Will this laptop outperform my desktop ?

[bean59]

I recently just purchased a laptop and was wondering if I can expect improved performance on it over my desktop. My desktop is a Dell 9200 and the laptop is a Alienware Area-51 m9750. Here's how the 2 stack up and its real even.

Dell 9200
System: Windows XP SP 2
Ram: 2 Gb
Video Card: Nvidia 7900 GS 256mb
Processor: Intel Core 2 duo 6300 @ 1.86Ghz
Harddrive: 228GB
... This is being displayed on a dell lcd screen 1024 x 768 mb native resolution screen, 19"

Alienware m9759
System: Windows Vista
Ram: 2 Gb
Video Card: Nvidia Go 9750 GTX 512mb
Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 @ 2.0 Ghz
Harddrive: 80 Gb
..... This screen is lcd 17" WideXGA 1440 x 900 native resolution

I'm thinking the only thing holding the laptop back is Vista, video drivers are not reliable and hard to come by. If your going SLI on the laptop only XP works for now.
So, in the end which machine in in your opinion will will have the best performace.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Yes, with a but. The but being that Vista will slow things down a bit and disk accesses will be slower on the laptop, but the CPU and GPU are faster so games should run better.

 

[bean59]

Vista

What are the main negatives or holdbacks of vista? I thought it was designed specifically for using the GPU? Although I noticed there is really unreliable drivers for the video cards right now, but how well does it work with the core 2 duo?

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Right now app. & driver compatibility are the biggest problems with Vista. It is true that Vista was designed to use the GPU to accelerate the desktop, but I have yet to see a game perform identically on Vista compared to XP. As for CPU usage, Vista does seem to use a bit more CPU (especially when Aero Glass is enabled) than XP. Memory usage is also up in Vista from XP. All-around, it's just more resource hungry than its predecessor. Ah well, such is the price of progress.

 

[Skrying]

Right now app. & driver compatibility are the biggest problems with Vista. It is true that Vista was designed to use the GPU to accelerate the desktop, but I have yet to see a game perform identically on Vista compared to XP. As for CPU usage, Vista does seem to use a bit more CPU (especially when Aero Glass is enabled) than XP. Memory usage is also up in Vista from XP. All-around, it's just more resource hungry than its predecessor. Ah well, such is the price of progress.

Not exactly. While I certainly don't want this to turn into yet another Vista debate... There are some driver issues (compatibility is not the right word) still, and also there are some applications compatibility issues. If you're using an older version of an application you're more likely to run into issues. If what you use is kept up to date, your issues are going to be much fewer. There are some cases of games being noticeably under performing under Vista, a lot of cases of slightly under performing, and some cases where Vista performs the same or even slightly better. Depends on game, your graphics card, etc. Also memory usage is very wrong, just bring up task manager and seeing more in use really tells you little. Vista allocates and handles unused memory differently than XP, while you might call that "in use" its not the entire story. When a program needs memory, it will get memory.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Vista is slower than XP. End of story. Perhaps 1+ year(s) from now when highly-threaded games are out and drivers have matured this will not be the case in all instances as it is now, but until then, Vista is slower than XP.

 

[swaaye]

If the hardware isn't D3D10 capable, I'd seriously consider sticking with XP. IMO that's about the only reason to use Vista.

 

[bean59]

Laptop arrived Today

Well the alienware laptop came in today and let me just say, Vista has some good features, but it is a pain in the ass. All around it is a bit slower then XP while on the desktop and crusing through applications but it is a resource hog.

On the Upside Bioshock on my Dell Dimension 9200 doesn't run as well as it does on my alienware laptop. The dell is configured with all the graphics options maxed out and resolution at 1024, it staggers before each level and when alot is happening( ie. lots of enemies and explosions).

On the alienware, lol, the resolution is set ar 1440 with everything maxed out and it doesn't stagger at all. Even with lots of enemies and explosions, no stagger. Another thing, nvidia 7900 GS has alot of glitches and bugs while the 9750 GTX works really well, haven't had any problems yet. Drivers are very hard to come by for the GO cards, currently using a beta driver from alienware website which works with SLI!

Overall lost some performance by switching to vista but at least my games run amazing, haven't used the aero option yet gonna check that out.