What options do you have? List the core, clock speed, cache, front side bus and price of each option.
On the Studio 16 XPS, I have two processor choices:
- Intel Core i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache) [included in price]
- Intel Core i7-820QM Quad Core Processor 1.73GHz (3.06GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache) [Add 350]
What are the difference between the two options?
The upgrade processor is a little faster 1.73GHz versus 1.6Ghz.
It's also faster on the Turbo Mode that Dell.com promotes.
The upgrade has 8MB cache on the processor instead of 6MB.
Both apparently have the same front side bus.
Go back and look at the system requirements for the software you need to be able to run? What's the highest recommended processor speed?
The greatest requirements among the software I typically use and need is that of the Adobe eLearning Suite which indicates: 2GHz or faster Intel® Pentium® 4, Intel Centrino®, Intel Xeon®, or Intel Core™ Duo (or compatible) processor. Both machines exceed that by a considerable amount, so either option will be fine for the software I use.
Which option are you going to select? Why do you only need the included processor option and not need one of the upgrade options? or vice versa, why do you need to upgrade?
One of the main things I watch for is the FSB to Processor. Some machines will have an impressive processor in appearance - to help sell it - but it's paired with a motherboard with a limited FSB. That ends up being like hooking a garden hose to a fire hydrant : the processor is powerful and can run software quickly, but it feeds the output to the motherboard back out through a tiny pipe. The processor's both seem appropriate and the FSB is high enough to support both.
The other thing I consider is a "price break" - if I have several upgrade options, how much does the price increase each time? If there's four options, and they increase in the amount added to my purchase by +$50, +$100, +$300, +$350 - I'm really only deciding between two options. If I'm going to spend any money to upgrade, it makes since to go ahead and spend the $100 rather than the $50, that's a small difference. And, if I can afford $300, I might as well add another $50 to get that last option. Of course, that all depends on the difference in the two options. Price is an issue of course.
In this instance, I have two options. The upgrade option is $350 more and the only difference is 0.13GHz on the clockspeed and 2MB of L2 cache. I don't believe that difference in speed is significant enough for me to justify the $350 upgrade price tag. So I'm going with the first option.
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