Buying XPS m1330 in UK, Advise?

Hi,

I have decided to purchase the Dell XPS m1330.

1. From selecting the options for Harddrive Capacity, i want a 7200rpm drive, however, the only 7200rpm drive they have in the Uk is a 200GB (7200RPM) SATA Hard Drive [add £176.25 or £4/month1] which i think is outragous. The US have the 160GB (7200RPM) SATA Hard Drive.

I know i purchase an after market one later and replace it myself but How easy is it to do this and would i void the waranty?

2. The US site have 2 options for sound:

High Definition Audio 2.0 [Included in Price] and Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition [add $25 or $1/month1]
Ultra-realistic surround sound where as the UK, don't have these options, why and which one will i get in the UK?

3. Also, which Wireless card shall i get? The Intel 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card or Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card?

This is the system i've specked up and cost:

InspironTMXPS 1330(N0713307) Qty 1
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 Processor (2.2GHz,800MHz,4MB L2 cache), Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium - English Unit Price Incl. VAT £1,323.63
Catalog Number: 202 N0713307
Module Description Show Details
Base Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 Processor (2.2GHz,800MHz,4MB L2 cache)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium - English
Memory 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
Keyboard Internal Lightweight Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Video Card nVidia® GeForce™ Go 8400M GS with 128MB GDDR3 dedicated graphics memory
Hard Drive 200GB (7200RPM) SATA Hard Drive
Modem No Modem
Optical Devices Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load Drive, including SW
Wireless Networking Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe
Shipping Documents English Documentation and Eng/Ire Power Cord XPS M1330
Gedis Bundle Reference List N0713307 - XPS 1330 Best
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English
Standard Warranty Base Warranty - 1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support)
Enhanced Service Packs Base Warranty - 1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support)
Protect your new PC No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English
Power Supply 65W AC Adapter
Bluetooth Dell™ TrueMobile 355 internal Bluetooth Module - European
Order Information Inspiron Order - UK
Primary Battery Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
Carrying Cases No Carry Case
Money Off - Shows in Strikethrough Save £50 inc VAT
Biometric Identification Biometric Fingerprint Reader
Dell System Media Kit Resource DVD - (Diagnostics & Drivers)
Colour Choice Tuxedo Black & 0.3 mega pixel Camera for White-LED Display
Accidental Damage Support No Accidental Damage Support
Futuristic Futuristic Order Flag SKU
Online Promotion Option for GEDIS Configs Dell Internet Order.
LCD 13.3" UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) White-LED Display (300 nits) with TrueLife™

TOTAL Incl. VAT:£1,323.63
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total excl. VAT VAT Rate Total incl. VAT
Sub-total £1,126.49 17.50 % £1,323.63
Total Delivery Charge £51.06 17.50 % £60.00
Total Price £1,177.55 17.50 % £1,383.62


Thanks.

 

1. About the hard disk - here in China I was able to order the 160GB 7200rpm drive. One warning about buying aftermarket HDD is that (at least) some versions of Dell Media Direct have a super-hidden partition that may be hard to replicate on the new drive. I guess that means you might lose the ability to do a fast boot into the application which allows you to view photos, play DVDs etc without starting Windows proper.

2. I opted for the Audigy software but I am not clear on what real benefit it will yield. As far as I can tell it means more controls on the Volume control with some ability to mix sounds from multiple sources. Also EAX sound effect support for gaming etc. (though it isn't clear to me how you can get more than Stereo out of this notebook). If you want to add echo, reverb etc.to the audio output then I guess you should select it. Also I think it enables "audio cleanup of MP3s" which I suppose could be some kind of pop suppressor?

3. About the wireless card - you are perhaps in the same boat as me. I don't have any plans to get a wireless n router (the DSL service I use doesn't justify it) and I don't expect the wireless hotspots I use to have 'n' for a long time. The 802.11a/b/g may give better compatability with a,b,g hotspots and routers (though in time I guess updates for 'n' software would solve that).

However, I selected the 'n' to be as future proof as possible. One weakness of the M1330 is that it has 10/100 Ethernet and not Gigabit ethernet (1000). I guess if you are planning a high speed home network a wireless n router might be a partial solution as they claim to offer 150-300MBPS
[In fact I don't think the China site is offering any wireless alternative to the Intel 'n' option]
By the way - these are described as mini-cards. I am wondering if they are internal or sit in the card slot. I am expecting/hoping for internal.

 

Well I have just got one myself, im a techie so ill upgrade the HDD myself at a later date, but you will need to use something like ghost to get a 'proper' image across, bear in mind you will need a usb 2.5" to usb converter or something as well to get both drives shown at once.

The sound blaster stuff sounds a bit of a bunch of rubbish to me, but im sure people with it will enjoy it, or something...

Also I do hope you're using quidco for 4.5% off the final price, the following code at the checkout for a further 5% off the price PWTSRB?0HBF?BM

And of course the following clickthru to get £70 off instead of £50 - http://www.dmxdimension.com/blogcategory/dell_uk_xps_m1330.html

 

Yes. Get on the phone to them. The sales people have options we can't see.

On the phone I was able to downgrade the £849 version to the Intel X3100 GPU (I want battery life, not graphics power), add the LED backlight display and have a second 6 cell battery for £879.01p. Maybe if I played hard to get I could have got the price down further but I would have been well past £1,000 if I had put the T7100 and 2GB of RAM onto a lower spec.

I opted for the standard abg wireless for backwards compatibility. Wireless n may have better range and higher speed (and I think it uses more power) but g is fast enough unless you are planning to stream media over a wireless network.

John

 

You know with the 4% discount i wonder what my order would cost? My order came to £1,188 and i wonder if it is worth it for me to persue the 4% discount maybe they can bill my card for less when they finally debit my card when my laptop ships.
I am terrible at maths so i cannot work this out for myself. Thanks for the help.

 

4% of £1188 is £47.52.

Worth having?

John

 

Thanks i tried but they would not do it. I ordered my order over the phone and i got £200 of and they said that i have got the maxium amount of money of. I have read of people here who have got more money of though actually.

I was told pretty curtly that if i want to use the coupon that i should cancel my order and then order over the net and get £50 only of.

 

Thanks for all your replies.

1. I've decided to go for the 200GB 7200rpm save me upgrading in the furture.

2. Here in the UK, we don't have any options for sound so i had to go with the one supplied.

3. Still not sure about the card. I am running my trusty old Wireless B and want to upgrade my router anyway. I've opted for Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card as i want it futureproof.

One question, is the Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card backwards compatible with Wireless ABG + N?

 

Im not that sure. Coz Zepto cost the same and have a more powerful specification, especially the 8600M GT. European always has higher Dell prices then in US. And we dun have Dell Coupons.. And i guess i have configured the most expensive M1330 in history, see sig.

 

From looking at http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/l...ss_inspn_nb?c=uk&l=en&s=bsd&~lt=popup&ref=CFG

Select compare side by side,

It does appear that the Intel Wireless N is compatiable with the following and therefore work with existing wireless network:

IEEE 802.11a
IEEE 802.11b
IEEE 802.11g
Draft 802.11n

 

Correct me if i'm wrong?

 

so whats better

Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
Features Intel Centrino Duo Mobile technology

or

Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card ?

i just found some info about 'n' that it has greater wireless range x2...

 

Don't worry, the protocols are accumulative. The new card will be a/b/g/n compatible.

All the best.

 

wish i'd known that lol. I'll be damned if i'm changing my order now though..i'll just buy the module later lol

 

I ended up going with the Wireless N as at least it compatiable will all WLans.

Name is misleading though lol. AGN rather than ABGN.

 

If you're not happy with upgrading the HDD yourself i'd certainly go for the 200 gb version. To future proof - depending how long you expect to have this laptop, you should probably go for the N version for sure.