Deciding between D810 and M70

I'm trying to decide between a Latitude D810 and a Precision M70,
of similar specification (2GHz CPU, 1680x1050 screen).

They appear to be the same size and style of case, with the same
connectors in the same places.

The difference appears to boil down to just the video hardware,
with the D810 having ATI X300 with 64MB of Video RAM, and the
M70 having nVidia Quadro FX Go1400 with 256MB of Video RAM.

Are there any other differences that I may have missed? Would I get
a lot of benefit from the M70? I don't play games or use CAD apps,
mainly software development and office apps. I would also want to
dual-boot to Linux.

Thanks in advance for any comments...

Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: - http://tony.mountifield.org

Tony Mountifield wrote:
I'm trying to decide between a Latitude D810 and a Precision M70,
of similar specification (2GHz CPU, 1680x1050 screen).

They appear to be the same size and style of case, with the same
connectors in the same places.

The difference appears to boil down to just the video hardware,
with the D810 having ATI X300 with 64MB of Video RAM, and the
M70 having nVidia Quadro FX Go1400 with 256MB of Video RAM.

Are there any other differences that I may have missed? Would I get
a lot of benefit from the M70? I don't play games or use CAD apps,
mainly software development and office apps. I would also want to
dual-boot to Linux.

Thanks in advance for any comments...

Cheers
Tony

The main distinguishing point between a workstation and a standard
desktop/laptop is the costly certifications it goes through to ensure
the hardware works with some very specific high end apps (mainly CAD).
Since you do not plan on doing CAD work or gaming, I'd recommend
sticking with the Latitude line. The only major benefit I see is that
nvidia cards are much more Linux friendly. An unimportant side note for
you, but possibly of benefit to others, is that the Quadro FXGo 1400 can
be tweaked to perform like its 6800 Go cousin.

In either case, I suggest checking out this thread on Dell forums
regarding getting Linux on the D610/D810:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor...essage.id=5793
It for the most part will apply to the I6000, M20, & M70 as well.

Lastly, I'd say the resolution should look good on the D810. I have a
similarly speced D610 (2.0GHz 1GB) w/ 1400x1050 ATI X300 and am very
happy with it (but it's a hassle to get direct rendering to work in
Linux). Unless you are debeloping OpenGL apps, this shouldn't be much
of an issue.

check for Linux drivers for both video cards that will probably help I
have the X300 256mb video card in my 6000 and I love it.

Wayne

Tony Mountifield wrote:

I'm trying to decide between a Latitude D810 and a Precision M70,
of similar specification (2GHz CPU, 1680x1050 screen).

They appear to be the same size and style of case, with the same
connectors in the same places.

The difference appears to boil down to just the video hardware,
with the D810 having ATI X300 with 64MB of Video RAM, and the
M70 having nVidia Quadro FX Go1400 with 256MB of Video RAM.

Are there any other differences that I may have missed? Would I get
a lot of benefit from the M70? I don't play games or use CAD apps,
mainly software development and office apps. I would also want to
dual-boot to Linux.

Thanks in advance for any comments...

Cheers
Tony