I am planning to get a XPS1210 with the Core 2 Duo. I was wondering whether I should go with the integrated graphics or take the discrete solution. I will use the laptop mostly for work and occasional gaming. Battery life is important for me and I heard that the discrete graphics put more load on the battery. Any idea much penalty this extra overhead puts? I plan to get the 9 cell battery.
Any further tips about configuring the machine will be most welcome
If you want ocasional gaming, the GMA950 anyway won’t be upto it…
Even if you don’t plan to run games, the 7400 would give you a lot better performance as and when you move to Vista (Aero interface)
Add to it the fact that the gfx subsystem cannot be upgraded, so even if you are on a limited budget, you may want to economize elsewhere as the CPU/RAM/HDD ae all self-upgradeable but not the graphics
As for the battery life, nVidia mobile chips underclock drastically when running on battery (e.g the Go 7400 drops from 450 mhz /500+ mhz on Auto OC to as low as 0.3 mhz on a battery and the gfx memory clocks down from 900mhz/1 ghz+ to as low as 100)
The GMA950 based M1210s draw around 13-17 W on medium brighness/low cpu utilization/wireless on and the 7400 based 1210s draw 14-19W at the same settings
On a 9 cell (85whr), this would transalate to only a few minutes of difference in the battery life
I’d aslo suggest a 6 cell and not a 9 cell as even the 6 cell (53whr) would give you over 3 -3.5 hours of battery life under normal usage but weighs less and does not jut out from the behind like the 9 cell
one last suggestion, while configuring, choose the *no partition * on the HDD option to get a hidden discount
Just wanted to add though that what you are saying is true in the sense that 15.4"/14.1" probably hit the sweet spot between size and portabillity for most users
hey guys. i’m very interested in this now.. could any of you who own dell laptops help me get in touch with them? the core 2 duo + 7400 go for 68k is awesome indeed and i’d like to pick one up asap as i’m leaving for canada in 10 days. thanks in advance.
yea but online ordering is a bit of a problem for me as my dad’s not too keen on using his credit card on the internet.. is there any other mode of payment?