Video Card for Laptop help requested

my Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop died last week. Just up and died. Not even a whimper. We are blaming it on something burning up.. the laptop was always so hot it was putting burn marks on my legs so I had to have a rack for it.

So, we are trying to figure out what to get to replace it. I am not a techie and my head is breaking from all the terms and whispers of doom that come up every time I suggest a solution.

We can't afford a lot.. all those bells and whistles. I just need something dependable that will allow me to stay in SL and build and not bump me out or make me slog all day.

Right now my husband has drawn up the following:
Intel Pentium dual core T2060 (1MB cache/1.6 GHz/5333MHz FSB)
Vista Business
15.4 inch UltraSharp Side Screen SXGA Display with True Life (17 in is a bit wide for me)
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533 MHZ, 2 DIMM
256 MB NVidea GeForce Go 7300 TurboCache
80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive

Does this sound reasonable to run SL well?
Is there anything we should change and why?

I heard that the TurboCache is going to be a problem?? Anyone with that experience?

I know that a dedicated video card is better but I also heard it is very hot (bringing us back to where we are.. meltdown and burns) and seems to only be available on 17 inch screens.

Please advise. All my SL stuff was on the old machine and I want my laptop back.
Thanks.

Sounds good to me. I just went through all this in November. I picked an HP dv9000. Processor a little slower (and cooler). nvidia 7600 instead of 7300. 17 inch display. I paid about $1500.

I have been very happy with it.

I bought a new laptop in December and it has a similar spec to what you have stated. I also have the Intel dual core 1.6 GHz processor, and the 2 GB SDRAM. Video card is only a GeForce Go 7200 with 128 MB, but this system runs SL perfectly. In fact, even if I turn the graphics draw distance up to the full 512, SL still runs faster than it used to with my old desktop on a draw distance of 64

Not running Vista yet though, and I wouldn't want to until the various inevitable teething troubles are sorted. Mind you, with a new PC you'll get it with Vista whether you want it or not, I guess.

whats the price on that?

pretty low end processor, its basically a Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo) that has half the cache and VT technology disabled, so they stuck the old Pentium name back on it...

the video is pretty low end...

2gb of ram seems like more than enough if not too much for the other lower specs.

Id be interested in what the price for that is. You have to take into account how good the computer is for the price, as sometimes you can get something thats much better for only a bit more.

2GB is not "Too much RAM." The only time you'll encounter "Too much RAM" is with 4GB on a 32-bit system. By all means, keep the 2GB RAM. It will make a difference.

The video card is low-end, a cideo card with dedicated RAM is a much better idea.

As heat goes, just make sure you aren't blocking the vents/intakes when you sit it on your lap. There are some really nice and comfortable lap-boards out there that will not only help keep the computer ventilated, but will also make it easier to stabilize by providing a wider platform that's contoured for a lap. I've tried using my laptop in my lap and it's not very comfortable to me

Here's one from Targus that you can get at Best Buy: Targus Portable Lapdesk

It folds in half so it can be tucked in your laptop bag when you're not using it.

You can't be too Rich, too Thin, or ever have too much RAM!

Sounds like a pretty good configuration for a sl machine, but really, you should probably try to get as high a specification machine as you can afford--it will last longer and keep you on the crest of the tech wave further into the future.

Personally, I'd get the fastest processor now available, 4 gigs of RAM, and a least a 512 meg video card. Yes, this takes more power and creates more heat, but designs today are much better than they were even a year ago.

The DELL XPS is an acknowledged champ as a gaming laptop, but the real sleeper is to go to the Dell business solutions site and get one of their "Precision Work Stations." Just about one of the best buys out there for quality, power, design and useability.

The only bad thing is that to go from one to two gigs of RAM is not too expensive, but to go from two to four gigs is an outrageous leap in price for a laptop!

Just remember, though, that today you're buying the computer that you'll be using 3-5 years from now--a little extra investment now is worth it.

you can have too much ram... as in wasting your money to put so much ram in the machine that for your uses you wont ever use that much. Same as buying a 750gb hard drive and never using more than 100gb. Sure it'll work, but why waste the money?

Dell has some high end workstations that can go up to 64gb of ram. it costs around $30,000 to go from like 16gb to 64gb... and I'd call that too much ram if all your doing is typical home stuff and SL.

2gb on this machine is probably just fine, as i said... the "if not too much" is only based on that i do not know everything the machine will be used for. Takin the same machine up to 3gb or 4gb (which it probably cant do) would definitely be too much for just playing SL and reading web pages and getting email.

After going thru 2 laptops, one from HP, and one from Dell (1505) both came with the stinkin new Vista (hate it!) both were supposed to have 256 dedicated memory but, Vista is not compatible so it does not run correctly.

I am now ordering a Dell thru the small business section where you can still get XP.