XPS 15 - Worth Upgrading from the i5 to i7 Processor?

So just a few questions guys, but first I want to mention that this laptop will be primarily used for gaming. Is it worth the extra $110 to upgrade from i5 2410m 2.30 GHz to the i7 2630m 2.00 GHz? (I'm not sure if the i5 2. 3GHz is a typo on the website..?) Also, is it worth it to upgrade from 4gb 1333mhz ram to 6gb 1333mhz for an extra $100? and is it worth an extra $100 to upgrade the Video card from the Geforce 1GB GT 525M to the 2GB GT 540M? (both have Optimus).. Also 1 other thing, are XPS 15's good for medium-to-hard core gaming? And anything else I should know about the laptop before I buy it would be really helpful as it's a big purchase for a low income student such as myself. Thanks for the help guys!

 

The CPU i7 worth the price, the 6GB NO, and the GPU... I will go for GT540

 

Depends on what games you play, very few are CPU bound. The RAM is not worth it, buy it later.

 

Definately go for the the i7, it's super fast and I can notice a difference from my previous i5-560M system with the same graphics card.

I have the GT525M and it's perfect. It's also very easy to OC to 540M speeds and above, so far I haven't bothered, I'm getting high enough FPS and smooth gameplay on all the games I play at stock speeds. I'm playing Super Street Fighter IV (60FPS, everything maxxed including 16xAA), Transformers (Locked @ 30FPS, High settings) and Black OPS (30-40FPS, Everything High and 2xAA) all @ 1920 x 1080 res with NVIDIA 270.61 driver downloaded directly from NVIDIA website.

 

the 525m and the 540m are the same chip with different clock speeds, but the 540m chips are binned to be of higher quality. the 525m can probably overclock to the 540 speeds, but in terms of maximum overclock, 540m will probably have the higher maximum overclock.
the 1gb vs 2gb video ram won't have any noticeable difference.

and if you can, get the 1080p screen.

and if you want to see how the 540m / 525m usually benchmarks in games check out notebookcheck

NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

Be sure you get the 1080p B+RGLED screen. That's way more important than the processor.

The stock 1366x768 screen on the XPS 15 is one of the most awful screens currently available (worse than most 15.6" 1366x768 screens)

but the B+RGLED 1920x1080 screen is one of the best around, better than almost all other 1920x1080 screens. Color reproduction is amazing and so is contrast. It also gives you a larger workspace because stuff is a bit smaller due to the higher resolution. You'll be able to fit two side-by-side windows.

I tell everyone this. Do not get the XPS 15 if you're not going to get the 1080p B+RGLED screen upgrade, it will not be worth it. The 1366x768 screen is really bad, I've seen it myself, but the 1080p screen is really really good. Prioritize the 1080p screen upgrade over the processor and the graphics card, especially considering you can overclock the 525M to be equivalent to the 540M if you're willing to mess around with overclocking programs.

This shows how atrocious the 1366x768 screen is:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...oes-l502x-need-full-hd-cable.html#post7483123
The bottom two pictures compare it to his TV. The 1080p screen on the XPS 15 will even beat his TV, and you can already see how much better the TV is than the XPS 15's 720p 1366x768 screen

 

Awesome thanks so much guys +rep! 2 more questions, do the latest XPS 15's all come with the Sandy Bridge processors? (I'm buying mine from Australia Dell but I think they're equivalent to the U.S. Dell XPS 15's). And are there any known issues I should be aware of before buying (i.e. overheating)?

 

1.Yes, it comes with Sandy Bridge. you can see here:
Intel® Core? i7-2630QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.00 GHz)with SPEC Code(s)SR02Y

2.Every laptop has it own problems...
-Heat problem (while gaming or example)
-Loud problem (while gaming or example)
-Screen Reflective problem