Laptop Dumb Dumb here with Xps 1530 questions

So, i'm currently in the market to buy my very FIRST laptop ever...

And i've decided i want an Xps 1530, such a beautiful machine

After trolling the forums a bit i've noticed alot of people saying in the States theres newegg to buy ram / Hdd / Cpu to upgrade for cheaper than dell sells items.

Only problem is this, i live in canada, and will have to order from dell.ca which

A. Doesnt give the huge 20 - 25 % coupon deals

B. Not Sure if i can buy from dell.com and see if they will ship to me here so i can use the 20-25% coupon.

Few questions i have...

1. Cpu is what again... should i buy my m1530 with the 2.6Ghz Core 2 duo or can that be upgraded ? (I'm very computer oblivious lol, cpu is the operating system? is the core 2 duo the mother board ?)

2. Can i get vista 64 bit so i can upgrade the ram to 4 Gb ?

3. Is there a site in Canada that is well known and reputable for their pricing that can compare to Newegg?

4. If i configure the m1530 from dell with the top of the line 2.6 Ghz core 2 duo , with the 256 mb Graphic card, is pretty much everything else upgradable? If not, what should i basically spec the machine out with for shipping so i can get the best of the non-upgradable parts, and be able to upgrade the rest


Thanks for all the help everyone

Truely i'm trying to become more laptop savvy just takes a while to get back into the game

 

I'd go with the 2.5GHz CPU. You won't notice any difference, and you'll save a ton of cash. You can upgrade the HDD and RAM later if you want.

Good luck.

 

Look at Tigerdirect.ca there are usually some good deals there - not as good as NewEgg, but deals up north here never are.

 

so i'm on tigerdirect right now, and my ignorance once again is getting the best of me...

what TYPE of ram do i need lol DDR2 OR DDR2 Duel channel??

sometimes it just hurts being computer stupid when your trying to stretch the most out of your money


Edit:

Found some ram but not sure if it would be good

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3582354&CatId=1726

Has all the bigger numbers lol...

 

That RAM will work although it will automatically downclock the MHz to 667.

As to your questoins...

1. Cpu is what again... should i buy my m1530 with the 2.6Ghz Core 2 duo or can that be upgraded ? (I'm very computer oblivious lol, cpu is the operating system? is the core 2 duo the mother board ?)

It might be able to be upgraded but you might as well go with the T9300 (2.5 GHz) because that will suffice for as long as the computer will last far longer the the GFX card. The operating system on the computer is Vista. And Core 2 Duo means that it has two cores, this is pretty standard now and is very helpful.

2. Can i get vista 64 bit so i can upgrade the ram to 4 Gb ?

I wouldn't because some things are not compatible with Vista 64, I think you should stick with 32 bit.

3. Is there a site in Canada that is well known and reputable for their pricing that can compare to Newegg?

Already answered...

4. If i configure the m1530 from dell with the top of the line 2.6 Ghz core 2 duo , with the 256 mb Graphic card, is pretty much everything else upgradable? If not, what should i basically spec the machine out with for shipping so i can get the best of the non-upgradable parts, and be able to upgrade the rest

The things that are easily upgradable are RAM and HDD for the most part.

Anymore questions please ask

 

Yeah I must agree with the T9300. Very powerful and uses less power and produces less heat than the T7XXX series.

 

hey, this thread is helping me as well... i'm going to throw in a question too if that's alright (I didn't think it warranted a new thread and I suck at searching things).

With regards to the NVidia 8600M GT (256mb) that can come in a Dell XPS M1530, do you have to select whether you want it to be DDR3 or DDR2, or is the 8600M GT always DDR3? I'm definitely confused because the RAM is only DDR2... can anyone clarify this for me? Thanks for the help, and sorry for using your thread Flounder911!

 

In the XPS, the 8600M GT is GDDR3.
In the Inspirons it was GDDR2

 

I'm pretty sure the XPS comes with 667Mhz DDR2 anyway..It does in the UK according to the Dell website. Do you get a better deal in the US/Canada and get better RAM?