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dell xps m1330 or m1210 laptop for 3D?


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yah at a glance the 13 inch macbooks seem more expensive and a bit out of my range once i bump up the RAM

 

they only come with 1gb RAM and an upgrade to 2gb is like $260AUD. dell has regular upgrades to 2gb RAM for free plus other sweeteners (free upgrade of HDD and extra savings).

 

i am pretty much using all windows-centric apps (and have never really used a mac before besides a bit of uni) and my work and home are all PC based so am a little skeptical about going with mac anyway.... however i havent looked too deeply into macs and i suppose i could still be convinced...

 

anyone else?

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Buying RAM from Apple is a ripoff. When I got my MBP I asked and they said the extra 1GB would be $300. I asked the guy why so much, and he said "Apple RAM is more expensive because Apple only buys chips made from the center of the silicon wafer." Riiiiiiiight. The same part, Corsair brand, from Newegg, was $90. But the regular Macbook has an Intel GMA950 video card, which is not appropriate for 3D work - you'd want the Pro.

 

Anyway. I always tell people not to buy Dell laptops, because I have seen many issues with their build quality, but if you really want one, get the video card upgrade to the nVidia option.

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Andrew: do you have the option of installing extra ram on a mac yourself instead of buying it from Apple?

 

Marcus: I too own a Dell laptop (E1705) and absolutely love it also. Reliable, GREAT 17" screen (upgraded), go7900 gs card, 2 gig ram and a core2duo 2.0. Awesome value for money.

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Some Macs let you do that, some don't. On a MBP you take out the battery and remove a couple Phillips screws to get to the memory slots, and you can do almost anything you want on a Mac Pro, but opening a Mac Mini and probably an iMac requires an Apple-certified plastic stick (really, and they're color coded). I don't know about a Macbook.

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We just purchased a couple of Dell M90s. They're pretty awesome. One thing I found out about (after ordering them) is that the vendors are responsible for updating the Nvidia video card drivers (I don't know about ATI). That is, you can't download the unified Nvidia driver from the Nvidia web site.

 

So in our case the driver's for the Quadro 2500 were over a year old until Dell just recently updated them.

 

I have seen it suggested that different vendors might update their video card drivers at different intervals. If I were buying laptops again I would look into this.

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