question about the upcoming laptop releases from Dell

Just to give a little bit of background: I'm planning on working in a foreign country as early as beginning of November, as late as mid December.

I'm looking to buy a pretty beefy 15-16 inch laptop with top of the line processor but mediocre video card to keep the notebook somewhat cooler. I personally don't mind integrated as long as it's able to play full screen video (1440x900, i would prefer not to have 1900x1080 or 1900x1200) without any issues.

So here's my question to you experts:

1) Are there any upcoming releases of Dell latitude, precision or studio xps laptops that I should be keeping eyes on?

2) Does it make sense to buy a precision lappie today? or would you recommend waiting until Q3 and see what's in store?

3) I also don't want to pay $500+ if the performance differences between the old & new is only something like 2-5%.

Can anyone help?

 

Inspirons and Studios were just refreshed with ATI GPUs, and 16:9 displays using LEDs.
If you need to buy the laptop now, then do so, if not, buy when you need it. Technology evolves every 6 months, so you cant be on top for too long.

 

I'd recommend the Dell Latitude E6500 with Intel graphics. Take a look at the Dell Outlet.

 

What about a Precision line refresh?. M4400 model is 1 year old now. These are becomig a bit outdated compared to the XPS models.

 

gonna be a while before there is a M4400 refresh. probably when the next intel platform is launched mid next year as it still offers the fastest mobile quadcore, the QX9300 and the mid range quadro is still the FX770/FX1700

E6500 would be perfect for what the OP described.

 

I hope Dell upgrades the graphics card at least once Nvidia releases new mid range Quadros.

 

they probably will, but the new midrange quadro's are still a way off, not to mention ISV certification takes a while, and on the M4400 the GPU is integrated onto the motherboard, so a motherboard redesign would be required.

 

It would be nice to have a Precision M4400 with the new GT215 graphics core. 96 shaders and only 28Watts ( pretty low compared to 35 W of FX770). Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think a complete motherboard redesign is necessary. XPS 1640 model got the graphics card refreshed yet the motherboard remains the same, aside from the graphics chip obviously. There are not further changes and one can swap the old motherboard with the new one .

 

the motherboard fits into the unit, but it dosent mean there are not other more technical changes that have been made

its a lot more complicated than just soldering on a new chip in the place of the old

 

I wouldn't expect Dell to refresh the current range until the next Intel platform arrives.

Unless you are running applications that will take advantage of a quad core CPU, I would recommend a dual core CPU and an SSD. The Intel GPU handles video playback OK and includes an H.264 decoder.

My E6400 has spent time in hot places. The hottest being an office with a temperature of 35C. It was unpleasant for me, but the computer didn't mind!

John