15", 17", or 17" 3D

Well first things first, I have a budget of 1500-1800, cheaper is definitely better

My dilemma is whether or not to get the 15", 17", or the 17" 3D

I couldn't care less about the 3D aspect, but it is the only way to get a 1080p screen.
a 17" only has 900p, but there's a 282$ price difference between it and the 1080p screen on the same build.
Or I could go for the 15" (1080p), with a 2720 processor compared to the 2620 that the other two have, for about 100$ more than the 17".

The Problem with going with the 15" is losing out on the two extra Ram slots. :/

I'm going to be using this for some gaming, video/graphic editing, and I don't mind carrying around a 10lb brick. xD
Also, can anyone tell me what the battery life is like on these laptops with a 9cell bettery?

Here are the Builds:
17" 3D
PROCESSOR :2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz edit
HD DISPLAY: 17.3" FHD (1080p) 3D Display with 2.0MP HD Webcam edit
MEMORY: 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory edit
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M 3GB graphics edit
HARD DRIVE: 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE: Tray Load Blu-ray® Triple Writer (reads and writes CDs, DVDs, BDs) edit
WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH: Intel© Centrino© Advanced-N 6230 and Bluetooth 3.0 edit
KEYBOARD: Backlit Keyboard - English edit
SOUND OPTIONS: JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3 + Creative SoundBlaster X-FI MB 1.2
1683.87

17"
PROCESSOR :2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz edit
HD DISPLAY: 17.3" HD+ (900p) LED Display with 2.0MP HD Webcam edit
MEMORY: 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory edit
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M 3GB graphics with Optimus edit
HARD DRIVE: 640GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Tray Load Blu-ray® Triple Writer (reads and writes CDs, DVDs, BDs) edit
WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH Intel© Centrino© Advanced-N 6230 and Bluetooth 3.0 edit
KEYBOARD Backlit Keyboard - English edit
MOBILE BROADBAND No Mobile Broad Band Selected edit
SOUND OPTIONS JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3 + Creative SoundBlaster X-FI MB 1.2
1401.39

15"
PROCESSOR 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz edit
VIDEO CARD NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M 2GB graphics with Optimus edit
MEMORY 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory edit
HARD DRIVE 640GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
DISPLAY 15.6 FHD B+RGLED TL (1920x1080) and Skype-Certified 2.0MP HD Webcam edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Tray Load Blu-ray® Triple Writer (reads and writes CDs, DVDs, BDs) edit
WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH Intel© Centrino© Advanced-N 6230 & Bluetooth 3.0 edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 92 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit
KEYBOARD Backlit Keyboard - English edit
MOBILE BROADBAND No Mobile Broad Band Selected edit
SOUND OPTIONS JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3 + Creative SoundBlaster X-FI MB 1.2
1509.19

 

If you are going to be gaming then the 17 is the best choice as it has the better gfx card.

If you want good battery life as well then do not get the 3D screen because that turns off Nvidia's optimus technology do your GPU is going to be running all of the time.

If you want upgradability then also go for the 17 because it can hold 2 HDDs and has the 4 RAM slots

If you want maximum portability then go for the 15 it will still game fairly well but weigh less and get a longer battery life.

As for your question about how long the battery lasts.. nobody knows since nobody has one yet but I heard that it is supposed to be around 3-5 hours

 

You could also get a different brand of laptop. That's what I'm considering. I don't think this stupid decision by Dell to eliminate optimus and force this 3d crap on consumers, should be rewarded.

 

I agree with the first poster.

Get the 17, since it has the better graphics card, and it appears to be cheaper for similar spec.

Also, I went with the 900p screen, since games will run faster (less pixels to process), which means you can turn settings up to max (although it should hopefully run most games on max settings anyway).

If you want a review of the laptop, just look up the Xps 17 L701x with the 445m, since this is almost the same laptop.

Oh, and i'm pretty sure you lose out on the 2 extra ram slots if you get the non-3d version (but you gain optimus).

And make sure you use dell coupons (just search it in google), so you can get 5/10% off.

 

That sounds like a fair amount of time, thankss

Well, if you can find me a brand with the Sandy Bridge chips(Only Dell, HP, and eventually lenovo around this point in time), an nvidia GPU (thats why I didn't go HP), and a better price, please tell me.

2 Less ram slots? Ehh, it might be worth it
And I will definitely use coupons, they always help. Thanks.

 

I'm going for the 17 inch without 3D. It's cheaper than the 15 inch. Plus has can be configured with a little bit more power.

 

Asus has sandy bridge and a GT440m in one of their models. Sager also has one that can be found here

 

hrm, Thats new, Asus didn't have them last time I looked. xD
And that xotic site is new to me as well.. time to rethink my choices. xD

 

Xotic is actually a really good site to get laptops. Glad I could help.