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    which processor to buy?

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by PDZ, Oct 19, 2009.

  1. PDZ

    PDZ Notebook Geek

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    Hi,

    I'm about to get an studio XPS 16 and have a couple of questions regarding the components. I'm debating between the core i7 1.6 GHz with 6mb cache and the core i7 1.73 GHz with 8mb cache (the difference would be $350). Also I was wondering if there was a major difference between the WLED and RGBLED screens? Finally, how much ram memory should I get, 4gb or 6gb? I'm just surprised that going from 4 to 6 costs $300.

    I'll be using this laptop mostly for web browsing, editing home videos and pictures, and sporadically some gaming.

    By the way, do you think now is a good time to buy or will there be better deals in the next week or two (i.e. coupons, etc...)?

    I'll appreciate any input.
     
    PDZ, Oct 19, 2009
    #1
  2. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    The CPU and memory upgrades aren't worth it. Most people won't notice any performance benefit since they won't even maximize the 720QM or 4GB of memory. If you do need more, then aftermarket upgrades will be significantly cheaper. What programs will you be using specifically?

    Is the WLED screen also WUXGA (1920x1080)? If it is, the only difference is it uses White LEDs as opposed to Red/Green/Blue LEDs, which give much better color gamut. Doubt deals will change much in the next following weeks, but you can always save a quote.
     
    sgogeta4, Oct 20, 2009
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  3. PDZ

    PDZ Notebook Geek

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    Thanks a lot for your response. In terms of programs, I'll be using photoshop, illustrator, image ready, among others... as far as games, things in the like of CoD.
     
    PDZ, Oct 20, 2009
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  4. Student Driver

    Student Driver Notebook Consultant

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    I'd definitely get the best display available, considering your graphics work. As for the rest, I'd just get the 4GB and upgrade later. I maxed out my 1340 because I needed 8GB of RAM for VMware stuff. Other than that, I do video editing and compression on a box with 4GB of RAM and it's fine.
     
    Student Driver, Oct 20, 2009
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  5. mattmjb0188

    mattmjb0188 Notebook Deity

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    I just ordered one yesterday and got the 720QM processor not so much because I need it to run my programs but so my laptop is future proof lol. Pay a little more and go with the RGBLED screen its worth it. A good screen can make or break a laptop. Good luck!!!
     
    mattmjb0188, Oct 20, 2009
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  6. fred2028

    fred2028 Sexy member

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    Just an FYI on RAM, it's weird, but if you turn off pagefiling and then play Crysis: Warhead on near-max settings (1080p, all Enthusiast, 0x AA, etc.) for a while, Windows 7 will tell me that I am out of memory. Surely it can't mean that Crysis uses 4 GB of RAM to run? Unless 7 is saying that Crysis used 1 GB of video memory?
     
    fred2028, Oct 20, 2009
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  7. Sephoroth

    Sephoroth Notebook Evangelist

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    If you wan't you can monitor the consumption of resources in the background also and see if SuperFetch is still attempting to pre-cache into RAM or see where most of the RAM is going to. Even if you're GPU's out of RAM I'm not sure if it would default to using the pagefile (if you want to test that you can try providing more shared RAM to the GPU and see if it still occurs).
     
    Sephoroth, Oct 20, 2009
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