Dell Vostro 3700 vs Toshiba Satellite A 500-6644

[Komomu]

I am looking for a laptop that I could play things like pcx2( a ps2 emulator) which I hear is cpu intensive and newer games (not crysis) things like The settlers 7

With that in mind please help me.




I was shopping around at dell then I found some good inspiron 15 setups but then I went to toshiba and found this:

Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-330M Processor 2.13 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache, 1066MHz DDR3

Memory: 4GB DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM (2048MBx2)

Hard Disk Drive: 320 GB@5400rpm

Graphics: Nvidia GT 330M with 1GB discrete graphics




Then I discovered the Vostro 3700

PROCESSOR New 2010 Intel® CoreTM i5-430M (2.26GHz base, up to 2.53GHz, 2C/4T, 3MB/L3)

MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHZ, 2 DIMM

HARD DRIVE 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

BLUETOOTH WIRELESS Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth 2.1 Module

SECURITY HARDWARE Fingerprint Reader with DigitalPersona software

LCD PANEL 17.3 inch High Definition LED Display (1366 x 768) with Anti-Glare

OPTICAL DRIVE 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability, Roxio and Cyberlink PowerDVD™ DX 8.1

VIDEO CARD Nvidia® Geforce™ GT 330M, 1GB Graphics


What the toshiba does have over the vostro is it's speakers which I hear are very good but I have my own sound system. Also it has the keyboard backlighting.

The Vostro does have bluetooth while the toshiba doesn't and it has a better webcam (2.0 instead of 1.3)

the vostro is 17.3" while the satellite is 16"

The vostro costs $839 while the toshiba costs $844

I just wanted to kow even though the vostro looks better, if taking the toshiba would make me"happier" meaning i terms of customer service , also i heard that dell uses lower qualiyu products than toshiba so in that case which would you recommend?

 

[lostandwandering]

IMO, the Dell is a better machine for the money. It costs a little less than the Toshiba and you are getting a faster CPU and HDD. The only downside is the screen res. I feel that 1366x768 is a pretty small res for a 17'' screen. I'd personally rather have either a 1600x900 or 1920x1080 screen.

You are going to hear different things about quality depending on who is reviewing the unit. The Vostros tend to be pretty good since they are business class models. The Vostro 3700 actually has an Aluminum chassis, so it's going to be pretty durable.

 

[Komomu]

Best answer selected by Komomu.

 

[Komomu]

On the dell would it be advisable to drop the cost by $50 by removing 1GB memory?

Remember I want to play games like The Settlers 7 and Age of Empires my Desktop can handle higher caliber games I just want to have a laptop in case I want to game elsewhere. So yea should I?

 

[lostandwandering]

If you are only getting the 32-bit version on Win 7, then yes. 32 bit Operating systems will only be able to utilize something like 3.25gb of the 4 gb. So having the extra gb probably won't help. RAM can always be upgraded later on.

 

[Komomu]

Will having a 64 bit OS make all the other parts of my system more effective?

(By the way, your pic is hilarious)

 

[lostandwandering]

Not really. a 64 bit OS will allow you to run software that is 64-bit based. Plus it will allow you to add and use more RAM in your system (4gb + ). Otherwise, there isn't a huge difference. They will cost you the same amount, though.