Purchasing Dell XPS M1330 - A few questions

Hello to everyone. My first post here

I'm planning to buy my first notebook. I have selected the Dell M1330 but I have some questions. Since I plan to use this notebook during the next 4-5 years. Not sure what I will be using it for in the next couple of years, but currently I don't game a lot and use it mostly for office, internet music, video. Should I :
1) Increase CPU - from T7250 to T7500 if the price difference is ~90$
2) Which Vista should i get Business or Home Premium (about same price)
3) Is a 160 gb 7200 HDD worth the extra 110$
4) Get 4gb ram? (By adding it myself, Dell-s 4gb is expencive )

Current configuration:

Operatsioon system: Windows® Vista Home Premium
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 (2 GHz, 2 MB cache, 800 MHz FSB)
Screen: 13.3\" WXGA (1280x800) White-LED Display (300 nits) TrueLife™
RAM: 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 (2 x 1 GB)
HDD: 160 GB 5400 rpm SATA
wireless: Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini Card
Bluetooth: Dell TrueMobile 355 integreeritud Bluetooth
Battery: Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)
Graphics card: nVidia® GeForce™ Go 8400M GS (128MB GDDR3 dedicated graphics memory)
Other: Integrated fingerprint reader

 

1. there is no need to upgrade .for what u are using the laptop u will not even see a difference between the two.
2.i think u should get home premium as it has all the media functions.
3.it u will use the laptop was your primary storage device then i would reccomend it otherwise it u have an external drive i would pass.
4.no need 2gb will be enough
hope i could help

 

I agree with sly's response.

Also, if you won't be using the laptop to game that often...take a look at the Vostro line up too as an alternative option. Its cost effective and comes with Business Support which is hell of a lot better than Dell's regular consumer support.

 

what is this setup costing u?

 

1. For $90 I’d probably go for it, because that extra 2MB cache might come in handy later on. Especially of you are planning to use the note book for a long time (64bit OS/ new apps etc..). But for now, you won’t notice much of a difference

2. Personally I’d get Business mainly because of terminal server, domain support and IIS. Those additional multimedia stuff in Home Premium can always be replaced with much better free 3rd party alternatives. Here is a good feature comparison.

3. Don’t pay $110 for a HDD upgrade, because you can buy a 160GB 7200RPM disk from newEgg for around $140. For that extra $30 you get to keep the bundled 160GB 5400RPM which can be used as portable storage device or extra HDD space.

4. 2GB is enough, but if you really want to upgrade, then buy from outside. 4GB at newegg cost only $80 (very cheap).
Both HDD and Memory upgrades are pretty easy to do without voiding warranty.

 

About 2100$

 

I suppose that price is with all those upgrades ?. Otherwise thats too expensive.

 

Yeah too expensive if you're not even planning to game. Heck, a 1530 would probably be better for gaming with its GDDR3 8600m GT

 

That is the price offered here(Estonia - in Eastern Europe) with the configuration given(no upgrades) this is with all taxes included.

Been thinking about ordering online(for the cheaper price), but I'm no sure where or how can i do it because as far as i know dell.com will only ship to USA. (correct me if I am wrong)

 

Order via one of the europe sites.

 

If you get 4Gb RAM you need to install Vista 64 bit to make use of it. It might not be too bad on an M1330 considering you only have 128Mb Video memory.
Vista 32 bit has 4Gb address space which includes video memory, possibly other stuff too, on my desktop which has a 768Mb 8800 GTX in for some reason Vista 32 bit only has 2.7Gb RAM available, I run 64 bit on there, it's a little flaky but fine 99% of the time, drivers were no problem but some software doesn't work.

7.2k HHD with AHCI enabled in the M1330 is pretty quick, considering the HDD is always the slowest component the fast it is the better!