Poll

Which type of laptop? [Read post plz]

Powerful/15.4" Screen65%65% - 21
Mobile/13.3" Screen34%34% - 11
Total: 32
Mitch92uK
aka [DBS]Mitch92uK
+192|6513|United Kingdom

kylef wrote:

Will this be your main machine? If not, I say mobility.
Nope .. i use my desktop (3Ghz P4w/ht, 1.5gb RAM, 512mb 7900GS) for gaming
kylef
Gone
+1,352|6771|N. Ireland
Mobility, definetely then
Little BaBy JESUS
m8
+394|6427|'straya
Go the 15... u probably need to extra excerise u'll get from having a heavier laptop.

hehe i kid
Bell
Frosties > Cornflakes
+362|6827|UK

Smaller one, since the whole purpose of the laptop was for school use.  The moment you start drifting from the purpose, your spending a premium that imo isnt worth it.  Portability and battery life is key.  You can wait till u go home to play cod 4 suzeh

Martyn
max
Vela Incident
+1,652|6845|NYC / Hamburg

Bell wrote:

Smaller one, since the whole purpose of the laptop was for school use.  The moment you start drifting from the purpose, your spending a premium that imo isnt worth it.  Portability and battery life is key.  You can wait till u go home to play cod 4 suzeh

Martyn
In my experience a little extra power can never hurt and working on a bigger laptop is way nicer. I don't like working on the cramped keyboards of the <13inch notebooks. Once you're typing loads you really appreciate big keys. Also a bigger screen is really nice if you're working on the layout of your essay.

Can't argue with the battery life though. Long battery life is a must. I don't know what the difference in batt life is between the 2 models is or how much time he needs, so the less batt life might not even be an issue for him
once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot  xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.
Freezer7Pro
I don't come here a lot anymore.
+1,447|6475|Winland

With a dedicated card and ok-ish screen (1280x800 isn't too bad, especially not for a 13", I work on 1024x768 90% of the time), it's a completely ok thing, I repeat. BF2 runs fine almost maxed on a 7300LE with 64MB RAM and only DDR2-400 for TC. An 8400GS pretty much equals a 7600GS, a little under. And that's completely ok.
The idea of any hi-fi system is to reproduce the source material as faithfully as possible, and to deliberately add distortion to everything you hear (due to amplifier deficiencies) because it sounds 'nice' is simply not high fidelity. If that is what you want to hear then there is no problem with that, but by adding so much additional material (by way of harmonics and intermodulation) you have a tailored sound system, not a hi-fi. - Rod Elliot, ESP
Mitch92uK
aka [DBS]Mitch92uK
+192|6513|United Kingdom

max wrote:

Bell wrote:

Smaller one, since the whole purpose of the laptop was for school use.  The moment you start drifting from the purpose, your spending a premium that imo isnt worth it.  Portability and battery life is key.  You can wait till u go home to play cod 4 suzeh

Martyn
In my experience a little extra power can never hurt and working on a bigger laptop is way nicer. I don't like working on the cramped keyboards of the <13inch notebooks. Once you're typing loads you really appreciate big keys. Also a bigger screen is really nice if you're working on the layout of your essay.

Can't argue with the battery life though. Long battery life is a must. I don't know what the difference in batt life is between the 2 models is or how much time he needs, so the less batt life might not even be an issue for him
There's not much in the battery life between the two, approximately 3.5 hrs (I think) with the 9 cell batteries for each

M1330

Notebook review wrote:

Wifi enabled, display brightness 6/8, idle - 12.6W (4:27)
Wifi enabled, display brightness 6/8, web browsing - 15.6W (3:35)
Wifi enabled, display brightness 6/8, watching DVD - 23.8W (2:21)
Wifi enabled, display brightness 6/8, video from hard drive - 21.4W (2:37)
Wifi enabled, display brightness 6/8, video from USB drive - 21.6W (2:36)
M1530

Notebook review wrote:

The 9-cell extended-life battery provides excellent battery life for the M1530. With Vista's power management running in "high performance" mode, screen brightness set to maximum and wireless on, the 9-cell battery delivered more than 3 hours and 30 minutes of battery life. We're certain that the 9-cell battery could deliver more than 4 hours of life with the notebook set to "balanced" or "power saver" mode and the screen brightness turned down.

One thing to mention is that with the 9-cell battery in you get an overall greater slope to the keyboard, we actually like this for ergonomics, it feels more comfortable for typing.
SO roughly 3 and a half hrs for each
max
Vela Incident
+1,652|6845|NYC / Hamburg

decision should be easy then. The extra weight & size of the 15 inch shouldn't be a problem. They are still easy to carry around but are way nicer to work on
once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot  xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.
BigOrangeArmy
Don't tase me, bro!
+12|6274|Dallas

Freezer7Pro wrote:

An 8400GS pretty much equals a 7600GS, a little under. And that's completely ok.
Isn't the 8400GS a little less powerful than the 7600 go?
Mitch92uK
aka [DBS]Mitch92uK
+192|6513|United Kingdom

BigOrangeArmy wrote:

Freezer7Pro wrote:

An 8400GS pretty much equals a 7600GS, a little under. And that's completely ok.
Isn't the 8400GS a little less powerful than the 7600 go?
Not sure but those youtube videos did reassure me tbh
bennisboy
Member
+829|6924|Poundland

Freezer7Pro wrote:

I'd take the bigger one just because it's bigger. 13.3" lappies often have the crappiest screens.

EDIT: After taking a look at Dell's site, the 13.3" seems quite good after all. Since it's the 8400 with dedicated memory and not TC, it could actually perform quite well. I say, go for the 13.3". (I have a 7300LE card with 64MB, and it runs BF2 almost maxed smoothly)
Lol thats bull

The 8400 is a really poor card, I'd go for the bigger one, it has a better gpu  if you ever get the urge to play, and 15" isnt too big

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