Format 700m?

Took advantage of the 500 off deal the other day, so my 700m ships on the 15th. I've read in corners of this site that some users recomend reformatting the HD as soon as the PC is out of the box. I like this idea b/c my work computer has several programs competing at once to run a file.

I'll install office and probably go with the free apple software for music and video (and windvd for dvds). Are the Dell media apps any good? I probably buy photoshop elements to do picture editing. What anti-virus, internet security app should I go with?

Is this a good idea? What discs come with the computer that would facilitate this process - I've system restored a Sony Viao (WinXP Home) twice and reformated my old old dell desktop (win 98) 4 or 5 times, so I have a little experience. If I format rather than system restore, how do I get the OS onto the computer?

Down with the AOL desktop icon!

 

You install as if it was a normal XP CD. Dell media apps in general aren't great. Many of them ask for you to buy the full version, which is very annoying.

* Inspiron 8600c * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo * 2x512 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * 60GB 7200RPM HDD *

 

I installed WinXP on my 700m as soon as I received it. I checked out the included apps before formatting everything though.

Out of the included apps, I can only say that Microsoft Encarta was useful.

The CD writer software was too basic for my needs, and the Dell Multimedia Experience is also too basic (however, since it's so easy to use and the characters are so BIG, it would be good for using when the video output is plugged to a TV).

Most of the other included apps on the bundled CDs were demos only. The Norton Security suite is great but limited to 90 days.

 

I also took advantage of the 500 off offer and have had my 700m for a week. Got 10 more days or so to decide if I keep it.
If I do I will install a 7k60 7200rpm 60gb hard drive into it. The current drive sucks when trying to burn DVD's at 8x. Some apps also run slow.
Ive reprogrammed the pageup pagedown keys but am still not happy with the choices. Wish Dell had kept those keys seperate - I use em so much!

I like the portability size and quietness of the notebook. Got used to the keys and they feel solid.
Wireless works great .. good range. I get almost 5 hrs from the 8 cell battery.

 

I would say that the slowness is because you don't have enough RAM. I bought my 700m with the intention of buying more RAM from another source. when i got it, 256RAM is not sufficient even for normal use. i think if you get the 7K60 HD you aren't going to notice any system improvement even though there it is a 7200rpm drive.

As for BasicNeeds: i hope you bought the 8-cell battery. as for reformatting the HD, many users like to do that, b/c of all the extra stuff that they do not use, plus there are all those trialware programs and when they expire, they just sit there. there is a 3.5GB partition that has mirror of your as shipped HD for system restore. Dell also includes OS on a separate disc. the programs are on another separate disc, and the drivers are on another separate disc. since i'm comfortable with not needing system restore, i deleted the 3.5GB partition, and repartitioned my HD to my preference, then clean installed the OS. There are several of your devices that will not install properly until you add them from your disc. But i just got them from the Dell website to ensure i had the latest updates. windows update will also install new driver updates. also, i believe intel website has a newer 2200BG wireless driver compared to dell's site.

applications: i use norton, you can use windows built in internet security, or i use zone alarm, i have an ipod, so i use itunes, the dvd program that comes with dell isn't bad. i use photoshop. applications are all preference things though.

 

256MB of Memory is bare minimum with Windows XP as it takes up most of that...the most you can do with that is light internet browsing and email...anything more than that and you'll run into slowness issues. For normal users I recommend at least 512MB if not 768MB (if you have the cash)....for power users you gotta get at least a Gig of RAM nowadays...that's what I'll be getting with my 9200.

--------------------------------------
Have: NEC Versa 6230 w/Broken LCD Backlight (LCD still works just can't see anything easily)

Interested in: Inspiron 9200

 

I bought my 700m with 512Mb of memory (free double memory upgrage). The reason I say that the drive is slow is because I see the HD light constantly on when Im burning DVD's. Also the Task Manager does not report very high CPU activity, or virtual memory usage over 512MB so there is not much swapping going on. i.e. memory is sufficient.

In contrast on my desktop, the hard drive light just blinks occasionally when Im burning a DVD...

 

From what Ibve read on some other forums, upgrading to a 7k60 makes the 700m MUCH faster. This includes bootup and running apps. Im sure it also speeds up video and large-photo editing.
Heres a link work looking at regarding this:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=51&threadid=1426617&enterthread=y

 

until someone actually posts benchmark tests, it is all subjective. i will say that going from a 30GB 4200rpm to a 60GB 7200rpm you will notice a difference. part of it is also the larger sized hard drive not just the rotational speed. I have a 5400rpm and it is very fast, and i do not see the HD light flashing as a previous poster says it does with his. and this is running dvd's or other things like photo editing, etc. i also have 1.256GB RAM. from benchmark reports its tough to distinguish between 5400rpm and 7200rpm, about 1ms difference. i am waiting until the 7200rpm drive come out in 100gb or larger before i buy one. i read those threads, and no body posted any benchmark reports, nor did they say if they boosted ram etc. when i went from a 20gb HD to a 80gb HD with 5400rpm, there was a noticable performance boost. so there is more to performance boosts than just rotational speed. i'm turned off by hitachi after having a bad one and reading bad reports (not the 7k60). i am really interested in western digital scorpio WD800VE which is only a 5400rpm.

 

this is what i'd like to see, because i cannot find any kind of performance benchmark test online. a comparison between a 4200rpm, 5400rpm, 7200rpm laptop hard drive. all three must be 60gb and 8mb cache. then we can see what the performance gain is. of course you use the same computer configuration (i.e. ram, processor, os, graphics, etc.) by just swapping out the hard drive. does anyone have a link to any site that has done this kind of test? i've seen 20gb 4200rpm compared to a 60gb 7200rpm, and that just ain't going to tell what the real difference is, because that's comparing apples to oranges in my book.

 

imttim
Yes I agree that the results are subjective and no benchmark numbers have been posted. I myself would like to see some actual numbers. If I come across any I will post a link here.

However I find it hard to believe that so many people are wrong or exaggerating. Upgraders seem to be emphatic about fast bootup times and application run times. No one who had done it has regretted upgrading to the 7200rpm drive or even said it made little or no difference. Benchmark numbers wold be good to have.

In the meantime Im considering if I should keep or return my 700m.

 

BENCHMARKING
------------
Toms Hardware has a good comparison on 7200, 5400 and 4200 rpm drives.
The 4200 is a 80GB drive and scored much lower than the 7200rpm hitachi
Here is a link to the test:
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20030813/index.html

Heres a direct link to the benchmark. The 7200rpm drive outperforms the 4200rpm one by 35-45% in read/write tests.
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20030813/mini-harddisks-06.html