Low spec 9300 - First Impressions

Well I have just got my shiny new 9300.
I got it via a works salary sacrifice scheme so didn't have any choice in the spec
Spec is

WXGA Screen (1440x900)
1Gb Ram (2*512) - not sure on the speed
Pentium M 750 (1.86 Ghz)
128Mb ATI X300 Graphics
80Gb Hard Drive (5400rpm)
XP Home (No media centre)
Supposed to have Bluetooth but appears to be missing....
First impressions ...

Whats with the white bumpers? Would look fairly stylish overwise!
Not the horrendous amount of bloatware I was expecting - I didn't want to reformat as there is some stuff on their which is part of the leasing deal so I just uninstalled the stuff I don't need.
Not to sure on the usefulness of the media buttons - the mute one is handy but otherwise I don't really see the point - the dell media experience software is a bit rubbish too (And has a stupid bug - if you want to register it it will not take an email address with a full stop in it!)

Performance wise it seems fairly solid and boot times are reasonable. Runs impressively cool too, I haven't strained it yet but temps seem really low. Nice and quiet too.
I haven't stretched the graphics too much yet, I will play games but more likely to be RPGs and RTSs than FPS games, and if I feel like a bit of blasting I'm happy with older games. I did try Half life 1 and not surprisingly it flies at all the highest settings! I'm borrowing a few newer games so I will update with how they get on.

The screen is rather strange - I definitely notice something odd, not sure if it is the dreaded sparkles (I thought that was on the glossy WUXGA screens?) but it definitley hurts the eyes looking at white backgrounds. Tilting the screen slightly helps though (Plus point is excellent viewing angles)

I've installed all the usual suspects so far - firefox, adaware, ifkfangui, centrino hardware control and the omega drivers. Anything else I should put on here? This isn't only my first laptop, it is actually my first ever PC. Rather odd as I have been working in IT for 7 years!

 

yes thats the "sparkle" phenomenon.. i'll return my laptop for this reason.. my eyes hurt too much...

 

Do omega drivers work for the 6800go ? I just use the drivers from Dell's website, what would be the advantage to downloading the omega ones?

 

you can also try the drivers from guru3d and laptopvideo2go. the ones from dell are like the basic nvidia drivers. but the ones from omega, guru3d, laptopvideo2go have like temperature readings and other stuff like that.

 

The omega drivers seem pretty good - best though is the ATI tray tools, really easy to change/check settings and set up different profiles.
Just tried Medal of Honour - old game I know but it absolutely flies even at the highest settings.