Two laptops in comparison, PLEASE comply :) (poll)

Heya, um, i was looking at these two laptops as they seem to have a fairly high spec for gaming. The specs are as follows...

Toshiba:

Processor Type: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7200

Processor speed: 2000 mhz

Memory Size: 2048 MB

Memory Type: DDR II

Hard Drive Capacity: 400 Gb

Optical Drives: DVD Super Multi Dual Layer CD-ROM Speed24 xCD-RW Speed.24 xDVD-ROM Speed8 xDVD-RW Speed8 x

Screen Size/Type: 17" WXGA TruBrite

Graphics Card Type: nVidia GeForce Go 7600 Graphics Memory256mb dedicated MB

Sound Type: 16 bit Stereo

Modem Type: 56Kb Wireless Enabled

No. of USB Connections: 4

No. of Firewire Connections: 1

Operating system: Vista Home Premium Weight3.2 kgHeight288 mmWidth399 mmDepth46.5 mmColourGlossy Onyx Blue/Silver

This is 1,245 POUNDS (im in UK)

Dell:

BASE: Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo T7200 Processor (2.0GHz,667MHz,4MB L2 cache)

OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows VistaTM Home Premium - English

HARDWARE SUPPORT 1 Year International On-Site Service

LCD: 17" UltraSharpTM Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLifeTM

MEMORY: 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]

HARD DRIVE: 160GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive

GRAPHICS CARD: 256MB DDR3 nVidia® GeForceTM Go 7900 graphics card

OPTICAL DRIVE: Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software

PRIMARY BATTERY: 9 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (80 Whr)

WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY: Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-PCI Card (for Core 2 Duo Processors)

BLUETOOTH: Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps) with Enhanced Data Rate, for Vista

Plus the Dell has those wicked lights! :D

This is £1275

Anyway, thanks for the time and please reply! its a lot of money for me! (im 16 ;)) (PLUS IT TOOK ME AGES TO WRITE THIS TOPIC!!)

The Dell has a higher resolution display, and features a faster GPU than the Toshiba. The Toshiba features a markedly higher hard drive capacity... I have a hard time believing that is from a single drive though, since the largest-capacity notebook drive I have seen is a 250GB model that is available on the 17" MacBook Pro's, so I believe that the Toshiba instead links two hard drives together into a RAID 0 to make the combined 400GB of space. In that case, the Toshiba would have a faster hard drive I/O, but you may end up having to be more careful about data loss.

As much as I hate their desktops, I arguably have to vote for the Dell Notebook in this comparison.

yer it does have two hard drives. p.s. why dont you like dells?

yer it does have two hard drives. p.s. why dont you like dells?cbear68

• The absurd amount of preloaded vendorware on 98% of their product lines
  • By vendorware, I mean like trial versions of all sorts of different junk apps (not least of which, AOL), which they do so in order to get a kickback if the software vendor does get you to sign up to buy into said product/service
• Dell was the first to outsource technical support over to india
  • I think 'nuff said with this one.
• That they make you pay extra for stuff that you used to be able to get for free
  • Want an actual Windows setup CD? Cough up another $10+
  • Want some tech support for removing a virus or spyware? Can't do it on the regular support - you have to pay for that "Dell on-call" solution that's like $50/call.
  • They make you pay extra not to get Vista.
• Particularly with their desktops, they build down to a price instead of up to it.
  • Underpowered, and at several times proprietary PSU's and motherboards
  • The absurd price premiums in order to get a computer in a non-proprietary form factor
  • Doing BTO upgrades from a default setup of theirs makes you pay basically for both the part that the system was supposed to come with and the cost of the upgrade part itself rather than allowing you to pay the difference in price from said upgrade.
  • This may be purely an aesthetics or preference thing to some, but I find it really stupid that they generally bundle their systems with buttloads of CD's and DVD's, but then don't even provide at least a mini-binder to have them all organized, so you're already with half a spindle full of CD's you have to find a place to put them at.

I could probably go on, but I think I've said enough.

[QUOTE="cbear68"]yer it does have two hard drives. p.s. why dont you like dells?codezer0

• The absurd amount of preloaded vendorware on 98% of their product lines
  • By vendorware, I mean like trial versions of all sorts of different junk apps (not least of which, AOL), which they do so in order to get a kickback if the software vendor does get you to sign up to buy into said product/service
• Dell was the first to outsource technical support over to india
  • I think 'nuff said with this one.
• That they make you pay extra for stuff that you used to be able to get for free
  • Want an actual Windows setup CD? Cough up another $10+
  • Want some tech support for removing a virus or spyware? Can't do it on the regular support - you have to pay for that "Dell on-call" solution that's like $50/call.
  • They make you pay extra not to get Vista.
• Particularly with their desktops, they build down to a price instead of up to it.
  • Underpowered, and at several times proprietary PSU's and motherboards
  • The absurd price premiums in order to get a computer in a non-proprietary form factor
  • Doing BTO upgrades from a default setup of theirs makes you pay basically for both the part that the system was supposed to come with and the cost of the upgrade part itself rather than allowing you to pay the difference in price from said upgrade.
  • This may be purely an aesthetics or preference thing to some, but I find it really stupid that they generally bundle their systems with buttloads of CD's and DVD's, but then don't even provide at least a mini-binder to have them all organized, so you're already with half a spindle full of CD's you have to find a place to put them at.

I could probably go on, but I think I've said enough.

Fair enough. These points are def worth taking into consideration although as im only 16 and going to be taking it to Univeristy next year, im only really concerned about the laptop itself and the spec. Extra annoyance and even gd things (like free printers), i dontreally take into account

[QUOTE="cbear68"]yer it does have two hard drives. p.s. why dont you like dells?codezer0

• The absurd amount of preloaded vendorware on 98% of their product lines
  • By vendorware, I mean like trial versions of all sorts of different junk apps (not least of which, AOL), which they do so in order to get a kickback if the software vendor does get you to sign up to buy into said product/service
• Dell was the first to outsource technical support over to india
  • I think 'nuff said with this one.
• That they make you pay extra for stuff that you used to be able to get for free
  • Want an actual Windows setup CD? Cough up another $10+
  • Want some tech support for removing a virus or spyware? Can't do it on the regular support - you have to pay for that "Dell on-call" solution that's like $50/call.
  • They make you pay extra not to get Vista.
• Particularly with their desktops, they build down to a price instead of up to it.
  • Underpowered, and at several times proprietary PSU's and motherboards
  • The absurd price premiums in order to get a computer in a non-proprietary form factor
  • Doing BTO upgrades from a default setup of theirs makes you pay basically for both the part that the system was supposed to come with and the cost of the upgrade part itself rather than allowing you to pay the difference in price from said upgrade.
  • This may be purely an aesthetics or preference thing to some, but I find it really stupid that they generally bundle their systems with buttloads of CD's and DVD's, but then don't even provide at least a mini-binder to have them all organized, so you're already with half a spindle full of CD's you have to find a place to put them at.

I could probably go on, but I think I've said enough.

It is clearly evident that you don't have any experience withthe XPS desktop line. It totally voids all of your points. The Dimension line to which you are referring is geared towards families who actually use all that crap software and never want to upgrade. When the computer stops working, they just buy a new $500 budget box.

[QUOTE="codezer0"]

[QUOTE="cbear68"]yer it does have two hard drives. p.s. why dont you like dells?luamhtrad

• The absurd amount of preloaded vendorware on 98% of their product lines
  • By vendorware, I mean like trial versions of all sorts of different junk apps (not least of which, AOL), which they do so in order to get a kickback if the software vendor does get you to sign up to buy into said product/service
• Dell was the first to outsource technical support over to india
  • I think 'nuff said with this one.
• That they make you pay extra for stuff that you used to be able to get for free
  • Want an actual Windows setup CD? Cough up another $10+
  • Want some tech support for removing a virus or spyware? Can't do it on the regular support - you have to pay for that "Dell on-call" solution that's like $50/call.
  • They make you pay extra not to get Vista.
• Particularly with their desktops, they build down to a price instead of up to it.
  • Underpowered, and at several times proprietary PSU's and motherboards
  • The absurd price premiums in order to get a computer in a non-proprietary form factor
  • Doing BTO upgrades from a default setup of theirs makes you pay basically for both the part that the system was supposed to come with and the cost of the upgrade part itself rather than allowing you to pay the difference in price from said upgrade.
  • This may be purely an aesthetics or preference thing to some, but I find it really stupid that they generally bundle their systems with buttloads of CD's and DVD's, but then don't even provide at least a mini-binder to have them all organized, so you're already with half a spindle full of CD's you have to find a place to put them at.

I could probably go on, but I think I've said enough.

It is clearly evident that you don't have any experience withthe XPS desktop line. It totally voids all of your points. The Dimension line to which you are referring is geared towards families who actually use all that crap software and never want to upgrade. When the computer stops working, they just buy a new $500 budget box.

lol fair enough, even more reason to get the Dell :D

It is clearly evident that you don't have any experience withthe XPS desktop line. It totally voids all of your points. The Dimension line to which you are referring is geared towards families who actually use all that crap software and never want to upgrade. When the computer stops working, they just buy a new $500 budget box.luamhtrad

And if you've seen any of the recent system evaluations of XPS systems from Anandtech and [H]ard|OCP, they BOTH show that even the XPS line is thoroughly loaded with crapware. As such, all you're paying for with the XPS model line is the name at that point.

[QUOTE="luamhtrad"]It is clearly evident that you don't have any experience withthe XPS desktop line. It totally voids all of your points. The Dimension line to which you are referring is geared towards families who actually use all that crap software and never want to upgrade. When the computer stops working, they just buy a new $500 budget box.codezer0

And if you've seen any of the recent system evaluations of XPS systems from Anandtech and [H]ard|OCP, they BOTH show that even the XPS line is thoroughly loaded with crapware. As such, all you're paying for with the XPS model line is the name at that point.

That may have been how they received their test product. However, all softwareofferings have a "none" option. Ergo, you can CHOOSE whether or not to have it installed. Also, a simple call to a sales rep will get the Windows CD included for free. I have recently ordered several XPS 410s for friends and family members and this has been the case every time. Good job on the research there. Very thorough.

[QUOTE="luamhtrad"]It is clearly evident that you don't have any experience withthe XPS desktop line. It totally voids all of your points. The Dimension line to which you are referring is geared towards families who actually use all that crap software and never want to upgrade. When the computer stops working, they just buy a new $500 budget box.codezer0

And if you've seen any of the recent system evaluations of XPS systems from Anandtech and [H]ard|OCP, they BOTH show that even the XPS line is thoroughly loaded with crapware. As such, all you're paying for with the XPS model line is the name at that point.

Even if it is loaded with 'crapware' surely you can just spend 20 mins uninstalling it all

That may have been how they received their test product. However, all softwareofferings have a "none" option. Ergo, you can CHOOSE whether or not to have it installed. Also, a simple call to a sales rep will get the Windows CD included for free. I have recently ordered several XPS 410s for friends and family members and this has been the case every time. Good job on the research there. Very thorough.luamhtrad

Not to mention that every single review - when discussing the lack of Windows CD - mentioned about trying to request it from Dell, only for it to be worse than pulling teeth, basically. They really make you go through **** just to get a damn OS disc that you paid for.

Then again, I forgot who I was talking to... of course you'd say anything to make Dell look good. :roll: