Can you look at this potential laptop...

[CoolRabbit]

...and tell me if it is what I need?

I will be using it for work - video and graphics editing, plus internet use (uploading large videos and graphics), along with your usual office software and whatnot. I would like something that is somewhat portable that I can haul around with me, but sturdy. I am going to wait until the Windows 7 release in a few weeks so I don't have to bother with installing it later.

DELL Studio 15 laptop

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9600 (2.8GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6MB cache) Is this a fast enough procvessor or do you think I need to go with the Quad core? I heard the quad core isn't necessarily faster, and can get hot???

6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHzIs this enough RAM?

15.6” High Definition (720p) LED Display with TrueLife™ and Camera
512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570I really know nothing about video cards. Is this going to be adequate for doing a lot of video work?

Speed: 500GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) with Free Fall SensorBig enough/fast enough? What is Free Fall?

CD/DVD writer (DVD+/-RW) +Roxio Creator 10 Premier-Ultimate Burn/Authoring

Intel 5300 Ultimate-N Half Mini Card (3x3) with MyWiFiI am especially confused about these wireless cards. There are many to choose from and I have no idea what they do. We have a woireless network, plus I would like to be able to pick up WiFi at local restaurants, etc.


Any suggestions as to what I should improve? I am not overly worried about price right now, though I'd like to keep it under $2k if possible. My biggest concern is that I do not want to have to upgrade in a year or two because I didn't buy a good enough processor/enough RAM/etc.

Thanks a lot!!!

 

[01001010]

Seems fine to me. If you're willing to spend that much, there are higher end models I could recommend. Tell me if you're interested.

 

[CoolRabbit]

Higher end always sounds good to me! What do you recommend?

 

[shozzking]

if there is a screen without truelife then take it, as much as i love dell i would never buy a laptop with truelife. the screen is so glossy that you cant use the laptop outside

 

[CoolRabbit]

Every screen available is a TruLife screen. They do have different resolutions available, the one I chose was the standard one (lowest quality). Would it help to upgrade to a better screen, even though it is a TruLife?

Any comments on video cards or wireless cards?

 

[shozzking]

truelife is basically and EXTREMELY glossy layer on the screen. check out the studio xps 16.

 

[01001010]

Apple 15" MacBook Pro

Dell Studio XPS 16

HP EliteBook 8530p

Lenovo ThinkPad T500

 

[CoolRabbit]

A Mac is out since nearly all the software I use is PC only (at least the versions I have purchased).

I looked at the HP and wasn't sure which one to go with, and the options are a bit different than Dell. I will need to do some research, but i tried to build one similar to the Dell Studio 15 I did on the Dell site and it was about $600 more...but i am not sure I did it quite the same.

The Dell Studio XPS looked pretty much the same as the Studio 15 (but the Studio 15 comes in colors and designs which is cool...LOL...gotta look cool!).

Ack, so confusing. Luckily I have a couple weeks since I am waiting for Windows 7 to be released to the public before ordering.

I am still confused with the wireless cards and video cards as to which are the best...

 

[01001010]

The HP and Lenovo notebooks I listed above are business notebooks. They're much more rugged than consumer notebooks, which is something I personally value.

 

[shozzking]

you're not going to get an amazing graphics card on a laptop, the graphics cards on the dells are both as good as you're going to get on a laptop