Studio XPS i5 For CS Student?

[smc333]

Hi everyone,
I have a 13" Macbook Pro, 4GB, 320M, 500GB HDD, etc... Its a little long on the tooth for some things already.

I was planning to get a Studio XPS from the Microsoft store, do you think this is better for a CS Student (despite losing OS X)?

-Core i5 450M
-6GB DDR 1333
-640GB 5400RPM
-ATI 4670, 512MB VRAM
-16" WLED HD+ 1600x900 Screen

Thanks,
SMC

 

[mickey megabyte]

CS?

computer science or (adobe) creative suite?

either way, is it better if you upgrade your machine to something much better?

of course!

(unless you really need osx - but you'll still have the macbook to fall back on)

- and is the microsoft store really the best place to buy it? i don't know any better offhand, but i hope you've checked.

 

[smc333]

Ah, my bad! I meant Computer Science.

So is this machine really that much better? I could go either way on OS X.

And the MS Store is $150 cheaper than anywhere else I could find it

 

[bobkn]

If you're a student, could you get a better deal through your educational institution?

 

[Everlong]

It's up to you if you want it. Don't think it will really benefit you as a computer science student. I study computer science myself, and I have the system I've got in my system specs in my room, and the computers in the computer science labs are still running Pentium 4s and they're still enough for what I need to do on them.

 

[Crazymike]

I'm a CS student too, and yes, the XPS should be a good bit faster than the macbook pro, and would probably make things a little easier if you're doing programming.

Using my universities computers (slow core 2 duo's) for the programming labs isn't very nice. They crash kinda frequently with bad code using Microsoft Visual Studio, and it gets annoying. I have Visual Studio on my laptop (ASUS G50vt-X5) and it will just stutter and spit out an error rather than crash.

I don't know if you can still do it or not, but if you buy a computer for educational purposes you can (or used to be able to) claim it back on your tax return.

 

[smc333]

I had ordered a Studi 1458, which had
i5 460M
4GB DDR3
7200 RPM 500GB HDD
ATI 540v 512MB
for only $599

But.... Crappy 1366x768 display.

So I'm thinking of canceling that and going for the Studio XPS 16, though the hard drive is 5400 RPM. I hear that doesn't make that much of a difference.

 

[pparks1]

So I'm thinking of canceling that and going for the Studio XPS 16, though the hard drive is 5400 RPM. I hear that doesn't make that much of a difference.

Not sure who you heard that from....my a 7,200RPM hard drive would be my first (and really only choice), for anything where performance mattered. If you are going to bottleneck a PC with a slow hard drive...might as well go with a slower processor and everything else to go along with it.

 

[Crazymike]

Stick with the 7200rpm, it can compliment the i5 and ddr3, where as the 5400 will slow you down, especially when it comes to loading up programs.

 

[Petey7]

Hello. Have you considered ordering the computer from Dell's website? I'm currently looking at the computer on there and they have a lot of options for customizing it. I see under harddrives they have a 500GB 7200RPM drive and a couple SSD's you could choose from. The 128GB SSD cost an extra $130 compared to the 500GB HDD but it would increase performance even more. The link below takes you directly to the customization page, where you can build the exact computer you want and see how much it will cost you, with the total price changing automatically whenever you change a selection.

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

 

[smc333]

Wow, you guys are all so helpful!

So I decided I'll stick with the cheaper Dell Studio 14 I ordered, which has more portability, too.

The full specs are, again:
Core i5 460M 2.53 Turbo 2.8
4GB PC 1066
500GB 7200 RPM HDD
14" 1366x768 (I did like the 1600x900 of the XPS 16, but the portability makes up for it, and 1600x900 is pushing it on a 14").
ATI 4530 w/512MB VRAM (I don't game).
Dell Wireless 1520 (might get an Intel card and pop it in later).

But all in all, this saves me a lot of money. I might pawn my iPad off to get a Dell Mini, does anyone know if the PM55 chipset is good graphically. I've used netbooks with GMA950 and GMA3150, both sucked at running IE9's video acceleration. I would just like something with enough gfx horsepower to do the web/email and PuTTY.

 

[smc333]

Scratch that. I went to the store and played with some 1366x768 laptops, and... well, I was not thrilled with the resolution.

I ordered a 7200 RPM Seagate Momentous, 500GB/16MB Cache HDD off of Newegg.

So I think it is best instead to go for the Studio XPS, even though the CPU is slightly slower, the GPU is better, and so is the resolution. Plus it has 6GB of faster RAM, and the SXPS is a higher quality machine.

So the specs will be:
Core i5 450M
6 GB PC3 1333
500GB 7200 RPM HDD
ATI 4670 w/512 MB VRAM
15.6" LED screen @ 1600x900 resolution

That sounds like a kick-ass machine to me. To complement it, I will get a 9-cell battery in the coming months, and if I can find a netbook that I really like (11"???), I will jump on one of those as well. Preferably one with an nVidia ION chipset.

 

[Petey7]

When you order a 9-cell battery, get an off brand one. The Dell branded batteries that you order off of there websites are severely over priced. I wanted to get a new battery for my Dell laptop a few months ago. Dell want $140 for it. I found the exact some battery but with a different bradn name on it on amazon.com for $28 with free shipping, which works great btw.

 

[Everlong]

I would just like something with enough gfx horsepower to do the web/email and PuTTY.

None of that requires any gfx horsepower, especially PuTTY as it's just a terminal.

 

[smc333]

I would just like something with enough gfx horsepower to do the web/email and PuTTY.

None of that requires any gfx horsepower, especially PuTTY as it's just a terminal.

Yea, the PuTTY part was just mentioning that I needed to do that on the netbook as well.

But for the web, I disagree. a GPU that supports IE9/FF4 GPU acceleration, as well as h264 for Flash would go a long way in assisting a lightly-powered Atom.

 

[Everlong]

I would just like something with enough gfx horsepower to do the web/email and PuTTY.

None of that requires any gfx horsepower, especially PuTTY as it's just a terminal.

Yea, the PuTTY part was just mentioning that I needed to do that on the netbook as well.

But for the web, I disagree. a GPU that supports IE9/FF4 GPU acceleration, as well as h264 for Flash would go a long way in assisting a lightly-powered Atom.

Only if you actually use sites that support GPU acceleration often.

 

[smc333]

None of that requires any gfx horsepower, especially PuTTY as it's just a terminal.

Yea, the PuTTY part was just mentioning that I needed to do that on the netbook as well.

But for the web, I disagree. a GPU that supports IE9/FF4 GPU acceleration, as well as h264 for Flash would go a long way in assisting a lightly-powered Atom.

Only if you actually use sites that support GPU acceleration often.

I'm not too sure what it is about netbooks, but on my old eeePC 1005HA, sites with graphics and whatnot (like politico.com) ran sluggishly.

And EVERYTHING has flash content on it, unfortunately.

 

[smc333]

Update:

So I went ahead and ordered the Studio XPS/Seagate HDD. I will send the Studio 14 back when it comes in, as I feel like I am making the right decision by not compromising.

Any other suggestions, namely in the netbook area.

Thanks again.