Just ordered my XPS M1210!

Hi, im new to this great forum and after research mostly done on this forum i took the plunge and ordered a XPS M1210 (Australia), here are the specs:

- Dell XPS M1210 Notebook
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T7200 2GHz, 4MB Cache, 667 MHz FSB
- Genuine Windows Vista(TM) Home Premium 32 bit (English)
- Genuine Windows Vista(TM) Home Premium 32 bit (English) DVD Media
- 1-year XPS Premier Service with 30 Days CompleteCover
- 12.1" Wide Screen XGA display with TrueLife(TM) (1280x800 res.) & 1.3MP Web Cam
- 1024MB (1 X 1024MB) DDR2 SDRAM
- Integrated Stereo Sound
- 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(TM) Go 7400 TurboCache
- 120GB SATA Hard Drive
- Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Combination Drive with dual layer write capabilities
- 9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery
- Additional 9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion Primary Battery
- Dell(TM) Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module
- Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
- Composite SPDIF Cable
- 65W AC Adapter
- Intel(R) 945 Chipset Family
- 1 ExpressCard Slot, (DOES NOT SUPPORT PCMCIA CARDS)
- Internal Dell(TM) 84 Keys Keyboard (English)
- Dell(TM) Media Direct 3.0
- Internal 56K Modem
- Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet

Altogether comes to AUD $2451.90, personally, I think its a pretty good deal when compared to HP, Asus, Sony ones that ive been looking at, im incrediblely impressed with the combination of size/weight/specs/price. I can't wait for it to arrive, how long does it typically take when ordering from rural QLD Australia?. Also, after it arrives, how should I go about creating restore images? Im thinking about Ghost but not sure if it would be such a success given that theres MD3.0 preinstalled, which leads to the final question, is MD3.0 all that good? r there any reviews for it? if it aint that good i might just format the whole thing and put XP on there instead... thx

 

ghost works fine with vista and media direct 3 partitions vista seems fine and runs very well on the 1210 the only thing i would change is add 1 more stick of memory make it total 2 gigs vista really runs better with more memory
welcome to the 1210 family!
jim

 

DELL prices change a lot from region to region, so I guess USD 1910 is a good deal for that configuration in Australia. I ordered a slightly better spec for lesser price from DELL Japan yesterday, but that is beside the point; if it is cheaper for you compared to other major notebook manufactures in Australia, then you got a good deal.

I don't think there is any point in creating a restore image of the shipped OS because it'll be loaded with bloatware. If you want maximum performance, then do a clean installation of Vista.

Media Direct is nice to have, but you can certainly do without it. You'll most probably get a MD reinstallation disk; so even if you decide to format your hard drive you should be able to restore MD (however, I still haven't come across any guides on how to do it under Vista, so you might wanna hold on for a little longer if you really need MD). I don’t think you can find a MD3 review, but you can find some user opinions here. Do a search to find more threads on MD3.

 

thx for the replies, i would most likely play around with the Vista it came with and then format it to XP Pro once i get sick of it, i heard that MD3 doesnt do xvid/divx so its pretty pointless for me, i suppose Dell would include restore discs for Vista and MD3 am i correct?

 

I'm not sure about MD3, but default MD2 installation didn't play DivX either. But if you reinstall MD2 with task manager, then you can invoke it later to install DivX or any other codec you need. I think that trick will work for MD3 as well. I'll try that when I get my M1210; however to get my PC I might have to wait another week …

Yeah, Dell will release a MD3 repair tool for Vista.

 

I got mine for 1000 less with 2 gigs of ram. Thats not a good price.

 

1000 less? are you talking about AUD or USD ? It definitely can't be USD1000 less cos that would make yours USD910. So I'm assuming its AUD. That would make yours USD1126; still a very hard to believe price if you are talking of a Core 2 T7200, 2GB RAM and Go 7400.

 

i dont think $1000 less in AUD or USD would make sense unless u can explain how to get one and how i can get a refund lol

 

my bad i didnt see it was in AUD. Sorry

 

That is inpossible.