After 2.5 years, my current development laptop is just not keeping up as I would like. The new rave seems to be in the i7 series processor from intel and the T7500 Core 2 Duo just does not handle VMWare + Visual Studio 2010 and a few other apps quite as well. Plus, Quad Core vs. Duo. Easy call.
Like before, I wanted to make sure I got a laptop that lasted. I consider 2.5 years (1.5 years after paying it off) to be a acceptable amount of time, especially for a laptop. I upgraded it over time of course, but it does have it's limits.
As a result, I ordered a new Dell Studio XPS 16. The basic configuration from Dell is
Intel i7 720QM Quad Core
500G SATA HDD @ 7200 RPM
8 GB 1333MHZ
1920 x 1080P - Didn't spring for the RGB LED.
Instead. I ordered one of these caddy's. and this SSD drive.
The plan. Replace the 500GB drive with the SSD -> install Windows 7 using slot load DVD
Replace Slot load DVD with caddy from above. Put pre-existing 500GB drive, now I have a SSD + HDD XPS system. Install Visual Studio Program Files on my SSD. Store project on the HDD.
If all goes well, this will be my fastest mobile PC to date. All this for < 2000 and a good amount of lifetime in it. Looking forward to getting it in, hopefully it lives up to all my expectations.
