Got my vostro 1700!!!

Well yesterday I got my vostro in the morning and did my tweaking with no fresh install. I spent the rest of the day gaming and multitasking and let me tell you I couldn't be happier. The specs:

t8100
8600gt
WUXGA 1920x1200
160gb 7200rpm
Vista business

With all the bloatware and usual crap OEMs put on there with a few tweaks this thing runs solid and lightning fast. I still have all the pretty aero and flashy visuals on and still I cant get this thing to stutter or flinch at any task I throw at it. I can only imagine what a fresh install would do for this laptop.

The feel is amazing for gaming and typing, although I do admit there is a very slight learning curve to typing on the keyboard. Heat was non existent, as well as noise so gaming for hours and multitasking all day at work leaves your head clear of humming/fan noise/HDD noise/ and even CD noise. The wieght is alot less then expected, as the reviews say it is heavy and cumbersome. Rather it fit in my bag with easy and no forcing needed and the wieght is not even noticable from my odl 15.4 acer I have.

As for the quality, I wasnt suprised since we have a 1500 vostro in the office that has awsome build quality and the 1700 is no different. Solid build and no flex what so ever on the lcd area. Now I wouldnt call it a toughbook or anything but this isnt a cheaply built rig.

The only gripe I have is in the graphics department. An option for an 8800 would have been nice being that it offers WUXGA and is a dektop replacement. Although the 8600gt does great at maxed resolution and settings in WoW and my RTS games, for the size the 8600gt should be the entry level card. But all in al for the price I paid I got a multitasking monster, with the capabilities to do all the gaming Ill ever need for at least 2 years that has the upgradability to newer technology when I need it. For my use 9/10 with the only flaw being the graphics option.

 

Congrats on the purchase

Get a second hard drive, RAID 0, and you're ready to go.

When you bought it, you did know that the 8600M GT ain't gonna cut it for the latest games in WUXGA... right? Scaling down doesn't sound that bad, from what I've heard [I wouldn't know -- I did get the WXGA for a reason, aside from my poor eyesight xD;]

Actually I do kinda wish I got the 1700 myself. Dual hard drives in RAID sounds kinda cool. I'd like to see those zippy startup times And I don't bring out my laptop that much either so weight isn't an issue. However, it was a lot more expensive than the 1500 at the time I bought my lappy [that was around November, and if I remember correctly, the price difference was around $300 for a same specced 1700]. So, for how much did you get yours?

EDIT: Also, you mentioned bloatware? Vostro? Are you sure?

 

Theres no RAID controller on the 1700 (although apparently you can do it with Vista in software). 2HD's yup - RAID controller nope.

 

Software raid is crap.

 

What is the higher intel you can put on this lap?

 

T9300 at the mo I think. Dell recently updated all the BIOS's for Penryn support.