Dell XPS 15 Query & Sandy-Bridge Questions

[amit3987]

Wanted to know if there is any significant difference between the default :
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030 with Bluetooth v3.0+HS and the 6230 ??

Also is there any significant difference between the 2630Qm and the i5 one which dell are offering??
which one would be a better config for a futureproof lappy plus playing latest games at med res. :
i5 + GT 540M
or i72630QM+ GT 525M

 

[Manickaraj]

According to Dell site the new XPS 15 laptops can be configured with HSPA mobile broadband card and tv tuner card similar to the XPS offered in the US. But I can't find it in the customize option. Any of you guys successful?

 

[047]

^^ Dell has international warranty. You'll just have to fill up a form at their website.

And there is a huge price difference between India & US (can't say about UK). But unless someone brings it with himself, you're going to pay a lot of money as custom duties & shipping charges. That will be more than what you'll pay if you buy it in India.

Hi, Yes someone is coming from UK so i planned to buy a laptop from there. I have heard that there is some power supply issue with those of UK/US if we use them in INDIA. Is it true?

 

[pauldmps]

^^ The power adapters are generally universal. Check the input voltage - If it is 100V-230V; 50-60hz, it will work in India. Else, purchasing a different adapter from India will do.

 

[047]

How much is the performance difference between i3 with SB and i7/i5 (without SB)..?
which one will be better in performance..?

 

[pauldmps]

The i7 in most cases (multi-threaded applications & in multitasking).

 

[reddead]

I guess it would be better to upgrade to a 1080p screen than upgrading the GPU.... as I read in the notebookreview forums that the GT540M is similar to an overclocked GT525M and gives only a slight performance upgrade.

Also in the same forum I saw people complaining about the quality of the 720p screen(though most of the users were from U.K)..... I have seen the 1080p screen of L501x and its just awesome....

i have been told that there is not much of a difference in 720p and 1080p on a 15.6 screen .....it is noticable more on a bigger screen

 

[amit3987]

Wanted to know if there is any significant difference between the default :
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1030 with Bluetooth v3.0+HS and the 6230 ??

Also is there any significant difference between the 2630Qm and the i5 one which dell are offering??
which one would be a better config for a futureproof lappy plus playing latest games at med res. :
i5 + GT 540M
or i72630QM+ GT 525M

anyone???

 

[pauldmps]

^^ For games, the first config will be better but don't expect it to do wonders. Even HD5650 is a better GPU than the GT-540M.

 

[047]

Can anyone tell me which is better ?

1). Intel® CoreTM i3 2310M Processor (2.1GHz/3MB cache) click here)
2). Intel® CoreTM i5 480M Processor (2.66GHz/3MB cache) click here)


which one to choose?

 

[Crhysis]

Can anyone tell me which is better ?

1). Intel® CoreTM i3 2310M Processor (2.1GHz/3MB cache) click here)
2). Intel® CoreTM i5 480M Processor (2.66GHz/3MB cache) click here)

which one to choose?

The i3 2310 is comparable to the i5 430M. So I'd say go with the i5 480M processor. It will be slightly faster and also has turbo boost which the i3 2310M does not. However the integrated graphics card on the i5 480 is not as good as the one on the i3 2310M, but you will have the Nvidia card in any case for your heavy duty graphics processing.

 

[sameer.pur]

^^ Of-course i3 2310M will be better!
Why go for 1st gen processor when there already is 2nd gen. processors available??
(Unless there is budget issues..)

 

[047]

Thanks sameer and crhysis for ur replies....

 

[reddead]

does i5 and i7 make much of difference??
bcoz my budget is 60k at max and i want both the 1080 screen and 540 gpu
i5+1080+540=61k[640gb]
i7+1080+540+65k[640gb]
which one should i go for??

 

[amit3987]

even I am stuck in the same dilemma as reddead above.
which config would suit better for browsing, med. res gaming(fifa, nfs, cod), watching movies, multitasking etc.
i5-2410m + 525m or i7-2630m +525m...
would like to know if I would really feel any significant performance boost if I choose the i7 over the i5.
Also I have read that the power consumption of the i7 will be larger about (10w) than the i5. would this be a significant difference.

I would also like to know what discounts does dell offer and how much?
Also, in a quote that I received from dell they have included an extra charge called the CVD which amounts to almost 9% of the laptop(which I dont understand considering the fact that on the site it states that the price is inclusive of all taxes.) Do other manufactures like Sony , Hp also charge this CVD above the mentioned price??

 

[pauldmps]

^^ The 2nd generation i7 will definitely be better than the i5. Power consumption will be higher on the i7.

For gaming, I won't suggest the 525M. Get the 540M.

Dell offers 5% discount to students & 8% to Dell employees.

I have never heard of CVD. Do you mean Octroi ? Which state are you in, BTW ?

 

[Crhysis]

Just received confirmation for my Dell XPS 15 today. They upgraded my order to the L502x. So I got the 2nd Gen i7, Nvidia GT540 and a 750GB HDD at the price that I paid a month ago for the 1st Gen i7, Nvidia GT435 and a 500GB HDD.

Can't wait for my order to get here.

 

[amit3987]

^^ The 2nd generation i7 will definitely be better than the i5. Power consumption will be higher on the i7.

For gaming, I won't suggest the 525M. Get the 540M.

Dell offers 5% discount to students & 8% to Dell employees.

I have never heard of CVD. Do you mean Octroi ? Which state are you in, BTW ?

CVD= Counter Vailing Duty. Its almost coming to 8-9% of the cost of the laptop. I am from Mumbai.

Also I have heard about problems of driver updates of GT 540m due to which most users are not able to play latest games.... hence had opted for GT 525m.... let me know if the GT 540M offers a significant advantage over 525m
Also any idea of the availability of Sony C series laptops here... I say pre-booking being done at Flipkart... though am a little sceptical of the prices mentioned there.. as they quoted a 14 inch model for 55K+ whereas the same config 15 inch model was for around 54K

 

[Crhysis]

Dell offers a 12.5% discount to employees. I got a quote for a fully loaded XPS 15 which cost 81G on the Dell site but the total cost on the quote was 71G. If you know someone at Dell who can help you out it is totally worth it.

 

[pauldmps]

The GT-540M is definitely better than GT-525M. But I won't be happy with any one of them especially when I'm spending 50k on a laptop.

So I'm waiting for the Lenovo Y570 with GT-555M.