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ASUS G51JX-A1 vs Dell Studio XPS 16

M

mhorn

Junior Member
I've had my old laptop for over 4 years now and it's definitely time to upgrade. I'm considering either the ASUS G51JX-A1 or the Dell Studio XPS 16. Both have very similar specs and their prices are about the same. I plan on using my laptop mostly for web surfing and Photoshop work, with the occasional gaming thrown in, but I have a desktop for the really power intensive games. I do really like having a full HD 1920 x 1080 moniter so that I can fit more of my tool bars in photoshop on to the screen. I know the Dell has the nicer screen, but it is about $150 more since I'd have to pay for tax and shipping. Which laptop would I be better off picking up or are both of these over kill and is there something else I should be considering instead?

Here are both laptop's specs:

ASUS G51JX-A1
Intel Core i7-720QM Processor 1.6GHz with turbo boost up to 2.8GHz
6GB DDR3 1066MHz DRAM, 2 slots, 8GB Max
500GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM); Super Multi Optical Disk Drive; Wi-Fi 802.11bgn; Bluetooth
15.6-Inch Full HD 1920x1080 LED LCD Display; 2.0MP Webcam; NVidia GTS 360M Graphics Engine with 1GB GDDR5 dedicated VRAM
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard; Free Gaming Backpack and Gaming Mouse

Dell Studio XPS 16
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
Operating System
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Full HD Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
8X Slot Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
500GB2 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 4670 – 1GB
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
 
Go with the better screen. The GTS 360M in the ASUS will walk all over the HD 4670, but if Photoshop is your priority and gaming is secondary, the screen is where it's at.
 
Cool, thanks for the advice. I can also get the Dell laptop but instead of an i7 processor and 6gb of RAM I can downgrade it to an i5-430M (2.26GHz, 4Threads, turbo boost up to 2.53Ghz, 3M cache) and 4gb of RAM and I would end up saving about $300. Do you think that this would be too much of a downgrade since I do plan on using Photoshop or should this downgraded laptop still last me at least 3 years?
 
If you're still thinking about which to get, I can second the Dell. I recently purchased a Studio XPS 16, and the build quality is quite good--much better than, for example, an ASUS UL50. The screen quality is excellent, at least for the RGB LED version.

I'd also recommend looking on the Dell Outlet; it's the only way to get the RGB LED screen, and can be quite inexpensive--I managed to get the i7 version with the RGB screen and a BluRay player for $1600, including tax and 4 years of warranty service.
 
Thanks for the tip. I just looked again and realized that Dell isn't selling the XPS 16 with the RGBLED at the moment. They only have the WLED in stock. I spoke with a Dell rep who said that they will probably start selling the RGBLED again in 3 to 4 weeks. Thankfully I won't be ready to actually buy my new laptop until then any way. Who knows, maybe someone will come out with an IPS screen for their laptop by then.
 
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