Just bought an XPS...

[Xelent]

So I was looking at the deals offered today after my second try at buying the 8600 extremely cheap and failing because I was too late, and got really pissed. I decided I could get the XPS still for $750 off which would be the normal price for an 8600, so its the same price only a lot better. This will still be a good poker machine right? I got the WUXGA. Can I do everything I want and so much more?

[NLSoldier]

I have the 9100 with that screen...It rocks! I think you will have a little more memory and a better video card with the XPS too. Your resolution should go to 1920x1200 which can fit four tables with no overlap and have room leftover. You will have to change your dpi settings to normal though to get rid of the annoying black border around your tables, for some reason dells come with it set to something else.

[Blarg]

If you didn't get the 7200 rpm HD, which they make a punitively expensive upgrade on the 8600's, you will probaby be stuck with a 5400 rpm hard disk, which is not uncommon on laptops but is a bit slow. If you got the bottom of the line video card, you will not be doing well on games. Even the top of the line video card that they offer on the 8600, the Radeon 9600, is a few generations old. You will do okay on many games with the 9600, but your performance will be less than admirable on many of them. The 9700 is the common current "top" laptop video card, but on desktops the 9800, a newer generation, has been around for quite a while now, and newer generations of cards have been out for a while too.

If you want a machine that does everything well, you want a 7200 rpm hard disk, a gig of memory, and a nice video card with 128 megs of RAM. The 9800's are still fine for desktops, and the desktop versions of the 9600 aren't too bad either for most people. For laptops, there aren't many companies offering more than the 9700 video card yet, and that runs modern games fine. The 9600 is a notable step down, but Dell does offer the 9800 on their 9100 laptops.

I looked over how punitively expensive the upgrades are on the Dell laptops, and, considering their lack of a good dead-pixel policy and legendarily poor customer service, decided that even with the big coupons, you get more for your money by just waiting for another good Dell desktop sale to come along. If I want a laptop, I'll just buy a laptop somewhere else that has better warranties and customer service and doesn't give $750 off, but doesn't start you off with such a skeleton lapton that you need to spend a lot of money upgrading it to high functionality in the first place.

[NLSoldier]

If you didnt notice....i thought he said he went with the XPS, which im pretty sure comes standard with the best video card available(the 9800). I dont think you can really go wrong with an XPS, those things are very nicely equipped!

[Blarg]

He was talking about what he got and what he almost got, and asking what it could do, so I talked about both, and what some of the options could do.

[NLSoldier]

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so sarcastic with the "if you didn't notice..." I just thought you kinda made it sound like you thought he got the 8600 since that was what you seemed to be ripping on...I just wanted to reassure him that the XPS should be "all he needs and then some" /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Xelent]

Come on guys, dont fight over me /images/graemlins/smile.gif Anyway, can I still return the dell within a certain amount of time if I change my mind?