dell laptop comparison

What I want to know is why the Inspiron series has Core Duo chips while the XPS series, which is supposed to be more advancesd, does not. I'm looking for a multipurpose laptop. I'm considering pursuing a computer science major and I'm also a game addict so I'll want something that can handle 3D modelling, gaming, Photoshop, general entertainment, and mundane work. Size is not an issue for me because I know I want a 17-incher and I really am not bothered by carrying big, heavy stuff. So I thought an XPS would fit the bill but then I noticed it doesn't have dual-core processors like the Inspirons. So now I'm confused. Shouldn't a gaming laptop have a dual-core chip? The Core Duo chips also have a faster FSB. Why aren't they in XPS machnes?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Well guess what, buddy, the new dual core XPS just came out. However, it is expensive. Just for fun, I configured an XPS M1710 to the max with stuff like 4 gigs of DDR SDRAM at 667MHz and a 2.26GHz Core Duo at 667MHz bus, etc. It costs over $6,500. Dual core is nice, but it's retardulously expensive. The cheapest M1710 laptop is $2,600, mostly because the processor is now dual core (the cheapest is a Core Duo T2400 with a 2MB cach and 667MHz bus) and the only video card available is the new Geforce 7900. You can pay big bucks for the 512MB version.

What really iffs me is that I had configured a laptop before they upgraded the M170 line to M1710 that cost $2,400 and was loaded. Sure, it wasn't dual core and the video card was a 7800 but it's probably not too much of a difference between what I had configured and the entry-level M1710. Dell should offer some more flexibility with customization. For example, why can't you put a real video card (the only option I had was integrated Intel) in the M140 and yet you can put in 2 gigs of RAM? What if I want to buy an M1710 but I don't want to pay for the latest and greatest and I'll settle for a Pentium M and a GeForce 7800 GTX (which seems to be more powerful than the 7900GS)? Why does it cost $400 to upgrade your video card from the 7900GS (which, as I mentioned based on Nvidia's specs, seems to be less powerful than the 7800GTX. WTF?), which will push the price to 3 grand? Dell might think they'll get more money by limiting your choices and forcing you to pay more but I'll bet they'll get more sales if they give customers more options. Dell might be the best, but they cost too much now. I'm looking elsewhere, like WidowPC.

There's nowhere I can't reach.