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    My shiny new XPS17

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by Fash, Jan 10, 2011.

  1. Fash

    Fash Notebook Enthusiast

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    Greetings!

    Firstly, sorry if this post annoys... i'm just a happy camper atm :)

    After months of research, i finally decided to get a XPS 17!

    So i got my brand spanking new I7 - 740qm, 8g Mem, 640gb Hdd, 3gb GT445 for $1100 (australian). Very happy with that. Also, i ordered it last friday.. and it just turned up! 3 day delivery time...Hooray for DFO's!

    My question is... is there anything i need to do to it? eg, updating drivers or nifty programs to increase output.

    Is the bloatware that bad? I'll be using it for audio work so freeing up any processing power is helpful i guess.

    I've been trawlling through the wealth of information on this site and have been both confused and been given ideas. Good to see i can replace the screen in the future if need be and i can switch out for a SSD.

    Thanks for all your assistance with making this decision to join the XPS family.
     
    Fash, Jan 10, 2011
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  2. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    Overall Dells have the least bloatware of all the manufacturers.

    I would say update video drivers and chipset as they do offer fixes and tune ups older versions of the driver will not offer. Any other driver I would only update if you are having issues.

    First thing I would do is create recovery media. Nothing like having a failing hard drive take out your recovery partition and no recovery media to save you. You can also order them under warranty but it takes for Dell to ship it and you would be stuck without discs until that point.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Jan 10, 2011
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  3. compwiz0620

    compwiz0620 Notebook Evangelist

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    Congratulations, that was quick!

    Yea, you should go through and compare device manager versions to the Dell drivers website, and update if Dell's are newer.

    Only thing I can really think of to increase performance would be overclocking the video card. Dell's Graphic Driver vs. Modified Nvidia Driver for 445M is a good thread about it.

    Bloatware doesn't seem too bad. Uninstall trials if you won't use the apps. Uninstall the antivirus if you are going to use something else. Uninstall Dell Datasafe Local/Online if you won't use them. Get rid of Dell Support Center and Dock if you won't use them. Mine was a bit slow booting with all the startup programs until I got an SSD. SSD makes things load much quicker.
     
    compwiz0620, Jan 10, 2011
    #3
  4. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    Removing Datasafe Local Backup will prevent you from making recovery discs. Not recommended. Datasafe Online is okay to remove.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Jan 10, 2011
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  5. phatphree

    phatphree Notebook Guru

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    Congrats to the new proud owner!
     
    phatphree, Jan 10, 2011
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