Need some Advice on purchase of M1530.and some questions.thanks.

I am thinking of getting an XPS M1530.I need to know which upgrades are best..should I upgrade the RAM,CPU or if its not nessecary il just get more HD space..I can only upgrade either one of these components as I have a limited budget.I mostly would want best performance for the latest games as best as I can get with this laptop.

CPU 2.0ghz ,should I upgrade to 2.4ghz?these 2 processors are the only choices that are available.

or

2GB RAM ,should I upgrade to 3GB?

and also one final important question.I've read so far on this forum that nobody has complained bout a grainy LCD screen,not like how the inspiron 1520 was complained everywhere.and I myself had a 1520 and got my screen replaced for the better one.I went to the dell shop and I saw for myself and compared the LG LCD screen with the other brands..(checked hardware ID)..and it was totaly different as I knew it was.the LG LCD was much brighter and sharper.so I'm asking..is the screen on the M1530 the same type/build/manufacturer/ 100% same everything as the 1520 and basically all the dell laptops?If so,has anybody encountered a grainy screen on their M1530?or anybody received a samsung screen or any other brand and how was it?

 

the 2 ghz processor is good enough . there is no need for 2.4ghz one. also get 2gb ram as this will run vista prefectly and 3gb wont give u any preformance boosts in games, finally i think there have been no grainy screen issues so dell has fixed the problem. as for the hard drive it depends on your usage but i would atleast get 120 gb

 

hey sly,thanks for the reply!would 3Gb of ram boost any other performance then?like let say if I have a choice to ugprade 3gb of ram anyways regardless of budget..isit worth it?does it actually do a difference?

and also can I ask what screen did ur M1530 come with?just wanna check if its a samsung screen or any other brand and u got it and since its fine then yeah ! guess dell fixed that issue..thanks in advance!

 

I'd say go for the T7250(2.0ghz 2mb cache) BUT I recommend if your budget allows it go for the T7500 (2.2ghz) because it has 4mb cache (or the T7300 if offered as its cheaper with 4mb cache).

Video card needless to say 8600mGT 256mb DDR3.

RAM: 2GB seems fine to me you can buy your own ram and install it later which is way cheaper, Sly is right 3GB won't make HUGE differences in gaming etc...

For hardrive choices either go for the 250 GB 5400rpm drive or the 160-200 GB 7200rpm drives (recommended). I suppose this is very dependant on yout budget and up to you to judge. (You might want more/less).

Screen resolution is your choice but I believe 1440x900 is a good compromise but you may prefer lower or higher; this may help http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2226120.

Hope this helps.

 

Also consider that the CPU will be the hardest of the 3 to upgrade at a later date.

Both the memory and HDD are simple user replaceable parts and will get progressively cheaper with time. Both are easily obtainable over the counter.

The CPU may be harder to obtain and end up costing you more.

 

the rams not worth it.i dont know about the screen but there is grain on it

 

That's annoying, I thought they'd solved the grain issue with the XPS. As a premium product in their range I'd certainly expect it to be sorted.

I wait with baited breath to see how mine looks when it arrives...

 

There has been at least one NBR poster who is getting his M1530 screen replaced due to grain. Do a search.

I am not an expert, but I understand that more RAM is good for games, and for photo and video editing. Also, more RAM, up to 3.5GB for 32 bit Vista, allows more programs and files to pop open instantly, without disk access. But it may be cheaper to buy it elsewhere. Prices will pobably not go down any further, and may go up in the second quarter.

It has little effect on games, but for a cheap general performance boost, you might consider getting a 7200 rpm drive. In the USA, the 160 GB 7200 rpm is $100 extra over the 5400 version. On the other hand, more HDD capacity is important too. If you will be storing or editing video, or you want to maintain the recovery partition and want the extra security of volume shadow copy, etc, 160 GB is not much.

 

thanks alot all of u for the helpful reply =) ..guess I'm going to stick with 2GB ram and mbe get a 200GB 7200 RPM...I would upgrade to the 2.2 ghz though over here ...they're only offering the 2.0ghz and 2.4ghz ..and the 2.4ghz upgrade is a whopping +$800.guess ill stick with the 2.0 ghz then considering its not much diff in performance as you all said and +$800 would make me slightly over my budget...though I still am taking super-twisted's comment in mind...I can't upgrade the processor in the future or it'l be very hard to anywayz..so am thinking can 2.0ghz last me for quite a long time?in the futurewise?

aiks sly ur screen is grainy?did u get a replacement or call up dell?

fuzzy when u say 3.5GB..how do i get that?is 3GB considered 3.5?2gb x 1 + 1gb x 1?

 

32bit Vista only recognises up to 3.5Gb of RAM. So what Fuzzy means is that you would physically have 4Gb of RAM installed, but Vista would only be using 3.5Gb of it.

The only solution to this is to use 64bit Vista as this can address memory beyond the 3.5Gb limit. 64Bit is costly however, and has some driver support issues at the moment.

 

I was unclear. I meant that there is a benefit to have more RAM, but only up to 3.5 GB or so for 32 bit Windows. Beyond that, there is no benefit.

Of course, you can't actually install that amount. To use the full 3.5 GB, you would need to install 2+2=4, of which only 3.5 can be used by 32 bit Windows. This is not as wasteful as it may seem. Apparently, it would cost about US$65 at Newegg now.

Alternately, you might be satified with 1+2=3 GB.