Just purchased 1400, questions

Hey guys I just purchased a 1400 with the following specs for 800 (that price includes CA tax)

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
14.1 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS
120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
Integrated High Definition Audio
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
No Camera
MS Works 8.5-Eng: Basic Spreadsheet, Word Processing and Calendar Program
No Pre-installed Anti-Virus/Security Software
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Mail-in Service
No Onsite System Setup
No Dell Automated PC Tune Up Installed
No Media Software
Dell Network Assistant

My questions are -
1. Should I call and ask for Vista premium? Is aero the only real advantage? How much will an upgrade cost me?
2. I decided to not go True Life because of issues I read about, however I would like to get the best possible image quality, the laptop will be used only indoors, should I actually get the True Life? Have the problems been fixed?
3. I have logitech z5500 speakers that I use quite constantly and would not like to give up, what would the best way to hook these up be considering the vostros dont have docking ports. I have an LCD as well...but the sound is more important, especially since I can't spend too much more on a dock, would a sound only option be best? Some kind of sound blaster?
4. The shaky battery, how bad is it really? Is this on every single vostro? Perhaps the newer builds have this issue fixed?

Thanks very much, can't wait for it to come.

 

1. Premium has media center applications also, kinda like the Vista version of WinXP MCE
2. Depends on the lighting in the rooms you are using it in, if the room has big florescent lights it might be a problem with glossy.
3. Should be able to use the headphone port on the front of the laptop.
4. It's not a big deal, its so minor that its like if they put an extra label on the battery it would be fixed.

 

If you did not get the OS DVD with your lappy ask for it and sometimes they usually end up sending you the premium instead of the basic. Many have gotten it.

 

Thanks, but what if I do not get the DVD? Would I be stuck and then won't be able to get premium, unless I buy it in a store? On the other hand, thinking about it again... It sounds like I don't need premium, probably a lot of nice extra features but none that are necessary, and probably aero just adds eye candy?

Also how good of a deal did I get? Because I noticed a lot of people have been getting very similarly specced 1400's for quite a bit less than I paid, did I just miss a sale?

 

1) Try it. I wasted over 4 hours trying to get Premium then gave up. It will cost you $29. And the actual differences between Home Basic and Premium are very small unless you want Media Center (which is worse than many free apps)

2) There are no "problems" with TrueLife, its just a side effect of the technology that you get reflections.

3) The Creative Labs X-Fi is out, look into that. It does not impress me however =/

4) My battery shakes a lot. Until you put a piece of paper between the laptop and the battery. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Only reason you seem to have paid too much is because you went with the 2GB deal normally a $150 adder. Otherwise you would also be in $650 range,

 

His $800 includes tax, so I think he did pretty good.

 

Thanks, any more suggestions on a somewhat affordable way to hook up 5.1 speakers?

 

Just plug it into the headphone jack. When i requested my OS dvd, they sent me premium as well as the creative software thing they charge for. Through the creative program, you can set your output setting from 2 speaker to headphone to 5.1 etc. I am not sure of how well the quality is though

 

I hope you enjoy your purchase

I was wondering: does premium have the parental controls thing? I actually look forward to something like that

 

Thanks for the replies, but how can 5.1's be plugged into the headphone jack? I'm currently using the three standard orange, black, green cables.

 

Buy a sound splitter.

 

Won't be able to handle 5.1 channels discretely if I use the splitter, correct?

 

THe 1400 has three ports on the front (Headphone # 1, Headphone # 2, Mic) which (I believe) can be reconfigured throuhg the sound control panel to act like the orange, black and green ports on a standard 5.1 PC soundcard.

At least I hope they can! Anyone out there doing this with a Vostro?

 

Ah I see, I am very curious if it can be configured that way as well.

Edit:

Wow, well I just saw the deal on the front page of slickdeals for the 1400 for 599, coming to 639 with the battery, and finally coming to 700 with tax shipped. That is a 100 dollar difference from what I paid, with the only difference being 2gigs of Ram vs 1gig. I dont really want to go through the hassle of re ordering and cancelling my current.. anyone think it's worth it? The deal is pretty sweet I suppose...

 

Not worth it to cancel and reorder? By the way, how does one find deals such as that 599 on slick deals? I heard something about e-value codes? Because there sure was no deal like that on the main dell site.

Also, anyone got any idea about 5.1 setup on a 1400?

 

logo908, does your laptop experience blacklight bleed problems like some other people's Vostros have?

See this thread so you know what I'm talking about: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=154906

And does your 1400 come with a VGA port?

 

Haven't received my laptop yet, but I'm almost certain it will include a vga port. I know my 1000 did.

 

Oh nice, that is my deal over there, they credited me on the front page too, sweet...

 

Haha, it is your deal, good to see you over here Think its worth it cancelling my current and going with that deal? Just want to hear other peoples opinions... Frankly, I'm just concerned that I'm getting the best bang for my buck, as I have been seeing alot of huge coupons and value codes going around lately.

 

Just call Dell and tell them you can order the same thing for a lower price now, they should adjust the price with a credit pretty easily.