9100 Inspiron OR 8600 Inspiron

I'm thinking to get a laptop that can play games, surf the web, and some word processing. The games I play are UT2004, BF Vietnam, FarCry, and Rise of Nations. Currently I have a Dell Latitude CPxJ 650MHz. I looked at the eMachine M6805, but I want more upgrades then it provides. One thing I want to know is how the Pentium M's match up to the Pentium 4's. Below are the specs of the laptops I'm thinking about.



Specs


Inspiron 9100

Pentium 4 - 2.8GHz
15.4" WSXGA+
512MB DDR 400MHz
60GB 7200rpms
ATI RADEON 9700 128MB
DVD/CD-RW Drive


Inspiron 8600

Pentium M - 1.5GHz
15.4" WSXGA+
512MB DDR 333MHz
60GB 7200rpms
ATI RADEON 9600 128MB
DVD/CD-RW Drive

 

How important is battery life, portability?

You will get much better battery life with the 8600, and it will be lighter.

As for speed, the Pentium M 1.5 ghz will be equivalent to about a 2.3 or 2.4 ghz P4.

If you don't plan on moving around much, then the 9100 with those specs will probably be a better gaming machine.

 

With those specs, the 9100 is the clear choice. Don't consider the 8600 for gaming unless you are willing to pay for the 745 chip like i did. You can get equivalent speed from the 8600, with better portability, just be ready to shell out the cash. The radeon 9700 is significantly faster than the 9600pro turbo, though.

Here is how to convert from pentium m to pentium 4
For pentium m's 1-1.7 ghz, multiply the clock speed by 1.45
For dothan 1.7-2 ghz, multiply by 1.6
That makes a 2 ghz pentium m = a 3.2 ghz pentium 4

Hope this helps!



Dell 8600
1.8 dothan SXGA+
128mb radeon 9600PRO TURBO
512mb RAM

 

For gaming, you should get the WSXGA, hands down, the better screen for gaming.

 

What about The LCD? Should I stay with the WSGA+ or get a XGA? It looks like the video card performs better on the lower LCD.

 

I agree with Nesbo as you will find the screen space a huge plus for you.

Dell Inspiron 600m + PalmOne Zire71 + Sony-Ericsson T616 = Mobile Computer Consultant and Website Designer

 

oh, and together with that can't you just simply reduce the resolution of your screen while you want to play the game?

thx

 

So just how much framerate do you loose with higher LCD exactly?.. i mean I would have recomended anyone to go for even the WUXGA..

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Nino

 

Well, I still think that it is a mistake not to get the UXGA. Everybody says that text is unreadably small, but you see, just like all operating system these days you can actually increase the FONT size of your OS by a click of a button (or a few clicks to be more precise). And there are two different ways you can actually do that.

Also since, as you say, one can reduce the resolution whenever they want just as I thought, then I see no reason why one wouldn’t get the UXGA. The whole point about a computer is to have the best visualisation. Whether thats for movies, drawing/graphics (like photoshop etc.), or webpage design... For games you can simply reduce it by a click. And with the Raedon 9700, as is offered with the latest Inspiron 9100, there shouldn’t be much problems with running other programs at UXGA. Under these circumstances, I don’t know about anybody else, but I think spending that bit extra for a UXGA is a MUST!

 

First of all, the upgrade costs $100. That could go to another 512 megs of RAM. Second, the only situations that it would be an advantage are paint and photoshop like you said. In other situations the video card can't keep up, especially with ATI's with their lower memory bandwidth. You can go ahead and get it, but it won't do much good.

So, to close the topic, what's the verdict? I'm throwing my vote to the 9100. Anyone else?