Dell veterans help me!

I haven't been following dell for a couple years because i wasn't in need of a new computer but, now that i am, i was wondering how dell usually initiates its new processors. I really want to get an m1210, but i don't know if i should wait for merom to be out later in august. I have to go to school august 28th, so it'd be cutting it close. Will dell just release the new processor into all of its notebooks at once, or is there a chance that the m1210 won't have it for another couple months? Also, will dell release a new notebook model to go along with this new processor? And finally, would dell will start taking orders for core 2 duo notebooks in early/mid august so the computers arrive late august, or do orders start late august?

 

I think you should wait till the end of august.

 

i doubt its going to be in notebooks for a few months. i know im not waiting. it'll be plenty expensive and only ~20% performance gain.it does however serve to drive down the prices of the present yonah chips

 

What JetStar said.

Paladin from PowerNotebooks recently posted that he would be getting the chips the 28th I think and they would be available in his systems the first week of August. Doesn't affect you, except you can get a feel for the sticker-shock to expect.

Depends on how many of the chips Dell can get and what they have on the drawing board. I think the M1210 will eventually go to Merom since it is a drop-in replacement. How quickly that happens depends whether Dell has a Merom specific model to introduce, and whether they want to add it to the XPS 1710 or E1405/E1505 (or other models) first.

Unknown

I doubt they'll take pre-orders. What you might do is keep an eye on the M1210 support pages for a BIOS release to support Merom. I know they released a BIOS upgrade for the Nividia GO board for the E1505 a couple of weeks before the hardware was offerred.

 

Power is really the main thing. C2D will use a lot less power than current CD's. My best guess is that it won't result in noticable system performance until they release games that are designed to take advantage of this sort of thing.

I wouldn't wait.

 

Whenever you buy from Dell make sure you get at least a 2 year warranty

 

Power is important, but it's also cost and future-proofing. If you want to run 64-bit Vista and 64-bit apps, you will need C2D (not that this will be important for a couple of years). Yes, you could buy CD now and upgrade later, but then you are likely voiding the warranty, as well as buying both the CD and C2D processors.

FWIW.

 

You've waited this long; another month/month and a half won't kill you.

 

thanks a lot guys, i think i'm just gonna wait... i dunno how much longer i can wait though. i'm starting to get obsessive about checking news.google.com and tech news sites for info

 

okay, ill admit i was having a tough time convincing myself that i was gonna wait but this article helped me a bit and i hope it helps some others out there too

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1742389823;fp;2;fpid;1

"Dell also plans to use the mobile version of the Core 2 Duo, "Merom," in its Precision, Latitude, Inspiron and XPS notebook lines by the end of August."

whether or not they are talking about the xps m1210 isn't certain, but i doubt they would leave it behind

 

i would get a decent dual core for $1000 right now. 64 is something to plan for, but i dont think it will become mainstream until in a year or two. so if you buy the merom right now, even it will be old by the time 64 becomes mainstream and you will need a new computer.