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    New Dell inspiron 6400

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Delions, May 17, 2007.

  1. Delions

    Delions Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi all, I'm kinda new here and looking for a bit of advice. I just bought a new dell inspiron 6400 with windows vista home basic. any advice on what i should do to optimize performance? Thanks.

    p.s. I intend to do quite a bit of gaming.
     
    Delions, May 17, 2007
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  2. -Recoil-

    -Recoil- Notebook Consultant

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    whats the spec of it?
     
    -Recoil-, May 17, 2007
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  3. PhoenixFx

    PhoenixFx Notebook Virtuoso

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    Reinstall Windows ! Believe me, a clean installation will make your notebook much faster !. Cos DELL notebooks are shipped loaded with bloatware (adware, trialware + load of other resource consuming applications).

    And BTW, For gaming XP is recommended over Vista (If you already have a copy of XP then install that; otherwise Vista will have to do.)
     
    PhoenixFx, May 17, 2007
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  4. Delions

    Delions Notebook Enthusiast

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    Re : Specs

    Vista home basic, 120GB sata 5400 rpm, intel core duo(1.73ghz, 2mb cache, 667 fsb), 15.4" WXGA+ (1440x900), 1GB RAM (667mhz, ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (256mb Hypermemory), 9 Cell Li-Ion Battery
     
    Delions, May 17, 2007
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  5. Delions

    Delions Notebook Enthusiast

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    I don't have another copy of Vista to install and i intend to install Xp MCE 2005 on a second partition. Might just as well shrink the Vista Partition to a minimum. Which would work better? XP MCE or XP Pro?
     
    Delions, May 17, 2007
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  6. Ahzuz

    Ahzuz Notebook Consultant

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    Format and install XP Pro.
     
    Ahzuz, May 17, 2007
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  7. Delions

    Delions Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ok, I think I'll go with formating then installin XP pro. But i've heard that Win Xp does not come pre loaded with SATA Drivers. Any reference to that?
     
    Delions, May 17, 2007
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  8. PhoenixFx

    PhoenixFx Notebook Virtuoso

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    I don’t think that would be a problem, cos I have installed XP Pro (SP2) on several 6400s without having to slipstream additional drivers to the installation. BTW XP Pro is better but XP MCE is also good (MCE is a cut down version of Pro with some network features missing)
     
    PhoenixFx, May 17, 2007
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  9. social_loafer

    social_loafer Notebook Enthusiast

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    i have pentium dual core T2080, 2gb ram, 160 gb hard disk and win vista..even with 2gb hard disk my lappy is slow...

    please tell mw how to format and re install vista home edition on it....
     
    social_loafer, May 17, 2007
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  10. Ahzuz

    Ahzuz Notebook Consultant

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    no, you gotta make a floppy disk with the drivers on it, it's super-easy. Should find the files on the Dell drivers website. I didn't needed it on my laptop tough not sure why but say on my desktop i have a raid setup and needed the drivers.
     
    Ahzuz, May 17, 2007
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  11. Delions

    Delions Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ok. Thanks for the info. I think i'm gonna go with XP pro and later upgrade to MCE. Are only the networkin features left out in MCE? Which would be recommended? Thanks!
     
    Delions, May 17, 2007
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  12. svdragunov

    svdragunov Newbie

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    If I install XP on it, would I need to download drivers for xp? Or can I just use the original drivers?
     
    svdragunov, May 17, 2007
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  13. Metamorphical

    Metamorphical Good computer user

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    Go here and enter your service tag number which is on the white tag at the bottom of your notebook. If you are switching to XP select 'switch operating systems' then select XP. This will give you a list of drivers appropriate for your system but you will still need to look threw it for the drivers that match your specs (your wifi card, your vid car, etc) download those drivers and back them up either to a USB flash drive or burn them to CD. If you are unsure of your full specs try 'start' ---> 'run' ---> then type 'dxdiag'. This will give you a detailed list of your specs.
     
    Metamorphical, May 17, 2007
    #13