Inspiron 9100: Advice and Questions

First of all, great forum/site. I've been reading reviews and comments non-stop for a few weeks now.

With that said [ ] , I've been in the hunt for a desktop "replacement" and have been considering Dell's Inspiron 9100 and Acer's Aspire 2003LMi. It seems that the concensus is that Dell is having issues with the 9100, though with the current price drop, I think I'm willing to give them a shot.

Do you think the 9100 configuration below will meet my needs?

Needs: Desktop replacement to use from office to office. Applications: Adobe Photoshop; Macromedia Dev software; the occasional DVD movie; moderate gaming (NHL 2004, and most FPS games like half life 2).

- weight: not an issue
- battery life: not an issue

Inspirion 9100 configuration:
----------------------------

Inspiron™ 9100, Pentium® 4 3.0GHz, 15.4-in. WUXGA

Memory: 512MB DDR 400MHz 2 DIMMs

Video Card: 128MB ATI™ Mobility Radeon™ 9700

CD ROM/DVD ROM: Free Modular 4X CD/DVD burner (DVD+RW/+R)

Hard Drive: 60GB Ultra ATA 7200rpm Hard Drive

Primary Battery: 98 WHr Primary Battery

Wireless Networking Cards:
Dell® Wireless 1350 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps)

Hardware Support Services:
1 Year Return to Depot


[?] Questions

1) What kind of performance can I expect running large photoshop files and multiple applications? (my current pc is a p3-866, 512mb pc100 ram, 64mb geforce2 mx, WDC 80gb 7200rpm).

2) What do you recommend I change on this configuration?

3) How do you like the 15.4 widescreen? is it as great as people let on? How's the brightness and display on the 9100?

4) Support services... is 1 year enough? Should I upgrade to the 3year or other?


Thanks in advance for any and all feedback, suggestions and comments. I'm doing my best to read everything I can and totally appreciate the time and effort everyone has made to help others with their questions regarding the big notebook investment. thanks again!

- mal

 

Hi Mal,

I think you've chosen really great specs there, and it'll definitely run all the multimedia applications you've mentioned. I have an I8600, with lower processor than yours and it's great running Adobe Photoshop even whilst opening several large files at the same time! You've chosen all the right stuff; WUXGA screen, 7k60 HD, 4X DVD burner, ATI 9700, 3GHz chip and b/g wireless.

But I need to ask you about the memory. Are you getting the 512MB (2 DIMMs) out of choice or because it's a special offer? My advice would be to get 1GB or RAM, especially if you're going to handle large multimedia files and have several applications open at the same time. Don't buy the RAM from Dell, just get the 256MB option, buy 2x 512MB sticks from Crucial and chuck your 256.

The screen on my I8600 is the same as on the 9100, and my verdict is it's extremely clear and bright, and yes I really love it! Was editing some astrophotographs the other day, and the detail was stunning. There is the problem of tiny text, but I've reset the font settings in all my applications, including Latex, and now I don't notice it anywhere. You might also want to adjust the HEX number for Explorer if you want largish text whilst web surfing (make sure it's set to '1' and not '0'; the latter will give more crisp graphics, but smaller text).

As for support services... If you could get the 3 year support, I think you should go for it, even though I didn't myself. My feeling is the 9100 is going to be working harder and hotter than other laptops, and there might be more opportunity in the long run for things to go wrong.

 

Heya, thanks for your reply! I'm happy to hear a positive reply regarding a Dell product...

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Magiciaen
But I need to ask you about the memory. Are you getting the 512MB (2 DIMMs) out of choice or because it's a special offer? My advice would be to get 1GB or RAM, especially if you're going to handle large multimedia files and have several applications open at the same time. Don't buy the RAM from Dell, just get the 256MB option, buy 2x 512MB sticks from Crucial and chuck your 256.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

I chose 512MB RAM because it was cheaper than adding $600Cnd for 1GB RAM (that'd bump me waay out of my price range). I was hoping that 512MB would be fine for a while until I could upgrade, but now I'm wondering if it would void my warranty/service agreement if I were to buy my own RAM and install it at a later date. I'm need to do some more follow up reading (arg). I could maybe drop down from the 3.0GHz cpu to the 2.8ghz to cut cost and allow for the immediate RAM upgrade, but I figured it might be better to upgrade the RAM later on. (Does that sound logical?)

I know my desktop starts to struggle with large adobe files (P3-866, 512mb pc100 RAM). Which also makes me wonder about the adobe paging/swap file running on the same partition as winxp.

<blockquote id='quote'>quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>As for support services... If you could get the 3 year support, I think you should go for it, even though I didn't myself. My feeling is the 9100 is going to be working harder and hotter than other laptops, and there might be more opportunity in the long run for things to go wrong.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. The 3yr support is pretty steep (another $300+Cnd), but I suppose it would be worth it in the long run. I'm going to check out my home insurance policy and see what it will cover for the notebook, though I will most likely go the long term service deal with Dell.

Funny how big decisions are never easy, hm? [xx(]

 

Hi mal,

Yup, big decisions are the ones that drive you crazy! But as long as you do your homework, it usually turns out alright in the end!

If you need immediate RAM relief until you upgrade, here's my advice; as I mentioned, forget Dell when it comes to RAM. The problem is you have only two memory slots. If you order from Dell with 2x 256MB, to upgrade you'll have to throw both of them away. Not only is Dell more expensive when it comes to memory, but getting two DIMMs to make up 512MB will mean they're actually useless when you come to upgrade. Here's what to do. Save the money by ordering your laptop from Dell with 256MB RAM. Buy one stick of 512MB RAM online (e.g. Crucial) where it's much cheaper than buying from Dell (the saving from Dell should cover the one DIMM 512MB cost, or at least contribute!). You now have one slot free (unless you keep the 256MB in as well). In the future when you can afford it, get another DIMM of 512MB and you'll have 1GB!

Keep the 256MB DIMM, because if anything happens, remove the memory you installed and put the 256 back in. If you need to use your service warranty, they'll never know you replaced the memory! In any case, replacing the memory does NOT void the warranty, this is a user feature so they expect you to do that.

Good luck! [ ]