I'm after something substantial. I've been looking around at some options, including the Dell XPS M170, the Alienware m7700 and the Rock XtremeCT, but I'd be interested to hear what other people are running and what they're pleased with (in terms of both SL performance and general performance).

Oh and I'm in the UK, so US-only options aren't really an option! Any help, suggestions etc. welcome.

The XPS series from Dell is insanely overpriced. You can put together a system with about the same specs much cheaper using other Inspiron models as the base.

XPS is reallly their marketing ploy for "let's milk those gamers dry as they have no clue".

before buying anything from dell, go to www.dell.com and roam the forum posts for the particular model in which you're interested. had i done so before buying my gen1 xps, i could have anticipated several of the problems that i've experienced. i'm not griping, just offering some advice that i wish i'd had (every make & model of pc/notebook is going to have problems, just be aware of which ones are in store for u).

I have the apparently insanely overpriced XPS Gen2. I love it. And frankly, I didn't think it was all that insanely overpriced. At least, compared to equivalent specs on the market at the time. I mean, sure, if you're dumb enough to buy Dell's extra gig of memory upgrade at 800 quid when you can go out and buy it for 250 just about anywhere else, then it's expensive. But no one really does that, do they? But then, apparently, I don't have a clue. I bought an XPS. So what do I know?

For me it was the high quality high rez screen that was most important, and there aren't many screens to touch the Dell's resolution. At least, not in the UK.

What I rilly rilly wanted was a Sager, but you can't buy them with the same spec or even the same screen in the UK and I just knew if I bought it from the 'States, with my luck it'd be DOA or pack up within a month or something and I'd have a whole hassle getting it fixed.

The only thing I'd say about the XPS Gen2 is it's too flashy looking! It just says "Expensive laptop alert! Please steal me now!"

Going the XPS way on the french Dell site:

Processor Intel M770 (2.13G)
screen 1920x1200
XP Media center
1 (one) GB Ram
NVidia 6800 Ultra (rated 12700)
2295€


Going the Inspiron 9300 on the same site (all other options being the same):
Processor Intel M750 (1.86G)
screen 1920x1200
XP Media center
2 (two) GB Ram
NVidia 6800 (rated 9500)
1699€

The second option is by far better priced for me... but what do I know, I only work in a marketing company in charge of designing this type of price points... Dell has a MUCH higher margin on the XPS machine.

Stephanie, they are quite close on spec., although there's obviously performance differences between them. For one thing the processors are very different and the graphics card is also. I'm really looking to buy something that's top of the range now, rather than something that's already not. For instance, I'm looking at getting the M780 processor and the Nvidia 7800. I figure if I'm going to be paying for a new high-end laptop then I may as well spend a little more and get the current best. That kind of knocks the other route (building from a 9300 up) out of the question as Dell aren't offering the 7800 as an option on the Inspiron 9300.

Interetingly I'm not seeing a great difference in price between the Dell, Alienware and Rock - they all work out at around the same price, and that's including Dell's 3-Year on site warranty. BY the way, in my first post I actullay meant the Alienware m7700, not the m5700.

You should go the XPS route then , you are definitely in the segment targeted by this brand, for whom being on the bleeding edge is very important.

Are there any other brands I should look at? I've just highlighted the ones that I've been looking at, so if there are other options by other manufacturers, for instance, I'd obviously like to take a look before making a decision.

Personally, I look at it like this. Laptops, no matter how beefy, are not designed with gamers in mind... they have to many issues with being non-upgradeable to make a viable gaming system for very long. My laptop serves me faithfully as a portable PC, its original design (it also makes one hell of a DJ station).. But I certanly dont expect to play games on it.

I would strongly advise against getting a laptop for "gaming" not because the performance wont be on par with todays systems (which it will) but because tomorrow you may be wishing you could upgrade.

Well my whole reason for this is that I'm moving my office out of my home, hence my desktop is not going to be accessible in the place where I normally play Second Life. In addition I don't really want a desktop taking up the room in the house when it's not going to be used most of the time (and my wife already has a laptop as well, which the kids also use, so it's not like we need a desktop cluttering the house). I need one for my work for the times I'm not in the office and so getting one that's good for Second Life is what I'm after.

The issue of laptops not being upgradeable isn't one for me here, as I've always accepted that with them. It's also discounted because there's just no point in setting up a desktop here for the amount of use it would get, and so a laptop is the choice I have.

In that case, do some reasearch,

I know at one time, Dell offered the xps laptop.. and if you looked carefully, in the "business" section of the website, there was the same machine as the XPS, minus the flashy case, and it was close to 300$ cheaper.

good news for yuo apple recentlly upgrades the video card in all power books most to 128(i was lucky i had boutght one at 64m and was able to return it.)
im not sure if the ibooks were upgrade also








BigRick Byrd is my 2nd life name

I'm not an Apple user I'm afraid, so it's not something I'd tend to look at. Plus, in the UK at least, Apple's really expensive for what you actually get!

My emachines laptop runs it pretty well actually, forget the model #,

amd 64 3200
512 mb pc2700
radeon 9600 - 64mb

cant turn everything up, but it was 800$ and so far has run everything ive asked it to very well, it is heavy, but has a big screen...

I have an Alienware Laptop that I used very nicely with SL until 1.7.2. Since then, it started overheating after just about 7 minutes online consistently. I even posted about it, and talked with another resident with the same machine. He didn't have the problem, but also bypassed the the display, using an external monitor instead, which I suspect is why he didn't have problems.

I knocked all of the video settings down to the bare minimum (which sucks considering what I paid for this machine), I have it on a cooling pad already, the drivers are updated, the fans are all cleaned and operating normally, I've tried everything. I even went to Alienware live chat for help, and frankly, I'm very disappointed.

I honestly can't recommend this machine any longer. Before 1.7.2, I'd have wholeheartedly recommended it, but since then, no way. The only way I can sign on now for any length of time is to prop the laptop up even more with a pack of cigarettes (bad for me, good for the machine) underneath to give it even more air flow. The sad thing is, it's probably not Alienware's fault, it's most likely something with the patch itself. - but since SL is what I wanted the machine for, it's very frustrating for me. Not good news for you I know, but I wanted to share what I did know at least. Hope this helps.

-Claire

Claire,

Thanks for posting. I actually read the thread that you had about your laptop problems after I posted mine. Sorry to hear you're having problems with it, it is kind of putting me off the Alienware. Well that and the huge waiting time they have at the moment for the higher resolution screen options. They've got a lead time of over a month for them currently.

I have an alienware area 51m 7700(p4 3.2, nvidia go 6800), has always worked fine for SL, the most heat it puts out is actually from the video card rather than the processor.

Alienware use the desktop P4 rather than the centrino so are a bit hotter than the Dell in general I think, also more power hungry if you ever run on battery(I get about 1 and a half hours from mine if I do).

At the time I chose the Alienware over the Dell XPS because Dell wanted like £500(about $850) to put 1GB of RAM in it compared to 512mb which was ridiculous.

I have had no problems whatsoever with the Alienware, but as last time I checked Dell had returned to planet earth on the RAM price Id prob go for the Dell XPS if getting one now for the following reasons:

Dell is a proper laptop(the Alienware is a "boat anchor", it weighs a ton.
Dell is similar powerwise but is centrino so runs cooler and lasts longer on bettery
The Dell looks nicer IMO

You may want to do a reformat once getting the Dell though as apparently they install all manner of junk/free trials etc

Craig, thanks for the response. I'm increasingly thinking that the Dell would be the best choice here so it's good to get your opinion. The memory is 1GB as standard but it's expensive for an extra gig (£282 I think), but I've found somewhere where I can get 2GB guaranteed compatible memory for £150, which is much better.

Well I've taken the plunge and ordered myself the Dell. I'll let you know how I get on.

I have a Dell XPS M170 and there's a month return allowance on Dell products. At this point I'm probably going to return the M170 and just buy a desktop unit with SLI.

The performance of this laptop with SL totally sucks. I have to turn off all the stuff like anistrophic filtering, water ripple, shadows, and set all sliders at the middle, to get any performance above about 7-10 fps.

The only place I can manage 20+ fps with a 128m view distance is floating above a perfectly flat water sim with nothing in view but the water. Get near any high-prim areas and it goes right down the drain, even with the view at the minimum of 64m.

This is not a wimpy config either. It's only one step down from the absolute max available M170 performance, yet it totally sucks at running SL..

Pentium 2.13 gHz
2 gigabytes 533mhz DDR
256 meg 7800 GTX Go
100 gig hard drive

While it can run WoW at 1920x1200 smooth as glass (20+ fps everywhere, windowed, maximized) it totally blows at running SL even at only 1280x800.

Installing the "optimized" driver from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ (81.90, performance INF) did not improve the SL performance at all.

I'm not sure it's worth paying $3200 for a computer that gives an average of 10 fps or less in SL at the minimal graphics settings..

Laptops are quite different than they used to be. These days you can buy a bare bones kit for in the $600 range. You supply the cpu, ram and hard drive.


If top of the line is important to you, then you should look for a laptop built from desktop parts. That's the only way to get the fastest performer in a "mobile" package.

Try this on for size:

http://www.widowpc.com/2005/08/dual_core_laptop.php

I'd like you to tell me that's not made with gamers in mind


If you need performance but in something that doesn't sport a 240 watt power supply, look up the new intel Duo based laptops, or something with a high end Turion.

please please please do not go with a Dell.

I bought a brand new one a year ago. I could barely carry the thing to work with me. So I exchanged it for a new one and they told me that the 3 year onsite warrenty would transfer over.

SL, WoW, and Guild Wars makes it overheat to where every hour or so I go down to 1FPS for a few min. And it just gets worse the more I play. Saddly I wasn't using it for gaming right when I got it since I still had my desktop. Dell support told me that its a software problem not a hardware one.

Now the DVD/CD burner doesn't recognize any disk that I put in it. Says there's nothing there. Contacted support, told me I needed a new drive. But I didn't have a warranty so I would have to shell out £215 to get a new one. Spent a month on the phone to India trying to get them to even understand what I was talking about. Sometimes they would say that it couldnt be transfered over, sometimes they said it would be and they'll let me know when it does, sometimes they would tell me to call a different number that just went to the same place, and others asked me for the name of the person who was buying my computer.

Finally, I was told that I was SOL. They will refund the money I paid on the 3 year service plan.. ignoring that if they would have refunded it before my crap warranty ran out i'd still have bought it and be covered.

I ended up reading the forums and read that someone with the same laptop has had to replace the drive 4 times in the past year. Bugger that. I'm building myself a new desktop.

You can never get a good picture of what a company's products are like based on one, or even a dozen of their items.

I don't like dell due to their dealings with Intel and Microsoft, but I can't blame them for it.

On the other hand, Dell's hardware is good with Linux since they don't put in a ton of proprietary crap in.

With that said, I don't, and never will own a Dell laptop, but my office has several hundred laptops and they appear to function well.



Personally, I bought an Averatec 4155, dropped in the fastest Turion64 cpu, 2 gigs of ram and a 7200 rpm drive, and I'm happy. But it's for software development, not games. I could have gotten a MSI or ASUS barebones and saved about $200 too.