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    Looking to buy a D630 for college, wut should I get with it?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by dblb48, Jan 11, 2008.

  1. dblb48

    dblb48 Notebook Consultant

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    I've noticed many upgrades you can purchase with it, and my question is, what should I get on it? i.e. Core 2 Duo, 1.8, 2 GHz, 2 GB ram, 60, 80, 120 GB HD etc etc. obviously the more you get on it the more the $$$ goes, so for a college student, what should I get? Thank you for the help.
     
    dblb48, Jan 11, 2008
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  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Unless you need a lot of (and I mean a LOT) of power, go for the Core 2 Duo at the lowest speed (I think 1.6 or 1.8 would be as low as you want though). 2GB RAM for Vista or XP, just in case you need it...and check out the RAM Deals thread to see if you can upgrade to 2GB cheaper.

    HDD? - Probably 80-120GB would be fine unless you have a lot of music and videos. If you feel gusty you can go higher if you have the budget. 5400RPM is fine.

    GPU? - The Intel card is fine unless you play newer games, not to mention you'll have a longer battery life.

    Always get a DVD+/-RW, and consider getting a docking station (either via Dell or eBay)...they are very useful.
     
    Greg, Jan 11, 2008
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  3. ge_off5

    ge_off5 Newbie

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    For me the two most important aspects of my D630 were screen real estate and battery life. So, I went for the higher resolution screen and the X3100. I personally like the screen, bright and clear, but it does have pretty bad viewing angles. I also got a bit over four hours of battery life (although now, with battery wear, it's down to around 3:30). So, if either or both of those are important to you those are a couple of options.

    Other than some hard drive problems I've had (which Dell has been pretty good about fixing) I really like the computer.
     
    ge_off5, Jan 11, 2008
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  4. j_hallgren

    j_hallgren Notebook Enthusiast

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    Even though it's expensive, getting extra warranty coverage is something I'd definitely suggest...you wouldn't want to have to be without your system for more than a day or so if you're depending on it for college, and it likely will have to "travel" more than mine does, so the Complete Care would also be good...some parts may be cheaper to get upgrades on via aftermarket later, such as hard drive, but trust me, if your LCD goes, that is BIG $$$...mine was under warranty when it had an issue, but it was also an off-lease unit so it had 2 yrs on it before I got it.
     
    j_hallgren, Jan 11, 2008
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  5. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

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    Get 2 gb RAM first (you can buy this elsewhere if you want to save money), then go for a 7200 rpm hard drive. (As for the capacity... up to you... 80 gb is probably fine unless you want to store lots of video.) If you have money left over, then you can step up the processor... but I think the lowest option on the D630 is 2 GHz, right? That's really going to be fine.

    I have to disagree with this. I mean, sure, it's fine, but 7200rpm is one of the first upgrades I'd do (after 2gb ram). I find 5400 rpm a bit sluggish. Having moved to 7200 rpm, I have no plans to go back.

    Agreed.

    I have the lower-res screen. It's also bright and clear, but with pretty bad viewing angles.
     
    swarmer, Jan 11, 2008
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