Laptop Help

[m0ttz]

So I'm going to be buying a new laptop really soon and I need some advice.

Currently I'm looking at the Dell XPS M1530. I've set it up as follows (basic stuff you need to know):

Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz
Vista Home Edition
3GB or 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM
256MB GeForce 8600M GT
120GB 7200RPM Hard drive.
Wireless N card.

What I could like to know is if I should go with 3GB or 4GB or ram. Its a $300 decision and I would just like to know if it is really worth it.

Also, I currently play battlefield 2, so what sort of performance would I see in the game with this set up? Especially with the 8600M GT, would there be a big difference from the X1300PRO?

And for the newer games (Crysis, Far Cry 2, etc...) would I see good performance in those games too?

Thanks in advance.

[Rushhour33]

Personally, i think u will be set with 3gb, the exra GB is not wirth 300$. And u should be able to run BF2 on all high settings. And if its an 8600M GT, it should have 512mb memory.

[m0ttz]

Thanks. It is a 256MB 8600M GT though.

[AmericanDad]

I have a similar dell lappy with 2 gigs of ram, same gfx and processor, it runs bf2 maxed out. Beware windows Vista that's not fantastic for games and especially get ready for the fact nVidia don't make their laptop graphic card drivers available, you can only get them from Dell, and if the driver is crap, you're stuck with it until dell release an update....

[ConscriptVirus]

no GB of ram is worth $300

everything looks nice. the 8600GT might have some trouble running all high with Crysis. just keep in mind that laptops are compact and not meant for gaming. so keep the thing nice and cool.

[m0ttz]

From what I hear though vista requires 1GB of ram, so realistically I'll only have 2GB of available ram with the 3GB right?

So, I take it I should'nt get the extra gig then?

[sgt.collins]

conscript:
even if you have no ram at all?

m0ttz:
2gb of ram is plenty for battlefield 2....

[ConscriptVirus]

2 gb is perfect for BF2 and its on the slim side for Project Reality. (if u want to play high settings)

dont forget that BF2 is 2+ years old. think ahead to the future.

[AmericanDad]

Vista won't require 1 gig of memory because you have the home edition. It's the premium and above versions that have vista aero that eats a lot of memory

[jesus]

From what I hear though vista requires 1GB of ram, so realistically I'll only have 2GB of available ram with the 3GB right?

So, I take it I should'nt get the extra gig then?

well, at idle, my PC uses about 800mb. on my dad's laptop, which has 2gb of ram and vista HP, it uses about 700 at idle