1520 build quality?

I'm looking to buy a new laptop. I need an 15,4” 1680x1050 screen, 2 GB of ram, a strong graphic card and a solid build quality. Since I’m an architect and designer looks are important! :laugh: As I mentioned before on this forum I was waiting for the next generation of dell and hp notebooks, but now I’m a bit disappointed... especially with the dell M4300. That thing is practically unchanged from the M65 with the few minor adjustments and the poor graphics.

How come dell puts FX 360M (equivalent to 8400 GS but designed for 3D and CAD) in their WORKSTATION model, but has an option of GeForce 8600 GT in their Inspiron series? And D830 has NVS 140, which is also somewhat 8400 GS equivalent, so tech spec wise, Inspiron 1520 would be perfect for me, but... is their build quality really that bad? I haven’t seen it yet since they are only coming to the stores in my country next week. (worked on D820 for a while but have no experience with inspirons)

So I’m kind of forced to wait until hp 8510w comes to Europe – probably in august – and it will be quite pricy... with every day passing 15” MBP looks more tempting... but I don’t like the 1440x900 resolution.

Sorry for the long post. Let me summarise some questions...
1. Is the inspiron build quality really that bad (compared to latitudes)
2. Which one would you choose: hp 8510w or 15” MBP? Performance and build quality wise... (same price, maybe hp some 100€ more)
3. Considering my requirements is there any other laptop I should take a look at?

Thanks all! :smile:

 

2. I would take a macbook pro especially for the design work that you are doing.

 

Why when a 1520 will have the same specs for 600-700$ less. There build quailty is fine. My 9300 was great and never had an issue, and my old XPS 1710 did not have any issues even after me O/Cing the card. Get the dell. Between the 1520 and sager 2090, nothing can really match the two in terms of price and preformace.

 

Autodesk doesn't run on OS X. I would have to boot camp XP for that...

 

:laugh:

Anyone else on Inspiron build quality? There were some complains on screen and keyboard flex on this forum for the previous Inspiron generation. Any proud owner of a new 1520 here?

 

You should see the comparison review of the DV6500T and 1520. It should explains most of the thing you are worring about. The new Inspirons get rid of many problem on the previous Inspirons and they finally remove the white bumper,which makes the laptop looks better.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3808

 

Thanks! I'lll check it out.

 

I know what your saying about the M4300,but what are you basing the poor performance on...the geforce versions 3dmark results??... the piddly openGL optimised FX350m/360m will pee all over an 8600GT in anything to do with openGL,a vastly more powerfull gaming card the 8600GT yes....openGL software definitely not,the FX350m performs better in openGL cinebench benchmarks than a radeon X1900XTX equipped desktop,and thats not taking into account the major reason for using quadro's,which is stability.

I use my M65 for Solidworks,and have never had a problem with speed or freezes,it also performs pretty much identically to NVS120m and geforce 7400go in games which would stand to reason being the same basic G72 chip.
I will buy a 8600GT 1520 for games,when I can get one with either XP or Linux [I will use XP]but I think my M65 is far nicer looking notebook and is wonderfully built out of mainly cast magnesium [palmrest and inner lcd bezel are plastic] with screen hinges that are still nice and stiff after more than a year of opening and closing every day.
I think you should rethink your requirements and go and read what autodesk says,forget 3dmark benchmarks,or perceived power from 3Dmark it means nothing for what your doing.
Or you could wait like you say for the HP with the FX570m as it would be a more powerful option than the Dell M4300 with correspondingly worse battery life and heat.

As far as Mac being widely recognised as superior design tools,thats sounds like a maccandyland fantasy to me.

 

The new dells are made with a magnesium alloy as opposed to the cheap plastic of the older generations. This should improve the build quality to the acceptable range, i would imagine that the keyboard flex would be eliminated, but i don't have any experience with the magnesium alloy so i can't say for sure.