mallavu

should i get i dell 1520 with:

PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
DISPLAY: High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)
VIDEO CARD: 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
MEMORY: 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz HARD DRIVE: Size: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
OPTICAL DRIVE: CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS: Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
INTEGRATED WEBCAM: Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
BATTERY OPTIONS: 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
SOUND OPTIONS: High Definition Audio 2.0


or should i get a hp dv6500t with:

Operating system: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7300 (2.00 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Display: 15.4" WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
Memory: 2GB DDR2 (2 Dimm)
Graphics Card: 383MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Personalization: HP Imprint (Radiance) + Fingerprint Reader + Webcam + Microphone
Networking: Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth
Hard Drive: 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive: LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
Primary Battery: 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
OS and Recovery Media: System Recovery DVD with Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)



*NOTE*- im not a big gamer, but i do game often. i think the hp looks way cooler and its also lighter and thinner. the hp cost about $330 less. i listen to alot of music and im a big multitasker. i watch videos alot.
help me decide please.

redsunx

Wanna know a funny thing? I was going to say dell right off the bat, but after review the hp looks like it would perform better and its cheaper? Hp definetly, my advice to you would be if you wan't to pay couple extra bucks MAYBE swap out the hard drive and put a 7200 (migh sucks a lil more juice) and then install xp on it so you can get rid of the hp bloatware, but I would say the hp for sure and the ram is slower then the fsb so it won't bottleneck

chimpinator

Forget gaming on an 8400m. If you're going to be playing games, definitely go for the Dell. The 8600m GT is excellent, and for the 1440X900 resolution the 256mb of VRAM will serve you well.

I have always used Dell notebooks and their tech support is great, if anything goes wrong, take out your warranty and sit back.

ebackhus

I wouldn't get either one.

I searched and couldn't find anything I'd recommend for less than $1,900 USD...

chimpinator

to be honest, if you consider the option of not getting either of those notebooks, then I must agree with ebackhus. By the looks of it, neither will last you too long, however among them I would say the Dell wins, having a distinct advantage in graphics.

Have you checked Newegg for notebooks? They have some very decent notebooks there. don't limit yourself to the famous stuff like dell or HP, they can sometimes really be a rip-off. Anyhow, looking through, my recommendation:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834220185

If the price is too high for you, then i STRONGLY suggest you at least change your hard drive and sound options for yoru dell. 5400 RPM is noticeably sloooooower than 7200 rpm from experience. As for sound, if you listen to msuic... dell onboard really isn't your best option. dell offers creative x-fi expresscards, go for that. I have a creative x-fi and i melt in my seat with it, even if i'm using just two tiny speakers.

Fox

That machine is basically the same thing as the Dell, except it weighs and costs twice as much.

I don't buy into that X-Fi crap. First of all, you can't use it with the integrated speakers, so unless you plan on outputting it to external speakers (which will likely sound as bad as the ones in the laptop unless they're floorstanding or some other, larger speaker), it's pretty much useless. The sound quality is only as good as the source. If you're listening to 128kbps mp3, it can only sound so good. And I don't think X-anything is going to change that.

And 7200rpm hard drives... are not typically included in laptops for a reason: they're louder, run hotter, fail faster, and drain the battery much much faster than a 5400 rpm.

chimpinator

X-Fi made my 128 kbps mp3s sound twice as good. I heard soudns and instruments I never knew were there before. Vocals were smoothers, percussion sharper, impacts more real, bass more punchy. I didn't believe it at first either. The difference didn't seem TOO big... until i went back to my dell laptop with its onboard sound with the same speakers or headphones -- the music just sounds horrible at that ranch. Nevertheless, Fox does have a point. If yo'ure only going to be using the built-in speakers or mediocre headphones/earbuds, ditch the sound options and just use the onboard. Dell's internal speakers are tinny no matter what you do to them, just as mediocre headphones ie standard ipod earbuds are.

fox is also correct about the 7200 RPM drives. depends whether you're a power or a mobility person. Judging from ur note, i would assume that this laptop would be plugged in a lot of the time, and so a 7200 rpm shud fare you fine if that's the case.

And if anything the biggest reason that the Asus would stand above the Dell is reliability, not necessarily the internal package.

Fox

I doubt the Asus would be any studier than the Dell. I've worked with a ton of models, and the only one I saw fall apart belonged to somebody who mistreated all of his stuff. They really are built like tanks.

As far as the hard drive goes, I guess if the laptop is going to be plugged in all the time, it wouldn't matter much... but at the same time, I can think of a lot of things I'd rather spend a hundred dollars on than a faster laptop hard drive. The performance gain wouldn't be meaningful to a machine whose purpose isn't primarily gaming.

mallavu, there's a fairly detailed comparison of these two laptops here. The review favors the Dell.

To be honest, it would be a toss-up for me. I'm not a frequent gamer, so I would probably take the three hundred dollars saved and buy myself a set of speakers from Cambridge SoundWorks, or a tube stereo amp to drive my current set.

PanamaGal

Between these two, my vote goes to the HP.