Will my new Dell laptop with Intel Core 2 Duo Processor be good en

[KarenJMcC]

Hi

I have decided to get rid of my existing 4 year old desktop and replace with
a laptop - I need something that can handle me running several things at once
(several web pages and office applications and a database typically) without
going painfully slowly like my desktop does. I also want something that will
play new games like Sims 3 and something that wont need replacing for a good
few years to come.
I have been looking at the Dell website and a Inspiron 1515 with an Intel
Core 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.30ghz, 3mb, 1066mhz) base, 4096mb memory, 250gb
hard drive and a ATI Mobility Radeon HD4300 video card.
All this is going to cost me about £685 and I am no technical expert so
before I buy it I need some help to advise whether this laptop is going to do
what I need?
Also I know Sims 3 needs 1gb ram, 2.4ghz p4 processor and a video card with
pixel shader 2.0 support - can someone confirm if the above laptop meets this
criteria?
Also any suggestions of a better deal that would do what I need, are welcome
too. I cant find anything with this kind of spec in the shops like PC world
unless I spend £800+ which is out of my budget.

Thanks
Karen

 

[Leonard Grey]

Please check the name of this newsgroup, and post again when you have a
question about Windows XP.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have decided to get rid of my existing 4 year old desktop

Why? What's wrong with it? Have you considered replacing/upgrading
parts as needed instead?

and replace with a laptop

Your choice, of course, but in my view, replacing a desktop with a
laptop is almost always a very poor idea. A laptop is appropriate when
you want or need to travel with a computer, not for sitting at home on
a desk somewhere. It costs more to buy a laptop, it's more fragile and
costs more to repair, it's much more limited in what upgrades can be
done to it, and any upgrades that you do make will be more expensive.

Most people who own a laptop (me, for example) have a laptop in
*addition* to their desktop, and use the laptop only while traveling.

- I need something that can handle me running several things at once
(several web pages and office applications and a database typically) without
going painfully slowly like my desktop does. I also want something that will
play new games like Sims 3 and something that wont need replacing for a good
few years to come.
I have been looking at the Dell website and a Inspiron 1515 with an Intel
Core 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.30ghz, 3mb, 1066mhz) base, 4096mb memory, 250gb
hard drive and a ATI Mobility Radeon HD4300 video card.
All this is going to cost me about £685 and I am no technical expert so
before I buy it I need some help to advise whether this laptop is going to do
what I need?
Also I know Sims 3 needs 1gb ram, 2.4ghz p4 processor and a video card with
pixel shader 2.0 support - can someone confirm if the above laptop meets this
criteria?
Also any suggestions of a better deal that would do what I need, are welcome
too. I cant find anything with this kind of spec in the shops like PC world
unless I spend £800+ which is out of my budget.

As I said above, either fix what's wrong with your current computer,
or if you buy a new one, get a desktop instead of a laptop. With a
desktop, you will get much more for your money.

 

[Bod]

Why? What's wrong with it? Have you considered replacing/upgrading
parts as needed instead?




Your choice, of course, but in my view, replacing a desktop with a
laptop is almost always a very poor idea. A laptop is appropriate when
you want or need to travel with a computer, not for sitting at home on
a desk somewhere. It costs more to buy a laptop, it's more fragile and
costs more to repair, it's much more limited in what upgrades can be
done to it, and any upgrades that you do make will be more expensive.

Most people who own a laptop (me, for example) have a laptop in
*addition* to their desktop, and use the laptop only while traveling.




As I said above, either fix what's wrong with your current computer,
or if you buy a new one, get a desktop instead of a laptop. With a
desktop, you will get much more for your money.

Sorry to interrupt,what you suggest for the poster makes sense,but I get
the feeling that he doesn't want a desktop.
If he is hell bent on a laptop,then I doubt he will get any better spec
in the £600 range,certainly not more powerful than he has already looked at.
I may be wrong in the laptop assumption of course.

Bod

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Sorry to interrupt,

You're not interrupting, you're adding your comment to the thread.
That's fine; this is an open newsgroup where everyone is welcome to do
that.

what you suggest for the poster makes sense,but I get
the feeling that he doesn't want a desktop.

Yes, I agree. I also think she wants a laptop. I was simply trying to
tell her it's probably a bad choice for her, and give her information
that might help her to change her mind.

 

[Unknown]

The newsgroup cop strikes again.

Please check the name of this newsgroup, and post again when you have a
question about Windows XP.

 

[Twayne]

Those are questions you should really address to the manufacturer's tech
support or sales support via their web sites. I like Gateway better
than Dell because of the better support, but either one will work with
you to get a machine defined that meets your needs.

This is unsolicited by you I know, but I can't help but wonder about
your 4 year old machine and what its specs are. If a few IE windows,
office apps and a database open (whatever you mean by that) brings it to
a crawl but it otherwise runs all of your apps that you want, do you
know WHY it's slow?
I don't recall UK to US conversion rates at the moment, but if your
old machine can be brought up to speed with the simple addition of 7200
rpm drives and more RAM (which is still pretty cheap these days) you
might save a bundle of money.
The new machine you described sounds great and likely would do the
job you want but without a fair amount of research, there is no other
way to know unless someone happens to run the exact same things you do.
In addition, unless you specifically ask, you're going to get Vista
on a new machine, which may or may not be what you want. From the specs,
it sounds like a Vista machine you described, which is fine if that's
what you want.
Vista machines are not necessarily capable of running XP or any other
operating systems, so that's maybe something else you need to find out
about when you contact them IF you plan to back it up to XP. My only
experiences with Vista is that it's a slow hog unless/until a few things
are tweaked, even with 4 Gig of RAM which, by the way, isn't a whole lot
better than 2 Gig. In fact, from your listing, 1 Gig is really all
you'll need "today" but 2 Gig would be better. Benefits decline sharply
at 3 Gig of RAM, so ... for what it's worth.
Being Vista makes it even more off-topic a post than the original
subject, although I understand why you posted here if your old machine
is XP. There's quite a difference between Vista and XP; they're not at
all similar in many ways, especially "out of the box".

Hope that didn't sound too negative; it wasn't meant to be anything but
helpful and perhaps food for thought. But really, you should take
questions like yours to the manufacturer's site (Dell.com).

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Unknown]

Think in terms of advantages and disadvantages of replacing a desktop with a
laptop.
Screensize is one.

 

[smlunatick]

Think in terms of advantages and disadvantages of replacing a desktop with a
laptop.

Most laptops can have a second "regular" monitor attached to when the
user chooses.

 

[Unknown]

I know but that is extra cost. I merely suggest thinking about it..

Think in terms of advantages and disadvantages of replacing a desktop with
a
laptop.
in message

Most laptops can have a second "regular" monitor attached to when the
user chooses.

 

[SC Tom]

Those are questions you should really address to the manufacturer's tech
support or sales support via their web sites. I like Gateway better than
Dell because of the better support, but either one will work with you to
get a machine defined that meets your needs.

Yikes!! Dell support must really, REALLY suck, since the experience I've had
with Gateway support was the worst I've ever had with any compnay, computer
related or otherwise.

SC Tom