Need advice on buying laptop

Hey people, just looking for a bit of advice on getting a new laptop with gaming capabilities that is still good for travelling.
Came up with the Dell XPS 1530, priced at around $2000 for the following:
(this is all off the top of my head because I'm at work)
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz processor
2 GB RAM
Nvidia 8600 GT
250 GB hard drive
Wireless N, Bluetooth, etc.

Now I can pay an extra approx "50 for a 2.4 GHz processor, or "50 for an extra Gb of RAM. Or $300 for both.
My question is this: which of these options will give me more oomph for my gaming, or will they both provide a significant amount of oomph making them both worthwhile for $300?

Thanks in advance.

and... got off the phone to rossmanx just before

is there any difference between Vista home preium AERO and Vista Ultimate 32 bit? and is should be get the extra processor or ram for either one?

yes. there's a difference. but not one that's worth it for most people, just get home premium.

and in regards to the question of
2.2 or 2.4 ghz processor?
and also
2gig of ram or 3 gig of ram?

should you get the slight amount more for gaming?

more ram? always good. more cpu? wont notice it so much.

I'd say swap the CPU upgrade for another 2gb of RAM so you end up with 4gb in total. Most laptops only have 2 dimm slots so may as well get a 2gb stick in each.

3gb isn't odd for a laptop. it's not unusual for them to have 1GB internally, with one expansion slot that you can get at.

in this case it probably has 1gb internal, and another 1gb in the expansion slot to start with.

Most laptops I've gotten at have had 2 slots, havn't seem many with internal (like fixed?) memory tho...

Quote from Psycho Penguin;340198:
I'd say swap the CPU upgrade for another 2gb of RAM so you end up with 4gb in total. Most laptops only have 2 dimm slots so may as well get a 2gb stick in each.

If youre running 32bit OS you can't make use of the full 4gb of ram...

2gb would be heaps if youre running windows xp but more then merrier.

If you're gaming on a laptop don't get vista.. you will see a frame rate drop of like 20fps. When running games on a laptop you're gonna need every frame you can muster.

Also Pala is right, you will see more results from "50 worth of ram upgrades than "50 worth of processor upgrades.

I've seen the base version of this laptop playing crysis fairly well. Playable anyway.

if that's any indication.

It's a laptop. It's cheaper to get the upgrades now, than chase them up later.

is vista still that bad for gaming?

Quote from psyave;340232:
is vista still that bad for gaming?

Its 'bad' in the sense that you will get a lower frame rate compared to an XP machine.