Thoughts on this laptop please...

[beast rabban]

Hello all,
My daughter is headed off to college soon and we are buying her a laptop. This is for school work and some gaming(mass effect 3, WoW). Today's special value on QVC is this laptop.

Includes Inspiron 15 notebook, six-cell lithium-polymer battery, AC adapter, manual set-up guide, and PC Treasures software suite (software ships separately)
2.3GHz Intel Core i3-2350M processor, 3MB cache
15.6" diagonal HD TrueLife LED display with 1366x768 720p resolution
6GB shared dual-channel DDR3 SD RAM
1TB 5400 RPM SATA hard drive
8X tray-loading CD/DVD burner (dual-layer DVD+/-R drive)
Dell Wireless 802.11 b/g/n with Bluetooth technology
10/100 Ethernet LAN
Intel HD Graphics
Integrated audio
Built-in 0.3 megapixel webcam
3-in-1 media card reader: SD/MMC/MS
Three USB 2.0 ports
HDMI 1.3, VGA, RJ-45 ports
Headphone/microphone jacks
Lock slot
AC adapter connector
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit
Dell Stage software
Microsoft Office 2010 Starter

$699.95

My question is do you think this system will handle her school work and gaming needs? Because QVC's return policy is so hassle free, I told the wife to order it and we can return it in 30 days. I've been reading through most of the threads with college/gaming laptops in the title and I am certainly not opposed to getting a Lenovo/Xiotic/Asus laptop for her. Thanks and I'm looking forward to your suggestions/input!

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Good laptop for school and work but not real good for 3D gaming. It has integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics. See the chart.


http/www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html


Some very old games would play well but newer games would only be playable at lowest settings.

 

[WR2]

When you say.... soon? What's that actually mean?

DELL Inspiron 14R Notebook $560
Core i3 2350M 2.30GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD 14" 1366x768 LCD w/ Radeon HD 6470M.
A slight bump up in gaming graphics power & matches the QVC Dell in home office/education workloads.

 

[WR2]

lenovo IdeaPad Z570 15" Notebook $650
Core i5 2450M 2.50GHz CPU, 6GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 15.6 1366x768 LCD w/ GeForce GT 630M graphics.

A substantially better graphics card and slightly faster CPU. Mass Effect 3 and WoW on High graphics.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M review

AMD Radeon HD 6470M review

Intel HD Graphics 3000 graphics

 

[beast rabban]

Anort3... dayum thanks for chart, thats a pretty bad card for her gaming

WR2...starts college in August but i would like for her to have one for the summer as she has to turn in her school laptop in two weeks.

I guess I should mention that I'm not restricted on price but the wife might balk at something above $1k, but who knows I'm dealing with 2 women atm

 

[WR2]

Some big changes taking place in the next few weeks.
Intel is dropping it's new Ivy Bridge CPUs on Monday and AMD is scheduled to announce (and possibly release) it's new Trinity APUs (CPU/GPU) on May 15th.

 

[WR2]

What about size? Have you handled some of the different 13"~15" models?

 

[beast rabban]

What about size? Have you handled some of the different 13"~15" models?

Her current laptop is a 13" Fujitsu and I think she would like to stay around that size. We have an Asus 17" that she says is to big and I agree. So a 15" would be ok I'm guessing.

Oh, already cancelled the QVC order. Thanks for the heads up on that one.

 

[WR2]

SONY VAIO SA 13" Notebook $900
Core i5 2430M 2.40GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 13.3" 1600x900 LCD w/ Radeon HD 6630M graphics.

It gives up a bit of graphics power to the GT 630M but it's a whole lot easier to carry around and fit in a book bag.