Going to order this today but want to see what people think first.

I have spec'd it out as follows at this meets about the maximum I would like to spend. I can get better spec on the Studio for the same money, or similar specs for less money but I think the extra is worth paying for the materials etc. I've looked at the pics and they look a lot better material wise then the two Inspirons my girlfriends mum and sister have.

I figure i've upgraded the screen and graphics and they are the only two things I can't update later. The processor should do me fine and the upgrades are quite expensive. I didn't think it worth upgrading the HDD more because I have 35gb of my 80GB still free on my current laptop. These should be cheap to upgrade later too.

Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5750 (2.00 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 cache)
Genuine Windows Vista SP1™ Home Premium - English
1 Year Base Warranty
2.0 mega pixel Camera & Midnight Blue for CCFL Display
15.4" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife™
Biometric Fingerprint Reader with BLACK accent
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB dedicated graphic memory
Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)

Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card - Europe - Core 2 Duo Processors

£649

 

Make sure you go for the extended warranty (DellCarePlus I think its called now). You want the option that includes the CompleteCare Accidental Damage. Trust me on this one... its worth the extra cash.

Example:

I had a m1710. The GPU fried after 2 years (after being replaced once). The part was backordered for a month and since they couldnt honor the "next day, on site repair" they ended up replacing the system with a m1730. Actually I lucked out. The first replacement was a beat up, heavily damaged 1730. After a conversation with a Customer Resolution Specialist, I now have a NEW (yes, NEW) m1730.

That warranty comes in handy.

 

That does sound good. I was trying to find out can you get the extended warranty and accidental cover at a later date or if it has to be bought at the time of purchase. It is very expensive when you are also buying a £650 ($1300?) laptop too! But at a later date its more affordable and ive heard of people getting good deals.

 

This CPU should be fine for:

Photoshop, Visual Studio, and the usual Email etc in Vista right?

I can't really afford to upgrade because its £45 just to get the 3MB L2 cache, 800mhz FSB and slightly better battery life still running at 2.0Ghz. Its £75 to go up to the 2.1 and just doesn't seem worth it for what i'm going to be doing.

I do plan to play some HL2 and Source Mods but I know the CPU will blitz those. Would like to play COD4 PC version (Have it for PS3 already) when im bored and GF is doing Uni work. Also maybe the last futuristic battlefield game that came out for PC as well as the new Civillizations games (I played the PS3 demo but want the PC version).

Should the CPU run all current games? I'm not really bothered about Crysis tbh and I don't need full graphics settings because i'm a console gamer these days and don't go near PC's for gaming. Since im buying a new laptop though with an 8600M GT I may as well dabble

 

As well as the gaming question could anybody answer this important question for me:

- Will the system I spec'd above completely Blitz my current Acer laptop in terms of performance, even though the Acer is on XP and the Dell will be on Vista? (for my usual stuff, browsing (with LOTS of open windows), photoshop, Visual Studio for programming)

 

Not sure if you can purchase the extended warranty after the fact... 2 years ago when I first purchased my m1710 I only chose the base warranty. I received a call from Dell Sales a couple of days after my 1710 arrived. They asked me if I would be interested in upping the warranty to 4 years and add CompleteCare (accidental damage). They charged me $119 bucks and it was a done deal.

I believe a few people have posted this isn't allowed/practiced any longer by Dell... Check with Dell Sales (just give em a call and ask them). I personally wouldn't chance it - just pay the extra now and rest easy knowing your investment will be taken care of if you spill a pint on the keyboard, drop it, or (knock on wood) a part fails after the first year.

Oh another thing, once you spec out your machine, print out the configuration then call Dell Sales. Tell them exactly what you want and ask them the best price they can offer. You can haggle a bit here. If you find you aren't getting anywhere with one rep, politely thank them hang up and call back. I remember shaving off 300 dollars and a free upgrade to overnight shipping when I ordered the m1710. Give it a shot. Doesn't hurt to ask.

 

Cheers dude I will deffo do that.

I asked about getting the extended warranty afterwards and the woman on online chat said you can but it will cost more to get it afterwards.

I think the accidental damage cover you probably can't by afterwards or you could wait until it did get damaged, buy it, wait a few weeks, then say it only just happened after you got the cover.

 

y dont u wait! man motevina! otherwise arnt u paying too much?

 

dont think montevina m1530 is coming anytime soon...

 

Yup, I remember I got somewhere near $260 worth of free upgrades, AND the price dropped by $100, but I had to go through 4 people. It never hurts to ask

 

Called through and couldn't get any knocked off the price, and the full accidental damage and extended warranty (3 years) came to £300 lol. Almost half the cost of the laptop! I'm, sure they can do better. I only really need it for 2 years anyway!

I'm gunna try again.

Re: Motevina I really don't see the prices staying the same anyway. I rather see them offering what they do now but with the option to upgrade to the newer processors and graphics card for extra cost. I imagine the cost to go up when the new chips etc are out, and for what I am paying I won't get a system thats very much better, if better at all.

Is it worth trying to mention about the new tech just having been released on the 14th to try and get the cost of the current stuff down a bit? Or will that be a bad tactic to take. I think for Motevina etc we won't get them in the UK for a month or two after the US and Canada?

 

Personally I would ditch the nine cell battery . . . unless you think that you are never going to drag your brick around I doubt the extra time will really be that convinient. The mony you saved could upgrade your processor (which, if you can afford a t8xxx or even 9xxx) might actually save a lot of power. Figure that smaller design, and more power can help keep the CPU OFF load which is pretty useful for conserving juice. If not that, then a bigger Harddrive is almost always worth it. They run faster (drives slow down the more filled up they become) and the second you get into ripping music, uploading photos / videos / games or whatever you will be full in no time!

Take it from me, I used to have a 20gb that I kept at 15gb, then I had an 80gb I kept at 60gb, then I thought I was REALLY splurging when I bought a 120 Gb. Last time I checked I somehow got her up to 95Gb. Programs keep getting fatter so you might as well bite the bullet a little.

Of course, all this really depends on the kind of user you are. I just know that in my experience it is usually a good idea to get the extra storage and a decent processor . . . especially since laptops are, by and large, expensive and limited in future upgrades.

 

For the space I keep most of my stuff on the External 400GB drive in my sig, as most of my data I don't have to keep with me. I just keep all of my music and photos on the HDD really.

In the UK the 9-Cell battery costs exactly the same as the 6-cell does. So I wouldn't save any money by going for the 6-cell battery so wouldn't be able to spend that anywhere else.

I've added another 1GB of RAM to bring it to 3GB and the price is now sitting at £669 which is over budget tbh.

To go just to a 2.1 ghz cpu it would cost £100 more on top of that, and it just doesn't seem worth it.

My main use is Visual Studio for programming and ASP.NET websites, and I use photoshop mainly for creating graphics for the web and not for print. That's why I would think the 2ghz C2D 667mhz should be okay. Plus in the XPS you get in the UK you only get 667Mhz RAM anyway. Wouldn't that underclock the CPU to 667 FSB?

 

Ahhh i've been looking at the "suggested configurations" and it seems as though you can save money by choosing one of these and modifying it as opposed to modifying the base spec. I am comparing the original spec I posted with 2GB Ram for £649 to this pre-configured spec for £748.

I have put in bold the extra spec you get for £100 (approx $200)


Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.10 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 3 MB L2 cache)
Genuine Windows Vista SP1™ Home Premium - English
1 Year Base Warranty
2.0 mega pixel Camera & Midnight Blue for CCFL Display
15.4" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife™
Biometric Fingerprint Reader with BLACK accent
3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [1x2048+1x1024]
320GB (5.400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB dedicated graphic memory
Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery

Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps) with Enhanced Data rate - Eur

Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-Card - Europe - Core 2 Duo Processors


The cost of these upgrades alone from the standard spec are:

£100 - CPU
£20 - Extra 1GB of RAM
£30 - Bluetooth adapter
£50?? - 320GB HDD

I had to guess the price for the 320gb HDD because to go to 250GB is £30 but you can not choose bigger than that if you are modifying the base spec. That does seem like you are saving quite a bit....OR does it mean I can get the price down on the original spec??

 

Only thing is I don't reckon I NEED the extra stuff and £650 is ideally my budget that I want to stick to. But for £100 will I get much better performance compared to my original spec? Does anybody know if its possible to downgrade the spec on the suggested ones in any way such as get the same setup but without the bluetooth which I really don't need, or are these just special offers that are fixed at that price + upgrades?

Get the extra spec or get better warranty?? Whats worth it because I don't think i'd like to spend on both of them tbh

 

Unless you are going to be using a Bluetooth headset or device, the Bluetooth card isnt really all that great. I didn't have one on my m1710 and they added it for free to the new 1730. I was thinking how cool it would be to transfer files from my Motorola Z3. Well, I used it once and honestly havent since then. It's no big deal. Be interesting to figure out how much more they are charging you for that in the other configuration you saw...

I'm sure you can purchase the RAM aftermarket and save some cash. DDR2 667Mhz SODIMMs are what you need... Not sure if zipzoomfly or newegg ship to the UK - check it out.

Remember, keep at it - just give em another call and haggle again. It'll work just be patient. I ended up putting off the purchase for nearly a week and was ended up with like 10+ quotes from different reps. It just takes time to secure the price and configuration you want...

 

The only reason I see the Bluetooth as attractive is to connect my N95, but tbh it uses a standard USB cable which you should always carry one with you in your bag imo, so the bluetooth isn't THAT convenient.

You deffo save money by getting one of their configs but sometimes its only £10, but can obviously be more such as the second example.

I'm not really bothered about the extra processor power, It seems the FSB at 800mhz is a waste of time because they still give to 667mhz RAM which makes the FSB run at 667 too right? (Could be wrong on this).

Extra HDD space is all well and good but I could always whack in a 500GB internal 7200rpm drive in the future if I really need that space (and when they become more mainstream). The price of a HDD is only going to come down over time.

For the RAM I was going to upgrade myself and just take the standard 2GB to begin with but to get a 2GB stick (Which would bring it to 3GB) would cost £30 anyway and Dell would only charge £20 for it.

To upgrade from 2GB to 4Gb with dell is £40, to buy it myself it would be £50..Thats £10 more than Dell charge...But how much would I be able to sell the 2 x 1GB sticks on Ebay?

Is 2GB RAM enough to run Vista and play current games? A lot of people go overkill with RAM. I know it doesnt hurt to have more, and I will add it in the future...but with 2GB will I still be running Vista perfectly with my photoshop and Visual Studio work?