Inspiron 17R Upgrade Question?

Hi guys!


I just bought an Inspiron 17R from Dell Outlet and I want to upgrade the hard drive and the RAM before I start using it. It currently has a 500GB H/D and 4GB of RAM.

I'm thinking of buying a 750GB/1TB Western Digital SATA II hard drive for it ( WESTERN DIGITAL 750 GB SATA Scorpio Blue Mobile Hard Drive : Storage, Drives & Media | Dell) but I'm concerned there may be some limit in the BIOS preventing me from using a hard drive that size. Does anyone know if this is the case? (because it doesn't ship with more than a 640GB?)

I also want to upgrade to 6GB or 8GB of RAM but I'm pretty sure the BIOS limits it to 6GB. What's confusing me is Dell describing 6GB as 'Dual Channel'. I thought 'Dual Channel' was 2 identical sticks of RAM used together, and if they don't sell 3GB sticks of RAM, how do I get '6GB Dual Channel'?! Is it just a case of installing 2 x 4GB sticks so you have 8GB but it's only recognised as 6GB?!

I'd appreciate any help/advice!

 

Let me be more specific...

On the Dell Inspiron 17R description it says: "Up To 640GB Hard Drive (5400RPM)". But in the upgrades section for the Inspiron 17R it lists a 750GB Hard Drive as a possible upgrade. So does anybody know what the hard drive capacity of the Inspiron 17R actually is? Or isn't there a limit?!

 

For the time being, there's no practical limit. When standard notebook hard drives start running into the multi-terabyte range, you might see some funny stuff happen, but for now just about any conventional notebook HDD should work.

 

Cool, thanks for the info.

I actually made another error, a pretty fundamental one... I didn't check the drive dimensions, and presumed because it was a 2.5" HD it would fit my laptop. The Western Digital Blue Scorpio is apparently 3mm deeper than the other models and does not fit into my Dell Inspiron 17R laptop. Unfortunately...!