Can anyone help me out to chose a 15.4 inch laptop?

Ok, back when I ordered my Dell (the E1505), there seemed to be only one choice for 15 inch screens, the E1505, and the video card choices were integrated, or the ATI X1300 or X1400. Now it seems like there's a Vostro 1500, Inspiron 1501, and Inspiron 1520 and 1521. The video card options between these laptops include the GeForce 8400m, 8600m, ATI Xpress1270, and Xpress 1150. I checked the big video card thread and it didn't seem to have a lot of these models yet. Can anyone tell me what the difference between all these models is, and which one I should go for if I want a pretty decent gaming machine?

 

Go for either. The vostro is all black and the inspiron is white with the lid being the color of your choice. The 8600 GT is the best video card, so for sure get it

 

For gaming go for the 8600m GT. So Vostro 1500 or Inspiron 1520 : )

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Grafic-Cards.130.0.html
Theres a list of graphic cards and where they fit performance wise.

Performance class 2 -NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
Just as the performance class 1 these cards are comparable with video cards for desktop computers with the same name. The newest games should run with all details fluently.

Performance class 3 -NVidia GeForce 8400M GT
Here is the 9700 of special interest, however it is not comparable with the 9700 for Desktop, because ist contains the core of the series 9600 (XT). This class is still quite capably to present newest games fluently, but not with all details.

Performance class 5 - ATI Xpress1270, and Xpress 1150
These grafic processors can show only older games fluently. Current games can only be presented with substantially reduced details.

 

Thanks a lot for those links. One more question. On my laptop, I have a T2400 that runs at 1.83Ghz, and the standard config for the Vostro 1500 has a T5470 that runs at 1.6Ghz. I'm gonna assume the T5470 might be faster even though it runs at a lower clock speed? Also, is it work upgrading to the T7100 or T7300? I guess I'm planning on pairing one of those processors with 2gb of ram and the 8600M GT.

 

umm.. read this

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3918&review=Dell+Vostro+1500

specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 (1.6Ghz)
1GB 677Mhz DDR2 SDRAM
120G 5400RPM Hard Drive
nVidia GeForce 8600M GT, 256MB
8x DVD Burner with Double Layer capability
15.4” widescreen anti-glare screen (1280x800)
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)
Dell Wireless 1505 Mini-Card (Pre-802.11n)
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic

Processor, Performance, and Benchmarks:
The Core 2 Duo processor is, simply put, awesome. The T5470 that was configured in my system was the slowest processor available in the Core 2 Duo variety, but it still performs tasks with great ease. When multi-tasking, the dual-core functionality of the system really shows what it’s capable of. Having run single-core processors up until this computer, the difference is amazing. It’s possible to do CPU-intensive tasks and still have a perfectly responsive computer at the same time, which is a welcome relief.

 

Yes, the T5470 would be better than your current T2400.

 

Ok, here's the config I've come up with:
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PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Home
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display with TrueLife™
MEMORY 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
HARD DRIVE 120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
WARRANTY & SERVICE 1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Mail-in Service
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
MEDIA DIRECT Dell Exclusive MediaDirect™ Instant Play Software Application
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
BLUETOOTH WIRELESS Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate), WinXP
WEBCAM Integrated 2.0 mega pixel Web Camera
SOUND OPTION High Definition Audio 2.0
-----------

This comes to $719 before tax/shipping. Is it a good configuration? I have a few questions:

1) Should I stick with XP or would Vista be better?
2) I've heard the performance increase for the processors is not worth the high price of upgrading, correct?
3) I should get RAM from someone else besides Dell and install it myself, yes? It seems you can get 2 X 1gb sticks for as low as $70 online, while Dell wants $150 to go from 1gb to 2gb.
4) Is the 120gb hard drive fine, or should I go to 160gb?

Thanks! That's all the questions I have...

 

1) Personally, at this point I would go with Vista, as it seems likely that in the near future your DX10 GPU will give better performance with Vista.
2)For gaming, yes, that's correct.
3)Yes.
4)It depends, do you usually install lots of large files on your drive? Remember that Vista will use 20gigs or more, and a 120GB drive is really only 112GB.

 

Thanks a lot! And last question, is the Wireless N card worth the $50 upgrade? I'm guessing for the future it might be worth putting in but I'm not sure how wireless N has been taking off so far.

 

I think as for your concerns regarding the Wireless N card you can get the card alone at a later time when you need it and install it yourself.... The slot for the card is present at the bottom of the laptop

 

Ah, ok, I thought it was something integrated into the system somehow.