New E1705 owner with upgrade questions

First off I just bought an E1705 on ebay today for $900 plus shipping. That's really not that but considering it's packed with 2GB of Ram and a 7900GS video card from my standpoint. Obviously this is a "used" price tag but the owner bought it new in march and says it's in like new condition. I'll have it at the end of this week. Here are the specs:

Inspiron E1705, Intel Core DuoProcessor T2250 (1.73GHz/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WUXGA+ 1920x1200
2GB, DDR2, 533MHz 2 Dimm, for Inspiron 9400/E1705
256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS, for Inspiron 9400/E1705
120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive for Inspiron 6400/E1505
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, English
Vista, PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
Dell Support, Vista, Dim/Insp
Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system
Dell Resource DVD with Application Backup
Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
8X DVD+/-RW Drive, for Inspiron 9400/E1705
Roxio Creator Basic
Integrated High Definition Audio, Inspiron
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card (54Mbps),
80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Now the upgrade questions. What I'm thinking about doing is putting a 7950GTX in there, along with a T7400 processor in there as well. Can this laptop support a 7950GTX and a T7400 processor? Also are there different variations of the Core duo t7400 processor...one for laptops one for notebooks?

 

Congrats on owning a dependable machine - though you could probably have gotten a similar deal at Dell's outlet, do have the warranty transfered to your name. In answer to your questions: No, it would not be possible to upgrade the GPU since Dell does not offer 7950GTX as an option and if you did find one you would have to do some serious modification to the MOBO to fit it in, if it is at all possible. You can upgrade the processor, again it would be easy to check with Dell to see if they offer that as a configuration then you can get the parts from them directly. I do not understand your last question as laptops and notebooks are interchangeable words to describe a portable computing device like cell phone and mobile phone.

 

the t7400 proc is a laptop processor. that will certainly work.

the 7950gtx might not physically fit inside the case / it might get too hot for the components / it might require more energy than is alloted to it by the electrical system in the notebook.

it might be possible. im not sure.

edit: i think you meant one for notebooks and one for desktops when you were talking about the processor?

 

Thanks, I basically searched through ebay and this was the best deal there that was not a refurb and had no scratches or cosmetic deficiencies along with the 7900GS. I knew I could get more selling the 7900GS than the X1400 once the 7950GTX was in play. I've already lined up a 7950GTX outside of Dell. I definitely would not upgrade through Dell of course.

Great, so it will definitely handle a T7400 processor, I figured some motherboards were limited as to the speed of the processor. As masterchef stated, I meant that perhaps there was a T7400 desktop processor...and a T7400 mobile processor....but I suppose this is not the case.

At least I have established that a T7400 processor will work. Now can anyone chime in and tell me if a 7950GTX card will work? I'm positive a 7900GTX card will work in this thing.

 

Hey guys, I found out it will work with my laptop...it's the same procedure as installing a 7900GTX:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=133988

 

A simple search in this forum turned up this : Setting up go 7950gtx on e1705
A google search + notebookforum search turned up these :
How To Upgrade your 9400/E1705 with the 512MB 7900 GTX "Photo Guide"
Upgraded from 7800 to 7950GTX
Upgrading 7900GS to 7950GTX

 

You're lucky you got the 7900. Apparently its been taken off the option list. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2080416#post2080416

 

Well I'll be selling my 7900GS for cheap once I get the 7950GTX in. If anyone here wants it I'll post the ebay link later after I upgrade. It's funny because I'm going to have a 7950GTX laptop with 2GB of Ram for about
$1400. If I can sell the 7900GS then it's only going to be $1250. Pretty sweet eh? The only question is how much the stock processor will slow me down in games. And upgrading to the T7400 will set me back a cool $400 or so. I might just wait and see if the current processor will perform well.

 

Actually, I got a "similar" deal on Dell's outlet. Check the sig. Cost me a smidgen over 1100, not a bad deal in my opinion. I did see that one beforehand, but I didn't want to buy something that expensive on ebay. Good luck with your new machine. Have you received it yet? I can't wait for mine to come.

 

To OneHeavyBrick: Next time if you do buy something from anywhere. Do some research and lookin. It will save you money. If you asked me, i think you got jacked.

The processor combined with 533MHZ on anything right now is slow. Sign.....

The guy is tricking you into buying it probably b/c the 1520 is coming out tomorrow. And he probably wants one.

 

Lol, do you think I got jacked? I paid 1100 on Dell Factory Outlet.

 

I did my research. There really is no comparison as far as performance and value is concerned. I looked at all the laptops on ebay, alienware, sager, clevo, etc.....all the big boys....and anything with a 7950GTX was far above $2000. The real advantage with the E1705 which is why I went that route, is that you can upgrade to the 7950GTX. Originally I was going to upgrade to the 7900GTX...but now I am going to upgrade to a 7950GTX since it's actually possible. I also like the WUXGA monitor as it has no leakage. Show me a similarly configured laptop with a 7950GTX for under $1260(What I paid for this laptop and the additional 7950GTX video card).

I looked at all the other models such as the Dell XPS, Sager, Clevo, etc. And anything with a 7950GTX is going to cost you about $2500 New. I said the heck with that. The current processor will slow me down, but I'm eventually going to go with the T7400 Core 2 Duo Processor when prices come down.

 

No. I was going to pay $1075, but got it down to $900.