Legit Reviews

so here is my situation: i am currently a college student so during the summer i usually go home but i have to leave my rig where i usually stay during college i was thinking i should just get this http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... l=en&s=dhs instead of jumping on the i7 bandwagon

so wat you guys think

Quoting from your sig

Dell Sucks.... In my opinion anyways, even though i have a dell xps M1530 laptop and the graphic is defect isn't that great

I think you should get a laptop in this situation or maybe a desktop but not Core i7 for sure. If you're looking for a desktop, $800 can get you an excellent computer already, provided that you're willing to turn some detail down in some games. As for laptop, look into what ASUS has to offer. Best Buy's site has some pretty good and bang for buck ASUS laptops the last time I checked.

well i no longer have the m1530 but i wanted something with kickass graphics thats the reason to looking at alienware

I personally think that laptops are a waste of money. Sure they're portable but the parts are generally more expensive, the ones that you can upgrade that is. If you want a real "gaming" laptop that has a nice video card be prepared to spend a lot of money.

I'll sell you my Dell M1710 for cheap if you were on a budget... hehe

I haven't used it or even turned it on in 6 months.

If you're lugging around a laptop for class, I personally wouldn't get a "gaming" laptop. You'd probably be better off building/buying a mid-range desktop and getting a thin and light notebook with decent battery life.

You could get a desktop now, try to pick up a few more work hours during the summer and get a cheap netbook when you are ready to go back to college.

Holy carp:

Starting at 5.3kg* (11.68 pounds)

I hope you weren't thinking of actually carrying it anywhere!

Dan

DMB2000uk wrote:Holy carp:

Starting at 5.3kg* (11.68 pounds)

I hope you weren't thinking of actually carrying it anywhere!

Dan

lol i dont bring laptops to class because if i know i do then i wont pay attention to prof at all, i was just gonna keep it in the dorm but i might just get the i7

Well if it's not going to go anywhere then you may as well get a desktop. Better parts for the money.

Dan

If you're just going to keep it in dorm, why don't you do this? Get a Phenom II, Core 2 Quad, Corei7 (rumors has it'll be pushed even more upmarket so you might wanna wait for i5) desktop rig. Then when you're going back to college, bring your rig with you.

Well, if you're not planning on carrying it around, then definitely get a desktop. Heck, you can even afford to build two mid-range rigs for the cost of the base laptop model ($1799).

if i do get a desktop it comes down to amd or intel. i sold most parts from my desktop in my sig except the case, graphic, ram, psu. just debating whether ddr3 is a big boost

Some other options:

Expensive for i7 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... Tpk=SX58H7

Less so for Core2 duo or Quad : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856101070

And the only one that Shuttle makes for PhenomII to my knowledge : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856101083

There is a lot to be said for SFF systems, especially in a dorm situation where you aren't wanting to take it to class but want portability. IMHO for SFF Shuttle is the best (I,\'ve had several including 3 Shuttles that are still running strong after years). You can pack quite a bit of punch into a shoebox sized box but you do need to research a bit. The biggest issue is the GPU, for instance in the above referenced PhenomII box it appears the you can only use a single slot GPU.

The PSUs seem small wattage wise but are pretty efficient and dependable (and they are limited as to how much they actually have to power). In most cases GPU manufacturers state wattage requirements based on full or mid tower configurations with a bunch of fans, multiple HDDs in RAID etc. You cant go there with an SFF, which leads to the primary con; not much expandibility internally.

With these systems you need:

- CPU
- Optical Drive
- RAM
- HDD

Takes about 15 minutes to assemble and you are done.

Ther are other SFF Cases, mobos etc that you might get cheaper but, once again, Shuttle rocks in the SFF arena.

My two rusty pennies...

DaddyRabbit wrote:And the only one that Shuttle makes for PhenomII to my knowledge : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856101083

The PSUs seem small wattage wise but are pretty efficient and dependable (and they are limited as to how much they actually have to power). In most cases GPU manufacturers state wattage requirements based on full or mid tower configurations with a bunch of fans, multiple HDDs in RAID etc. You cant go there with an SFF, which leads to the primary con; not much expandibility internally.

I've never actually built a rig with a high end graphics cards (not a gamer). How much power would a build with an HD4870 consume compared to a similar build with, say, an HD4550?

ViPeR.Ja wrote:if i do get a desktop it comes down to amd or intel. i sold most parts from my desktop in my sig except the case, graphic, ram, psu. just debating whether ddr3 is a big boost

Why'd you sell your Phenom II? You shoulda just kept that computer....I doubt you need the processing power of i7.

yea am gonna keep the amd 940 and just buy the motherboard, any recommendations on that? i was looking at the asus M3A79-T Deluxe

Right now, building a C2D is still the best option, if you were going to replace your AMD parts. Switching to i7 isn't worth it. Wait for i5 if you're itching to upgrade.

wanna build you own computer? If you love gaming try this site http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

make your own pc but a laptop is fine as well. If u got enough money try not to buy a desktop thats from HP or Dell at some retail store (although alienware is fine). Try buying all the necessary parts u need at newegg maybe.

VanBoHawa141 wrote:wanna build you own computer? If you love gaming try this site http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

make your own pc but a laptop is fine as well. If u got enough money try not to buy a desktop thats from HP or Dell at some retail store (although alienware is fine). Try buying all the necessary parts u need at newegg maybe.

Thanks for the link :D Really useful