Good Day! I am currently looking for a mid-price performance laptop. I am currently looking at a Dell Inspiron E1705. Intel Core Duo processor T2400 (1.83GHz), 1GB DDR2 @ 667MHz, 256MB ATI X1400, 17" UXGA, 60GB 7200RPM HDD, and bluetooth. It is currently booking at around $2000. My questions are: 1. is the duo better for gaming than a single core processer at a higher speed, i.e. 2.5GHz, 2. How much difference does the faster HDD and RAM make, and if I had to choose, which of the two would make the most difference, 3. Is there a better laptop with these specs out there for a similar/less price? Any thoughts would be great Thanks!

The dual core isn't going to do that much for gaming right now, as the software needs to be written to exploit dual core performance.  
 
A single core processor at a higher speed would be "better" for gaming (if I understand you correctly).
 
As far as the RAM vs. faster hard drive issue, that's tougher. If you have at least a Gig of RAM in the system go with the faster hard drive, if less than a GIG... you really need that first. It may make more sense to just get DELL's stock hard drive and upgrade later because they completely rip you off on the upgrades. You may also want to look at a Turion 64 bit notebook for gaming.
 

Your wrong on the dual core.  You say dual core not good for gaming No it better for gaming.  Here why.  
 
1 it uses less battery power  
2 One cpu can play the game while the other cpu dose desktop tasks.
3 One cpu can run Max to high end while the other cpu runs Low end tasks in simi sleep mod.
 
My acer travilmate 4200 runs for about 4 hours while playing muisc and games.

Before you buy that dell, take a look at hp.  I just recently ordered a laptop for college and was very impressed by how much I saved by going with hp.  I got a laptop for 1660ish and it has a core duo 2.0ghz a Geforce 7400 go 1gb of ddr2 533mhz and all that intel wireless stuff you were talking about.

That is the absolute dumbest thing I have ever heard. WHY on Earth would you think it uses less battery power? That is the MAJOR drawback of Dual Core. Article "So compared to the Pentium M, the dual-core chip draws around 20% more maximum power..."
 
? What are you talking about? He asked a specific question about gaming, so he is serious about it, he isn't gaming and alt+tab'ing from his game to his masters thesis. He’s GAMING, where a faster single core processor will whip up on your goof ball dual core!
 

 
You're not even remotely addressing his question. At no point in your incoherent broken English ramblings, did you even come close to an intelligent thought. I award you no points, may God have mercy on your soul.
 

That's pretty amazing considering the Acer Travelmate 4200 you are talking about has a freaking 6 cell bettery, and the MAX advertised life (which you know was in a lab under the best conditions ever) says it can get almost 3 hours.

Was it a HP Pavilion, or HP Compaq?  :?:

Mech, dragabain was talking about HP dv8000t laptop. Link
 
I think gaming will take advantage of dual core in couple of years or so. I would recommend to get Dell XPS M170 with coupons for less than 2k dollars.

www.cyberpowerpc.com This site works.

Okay here is my 2 bits (if that really means anything). I have looked alot at laptops for the last month or so. I see that Killernotebooks has made his point, which by the way seems to be very intelligent. I have looked at the E1705 notebook that you are asking about and it seems to be an interesting setup.
 
First, before I get side tracked, please google "Dell laptop coupons" before you buy the Dell laptop. It can save you upwards of $650 on at $1999 configured laptop, so don't buy directly until you use the coupon.
 
Second, from the information that I have read, the x1400 fits somewhere between at nVidia 6600 and an ATI x700 video card. If I understand it correctly, the x1400 has better (more up to date) rendering than the x700. I'm not sure if that is really a critical issue with your decision, but I thought that I would mention it.
 
Third, Yes the E1705 has the new Dual Core Intel chip, which might be important to you, but I'm not 100% it is better than the AMD Turion. You can probably find hype more from the Intel side than you will from the AMD side.
 
I personally think that if your going to buy today or shortly, you might want to look at the 64bit capability of the AMD Turion. You might not think it is a major deal breaker right now, but if in 6-12 months from now, you end up wanting to install the new Windows Vista program you might think twice at what you bought. This might not be an issue for you, but I thought that you might want to consider this when making you decision.
 
I also think that Intel is waiting to release the 64bit version of the Dual Core until Windows Vista is released. I know that Microsoft and Intel work together closely and try and time each others releases, so each one benefits themselves. If I were a betting man, Intel release the Duo Core (32bit), because they were getting beat up from the AMD (64bit) side for some time.
 
I normally don't feel compelled enough to logon and register to voice (type) my opinion, but these types of subjects seem to make me do it. And trust me when I say there is ALOT of Intel hype concerning there new chips (I work with alot of people that believe the hype). Don't get me wrong though, the latest Intel chip is an improvement over the previous one.
 
So hopefully my 2 bits will help you in your decision. I know that I'm currently looking for an affordable laptop ($900-$1,100) that I can play the latest games on (I know, that is almost impossible to do on that budget).  
 
One last thing, Killer knows what he's talking about when it comes to the upgrade costs for the Dell's. If you can at all possible, order the minimum amount of ram/hard drive, that you can and install your own RAM or Hard drive. Please use the 7400rpm units if at all possible, it will improve your playing speed. By installing the upgrades yourself, you will save you a bundle. If you don't like to do those things or are not comfortable doing it, then by all means just order what you want. If you have any doubts, you can use this forum to hopefully straighten you thoughts alittle.
I hope that you will feel more informed and can make a more intelligent decision.

The biggest thing that is really eating me up right now is the fact that I went into BestBuy yesterday looking at laptops and pretty much decided that I don't want anything with a 17" screen. For me, its too big. Now I have to try and figure out what the best GPU is that I can get in a 15.4" laptop. I really like the gateway NX560XL because of the dual processor and 667MHz Ram. However, it comes with a ATI Mobility™ Radeon® X1400 128MB Graphics (up to 256MB HyperMemory). From my understanding, this is really a middle of the road GPU. I am really tring to find something with 256MB on board, not just shared. So...I looked at the ALienware M5500. It has the 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go MXM 6600, which i believe is dedicated 256MB. Great, but the processor is Intel® Pentium® M 760-780 (780 being 2.26GHz and $460 up from the 2.0GHz 760, ouch). So here I sit, for another 2-3 hours tring to locate the ideal laptop. HELP ME! Where is the 15.4" laptop with 256MB dedicated GPU with either dual at 1.8GHz or solo processor over 2GHZ without costing $2000?!

You better grow up I have a intel duo Moron vers my single core centreno. same ghz.  So I know how they run.  And face the fact single core will eat more in battery power.  Why do I know this.  Reading up on Tech books Magazines and Websites.  And I have two laptops single core and duo.
 
Now think about this before you think you know your crap. 1 core doing Just the game.  While the second core takes care of windows task.
 
So Get glasses for your large bold print Granny KillerNotebooks.

You might want to check Frys Eletronics website http://www.outpost.com.  And 15.4 is a great size.  The 17.1 inch is heavy if your moving around.  Another idea is get laptop a Ergonomic mobile cooling platform.  So you can lay in bed or lay it on your legs with out covering the laptop vents.  The ones with fans might be a good idea for bigger or faster laptops.

I dont think Killer know much on laptops due to a few facts
 
1 If you Instill your own ram within your warrantie Priod.  That Warrantie is will not be valid when it brake down or your hard disk dies.  Something to think about.  This also Software.  Unless you can tell them You will be putting windows your self.
 
2 Higher the rpm on a hard disk and cpu and Ram The Less battery life you have.  So let say standerd system says 5 Hours battery life.  But you upgrade the Hard disk 7200 rpm 2gb of ram high end Cpu on a laptop.  You get something 1 to 2 hours.  So it like this Higher the cost Lower the battery Life.  It like cars.  Sports cars Gas Hogs vers Normal cars saves gas.
 
Things to look at Is Hard disks that has 8mb ram on it.  So It helps in some speed With out taxing the battery life.

If your willing on spending 2000 I would look at a thinkpad (ibm/lenovo). We have about 40 or so laptops in the field (hp/compaq,ibm) and the quality of the thinkpad is light years ahead of anybody else out there.

In fact, one of the colleges I applied to REQUIRES students to get a laptop, and they recommend Lenovo (IBM) Thinkpads. That's definitely saying something. I've had an IBM for 3 years before getting a Dell (*sigh*...should've never went with the P4M lol), and the IBM served me very well.  
But, I want an Acer Ferrari with Turion Duo in it...(hopefully it'll come out soon lol)!

Mech that is the one I was going to get Just had a pronblem with my desktop and needed a laptop fast.  All I use now is laptops.

lol, gotta love the portability of the laptop no?  

 
The problem with this is I am looking for a laptop with at least 256MB GPU and a 15.4" monitor. IBM does not have that much power in its GPU.

Have you seen any benchmarks on the x1400? I looked but couldn't find any. Just because it has 256mb video memory doesn't mean it's going to perform very well.
 
Regarding your other questions, as far as gaming goes:
dual core won't help
ram makes a lot more difference - the only time a fast hard drive helpes is when you are loading the game.