Laptop for 3rd level student study/gaming

G

Graham_07

Registered User
Messages
2,889
My son who'se doing the leaving is looking at replacing his ageing HP with a laptop suitable for college use (fingers x'd ) , gaming etc. He has been looking at the Dell XPS 17" and has also been considering the MacBOok. Just wondering if anyone has comments or suggested alternatives. Good battery (which the mac has ) and good graphics would be pretty important. Thanks.
 
Macs are wonderful for creative types, but I believe that fewer games are adapted for the Mac OS, and those that are can be more expensive, so he might want to look into that first.
 
Well it all depends on budget really.
The XPS 17" is a great machine - but it's big and heavy for carting around. It's more of a desktop replacement. But if He's big into his games it should be good.

The XPS 15" is quite good also and the one with the NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT 256 Graphics will handle pretty much anything you throw at it.

If you are going for a dell defo look at the outlet store www.dell.ie/outlet
I got a refurb 1530 there the other day for €1100, when I specced it up on the retail site it was €1670!

Not too sure about the mac as I have never really used them

Edit: If it's gonna be used for gaming I would suggest the 9 cell battery for dell as the bigger graphics cards are power hungry
 
Well that's a decent budget and this cupon should help you!

*Offer - 15% off all Inspiron and XPS systems over EUR899.00.
*Start date - June 5th 2008.
*End date - Wednesday, June 11th 2008.
*Code - QQQ8N0HWCSJ0V7.

Personally i'd go for the 1530 but i need portability
 
thats a healthy budget.

I would have gone for an EeePC, and a wii/PS3/Xbox and kept the change for beer.
 
mik_da_man said:
Well that's a decent budget and this cupon should help you!

*Offer - 15% off all Inspiron and XPS systems over EUR899.00.
*Start date - June 5th 2008.
*End date - Wednesday, June 11th 2008.
*Code - QQQ8N0HWCSJ0V7.

Personally i'd go for the 1530 but i need portability
Click to expand...

Mik, thats great thanks :) . Prob a lot of home use in it so he was more thinking of the 17".

leghorn said:
thats a healthy budget.

I would have gone for an EeePC, and a wii/PS3/Xbox and kept the change for beer.
Click to expand...

xbox on the desk already, but understand the reasoning. my beer or his :D
 
Well on the Dell i'd go for this:
Dell value code N06X7101 with upgraded graphics and a gaming mouse!
Comes in @ €1408

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7400 (2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache)Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
1 Year Base Warranty
17.0" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife™
4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
512MB DDR3 nVidia® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX graphics card
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software - Vista
9 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (80 Whr
)Accessories
Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-PCI Card (for Core 2 Duo Processors)Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse -Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English - (Does not include Microsoft® Word)
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Mik, was on the Dell site earlier for a bit, will run through with himself when he home later.
 
Well if you really want to treat him...

At the upper end of your budget, you could get a Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (1529 from Apple Store Ireland).

Or you could go for a regular Macbook with Windows installed.

All newer macs can run Windows natively. So he could use the Windows side for gaming.

The Macbook Pro is one of the fastest laptops around for running windows, actually. Sweet machine.
 
extopia said:
Well if you really want to treat him...

At the upper end of your budget, you could get a Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (1529 from Apple Store Ireland).

Or you could go for a regular Macbook with Windows installed.

All newer macs can run Windows natively. So he could use the Windows side for gaming.

The Macbook Pro is one of the fastest laptops around for running windows, actually. Sweet machine.
Click to expand...

Macs are good, daughter has black MacBook with Mac OS & Windows & works great. Think his main gripe with the Mac is the screen size. I must say though battery life is impressive on them.
 
mik_da_man said:
Well that's a decent budget and this cupon should help you!

*Offer - 15% off all Inspiron and XPS systems over EUR899.00.
*Start date - June 5th 2008.
*End date - Wednesday, June 11th 2008.
*Code - QQQ8N0HWCSJ0V7.

Personally i'd go for the 1530 but i need portability
Click to expand...

Hi Mik, cupon code comes up but says not valid or more info needed? might not be in force yet?
 
Strange - It worked fine for me yesterday.
I'll double check...

Did you go through the home link for laptops?
If you go from small business it will not work.
 
mik_da_man said:
Strange - It worked fine for me yesterday.
I'll double check...

Did you go through the home link for laptops?
If you go from small business it will not work.
Click to expand...

was going thru business, that must be it, the 1710 didnt show on home, will check again thanks
 
I have the XPS 1530, its a serious piece of kit, does he need a 17"? They are very bulky.
Where are you based, you are welcome to see mine if you like.
 
yop said:
I have the XPS 1530, its a serious piece of kit, does he need a 17"? They are very bulky.
Where are you based, you are welcome to see mine if you like.
Click to expand...

Near the Real Capital here Yop so a bit far I think but thanks. Will check again as I thought 17" was big and the 1530 might be better than the 1710. PC World have a 1510 so have seen the size . HAvent sen a Dell 17" so will check more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top