Noob Questions!

First of all thanks for reading. I'm glad to be here

Ordered the R2 two days ago and can't wait to get my paws on it. But before I get into a frenzy, I have a few questions for you guys...

1) I went w/ the Dell wifi card over the Intel Ultimate. I figured that unless I had a MiFi router, it wouldn't really matter. Is there any benefit to upgrading that later, if I stick w/ a standard fare B/G/N router?

2) I was sorely hoping that the eSATA 'Powershare' port was Dell's version of eSATA+p. This seems not to be the case. Can anyone confirm/deny that? I'd really like to be able to plug one cable in and be done with it. Okay, maybe that's being a little lazy. But you know...

3) Any recommendations for burn-in testing? CPU's, GPU's, Memory?

I appreciate it! Looking forward to contributing to this forum with simple, oft-repeated and annoying questions (and the occasional random one concerning the best leveling spec for my druid)

 

i saw no difference in speed with the 6300 over the 1520, i did use the 1520 to upgrade my Wife's archaic dell insperion 6400 from 3945 wifi to the 1520 n card. i would worry about upgrading the card, save yourself $40. i cant comment about the esata, i don't use it, i haven't since i got this thing. go to the bench marking thread to get a list of Benching programs that will test your machine. congrats!

 

Welcome to the Alien community!!!

3) Any recommendations for burn-in testing? CPU's, GPU's, Memory?

For the initial testing you could use Dells built in Diagnostic test at the boot menu. Keep hitting F12 to load the boot menu and then select diagnostic. This will run through a diagnostic test on the parts of the notebook.

As for benchmarks and burn in tests you can use Furmark, 3d Mark 06, Vantage.

You can use GPU-Z, hwmonitor and HWiNFO32 to monitor your temps and usage. Cheers.

 

The N6300 will make no difference unless you run a N router.
Then you would see a big difference. Enjoy your new system.

 

i didn't see any difference between the two. i re-installed my 1520 when i got the N+ router and i get the same speeds as i do with the 6300. but that's just me i run super slow DSL @ 3.0mps so maybe if you have a real connection it will make a difference.

 

Very nice. Thanks!!!

I'm kind of an old school purist, when it comes to connections anyway. Wifi for web browsing and e-mail. Ethernet for everything that matters

So no one knows about the eSATA thing. It's cool. I can't imagine it's a priority for many ppl. Maybe that'll be my first contribution, as I really want to test it out!

Absolutely stoked about the multitouch find. Can't wait to try that. One of the things I love about my MBP is the multitouch. So that's really awesome news...

 

Doesn't the 6300 just provide more range and a faster transfer speed if you were moving large files on a wireless network? My 1520 can max out my ISPs upload and download speeds. OP is saying they don't see a difference even with an N router. The 6300 has got to shine somewhere, or else there's no point.

 

The port is a hybrid USB + eSATA port, and is the same as can be found in any number of systems.

If you look at the port, you'll see the block in the middle that's used in all USB ports. On the underside of the block are the pins that are used for USB, and on the top side are the pins that are used to eSATA. The idea is that you can draw 5V of power via the USB power pins, and use that to power the drive.

However, I have yet to find a drive that can use this power, making it a fairly useless feature. The only benefit of having this kind of port seems to be that it takes up less space than a separate eSATA connector.

 

Right! It goes under a few different names: eSata+p, eSata/USB Combo, Power-over-eSata. But it's all basically what you're saying... 5v power along the same cable and connector. In all honesty though, I'm getting worked up over nothing. It's just as easy to use a separate USB cable for the power (after all, we have four of them!).

Not gonna lie though, would've been a lot more convenient to have a few USB 3.0 connectors in there

@nzgeek, Hope you're enjoying the new R2. Mine should be here tomorrow. Spec'd out pretty much the same

@TurbodTalon, I would imagine that's the gist of it. Doing some reading, MIMO allows for higher speed and more resilience. Apparently, it's the 'next generation' in wireless. That's great. And if I have to send my M17 in for service, I might have them upgrade it, as it might be convenient for smaller file xfers (or anything bigger, where I'm not time-constrained).

Anyway, thx again everyone!!! So stoked about tomorrow. Dell says it shipped today. And since L.A. is a central hub for a lot of stuff, we get things quickly (cheapest shipping at Newegg usually shows up the next day).

But I got one last thing. I'm kind of at this crisis point. I bought this laptop... and I have no idea what I'm going to use it for I mean gaming, obviously. But all I really play anymore is WoW, some COD4 and some Battlefield 2. And it's like, "Why did you need Crossfire again, Mike?" So I need some good title recommendations. FPS category: MW2 or BC2? Anyone playing SC2? Anyone NOT playing SC2? What about an MMO like Star Trek? Conan? WoW is getting a bit repetitive.

K.Thx.Bye.