Inspiron xps gen 2 questions

Hi,
i'm new to this site.
i've read a lot on this site and links to others about the inspiron xps gen 2.

i have a few questions:

i read some issues about the screen and about the screen being a samsung or a LPL0000 LG.
my question: how do you know what screen it is? is there a location someplace that has the screen manufacturer on it without taking the unit apart?

next question:
i bought a hypersonic notebook with this same form factor as the xps but with a 3.8 cpu in it and got it last week. i sent it back the next day because only after activating windows and setting up my screen resolution my finger was on fire using the touchpad it was so hot. i couldn't rest my hand on it for more then a few minutes.
the xps form factor seems the same but the inside configuration is different generating a lot less heat, plus the heat that is generated is in the upper part of the keyboard areas instead of under your hands.
can anyone of you talk more on how you feel about the amount of heat? is it much of an issue? i haven't found much comment on it so i'm assuming that no news is good news.

next question:
as far as the memory is concerns.
when i bought the hypersonic i was told i had to buy the memory in pairs because of the doul channel. ie. if i want 512 i get 2 256's to make it up.
i see some people buying there memory aftermarket because it is a lot cheaper then what dell is charging.
does anyone know how many memory slots the xps comes with?
can i put different size memory chips in the slots?

i haven't spoke to anyone at dell yet but i figured i might have a better chance of getting the truth here. on dell's site i have to buy a minimum of 512 so that would be 2 256 chips.
i would like to have 1GB buy the time i'm finished and still have slots left if i wanted to add more in the future. or as i saw a thread that someone bought 2GB for around $200 bucks. if i could find it at that price i would do it if i can figure out how without having to throw away the memory i have to buy from dell. i haven't checked if this memory price is for real or not yet, but if it is dells price for memory is crazy.
if you can give me an idea how to work this out so i can save some money on the memory that would be great.

next question:
i tried to use a coupon but it doesn't get reconized and i don't get an error message. i've not used coupons befor so i'm not sure what to expect. the coupon said limit 4,000 uses with an expiration of tomorrow so maybe it has reached it's limit and i just have to wait for another coupon. i'm trying for the 40% off. from dell's site they are giving an automatic 20% off so maybe they won't let you enter anything else. i don't know.
can anyone shed some light on what i may be missing regarding these coupons?

thanks

 

Ah, patience. Just play the waiting game for a bit longer. I think the 40% off coupon should re-appear some time soon. It's not like Dell's deals are going to get worse the closer it gets to "Back to School" season (I hate that term ). If anything they'll get better and the XPS 2's price will drop.

 

That sound about right.

 

Woah is right. That 40% coupon appears roughly every 6 weeks. I'm looking for it to pop up in mid to late September when college semesters start up. Keep checking sites like www.techbargains.com and here, too, so you don't miss the next release of that delightful coupon. I'm definitely going for an XPS2 as soon as the 40% coupon returns.

 

darn, i don't want to wait that long.

 

hey JackBauer,

what is your reason for choosing the xps over the 9300 model?

do you know anything about the memory?

 

the main reason to choose the xps gen 2 over the 9300 is the 6800 go ultra video card in the xps gen 2 as compared to the 6800 go video card in the 9300..and by memory do u mean RAM??

 

1. Better graphics card: 6800 Ultra
2. Faster processor: 2.13GHz
3. More solid build (I've used both the XPS2 and 9300; the XPS2 is definitely better built, in my opinion)
4. XPS2 has its own Dell support system. Dell goes the extra mile for the XPS2 customer.
5. The 40% off coupon drops the price of a $2700 XPS2 down to $1887. That alone makes it worth waiting for the 40% coupon to return... even though waiting sux!!

As for memory, I bought 2 GB of Kingston PC4200/533MHz RAM from Newegg for $205, a couple of weeks ago. Never buy additional RAM from Dell. They really jack up the price.

Hope this helps!

 

Your hypersonic lappy was using a 3.8 pentium 4 I presume, HOT HOT HOT PRESCOTT, a very bad choice of processor for a laptop for sure..

THE XPS2 is a centrino platform with a dothan processor, the pentium M, these processors were designed for laptops and run much cooler than their prescott cousins in the desktop. That is the primary reason why the xps2 is cooler, that and no doubt better ventilation.

As for the screen, you wont know what screen you got until you get the system which will include a service tag, with the service tag number you can go to the dell site support and call up your original configuration and see what panel you got, samsung or LG, .

 

yeah, hypersonic tried to tell me i was the first one who complained about the heat. i find that hard to believe.

Thanks for the info about the service tag for the screen.
when i talked to a dell sales rep i asked if she could put a note when i ordered asking for a samsung screen. i think she thought i was crazy. i don't have much to loose for trying.

about the ram. do you know how many slots the xps comes with?
if say the system has 4 slots. (2 slots for each channel) (if it works this way)
and i buy the system with 2-246 mg. can i fill the other 2 slots with say a 512 chip?

about the xps processor.
dell offeres a 2.0 and a 2.13. is the 2.13 that much faster? dell wants something like 235 bucks more for it. probably paying for being the new kid on the block. i asked the sales person but she couldn't tell me anything about it.

jack, on the RAM that your bought. did you buy 2 chips with 1 gig each?

thanks for all the help

 

The 40% off coupon is back again, just like I thought. Submit your order A.S.A.P. before it gets redeemed.

 

I jumped on it and saved $1,500 bucks. should have it in 9 days.

 

An XPS2 gets hot in the upper center area when playing games. Also, there is noticable heat buildup under the center RAM location. When not playing games it stays fairly cool/warm. The touchpad has never been "hot" in my experience. Warm or cool, but not hot. If the heat is a real problem for you then you may want to go to www.newegg.com and buy the Pacific Breeze laptop cooler. For $20 it does a good job of keeping the system cool.

For RAM, you can get it cheap from Newegg too. There's Transcend branded RAM available for about $100 for a 1GB stick. It's much MUCH cheaper than what Dell sells, although I haven't found a reason to upgrade to 2GB's yet (Battlefield 2 is not worth it in my opinion). The XPS2 has 2 slots for ram so it seems 2GB's is the maximum you could get (or want).

The screens on the XPS2 are either the LPL0000 LG screen or SEC-something Samsung screen. I have had both. Currently I have the Samsung screen. A program called Powerstrip or Everest Home Edition can locate this information for you since sometimes the packing slips/invoices are incorrect. The LG screen may not be available any longer. It had a near perfect black color and almost zero light leakage at the expense of color accuracy (pushes red and blue) and an overall cold color tone. It's also grainy. The Samsung has some black level and light leakage issues, but the color accuracy is very good.

 

much appreciate your willingness to give me that insite.

i don't play games but run a lot of programs at once using an external display and want to add 1 or 2 more external displays to what i already have soon.

i have a hypersonic notebook know which i'v had for about a year with a 3.4 or 3.4 cpu in it and the video card/chip is overheating and i have to send it in and can't be without a computer. so one of my top priorities is in house tech support which i don't have with hypersonic. oh well, live and learn. i'll send it in to be fixed when i get my xps.

what kind of data transfer software would you recommend to move my data from old computer to the new one?

i'm getting the xps with 2-256mg (512 total) of ram. do you know if i can buy say 2-512mg and install them with the 2-256 chips?

 

you can use norton ghost to mirror your drive and simply perform an xp core install (ie won't touch your application) or just transfer them over wireless or ethernet, no software require.

the notebook only have two slots for memory, so you can buy 2x512mb and replace your old ones. (sell them on ebay.)

 

From my experience Dell support needs convincing before they dispatch a tech to my house. I had a problem with mine to where it would reboot during games and Dell didn't want to replace the card. After some persistance and joining with others on another computer site I was able to convince them it was a problem and they agreed to replace it. The techs on the phone were worthless, but the email support proved very helpfully the third time around when I referenced the other site I found other users with the same problem. The repair happened on site a few days later and ever since this thing has been completely stable all the time. I'm very happy with it right now. Sure, I had 2 problems with it (screen and graphics card reboots), but when you look at the competition this just remains a good buy.

For transfering data between systems maybe you can use the wizard Microsoft provides in XP. I normally just set all my machines to network together and use their shared folders to send all my important files and stuff back and forth. I've never actually used a transfer program.

And the XPS2 comes equipped with only 2 memory slots. Right now I have 2x512MB but might be looking to sell them off for 2x1GB. The most memory inttensive game I've played, Battlefield 2, takes 1.2GB's of ram to run at maximum settings. I don't have quite enough, but I'm not sure if I want to upgrade yet. College is coming again.

 

im sure you were hardly the first to complain about the heat, those pentium four presscott processor run very very hot indeed, woe to the uninformed public thats for sure!!!

 

btw the xps gen 2 uses a sonoma penitum m not a dothan pentium m

 

what is the difference?

 

dothan pentium m uses an older chipset and wireless chipset bundle, and i think the older one only goes up to 1.8ghz after that they revampd the architechture on the old chip and called is the sonoma, they also increased the front side bus from 400mhz to 566mhz and introduced dual channel ram.

alex
ncr-uk