Questions about the E1705...

I'm thinking of getting it with the 2.0GHz Core Duo, the 7900 GS, and 1 GB of 677mhz RAM (which I'll add another gig to on my own)

First of all, whats the battery life like with the 6-cell battery? As long as its 3+ hours, I'm fine, but I need to know.
Next, when not running any intese processes but just a word program of some kind, how loud is it?

Also, there's this:
I <3 the card and with coupons I can bring it down to my price. I know it's going to come bundled with a bunch of crap software from AOL and other bull**** I don't want and would pay to have it taken off. I plan on reformatting the drive, however, I have a few questions:

1. I'm paying the extra $10 to get a CD of Windows Media Edition (which I think is outrageous considering I'm already paying for the OS, I should be given the install CD!!!), when I reformat and reinstall the OS, will it still have Dell crap all over it?
2. Would reinstalling the OS then get rid of ALL of the crap they preinstall on the system?
3. Will it be a ****ty version of Windows that's custom made for Dell computers and then when I reinstall it the system will still have "Dell blah blah" stuff on it?

I know these questions are very biased, but I really don't WANT a Dell. What I WANT is the great customer service and coupons. However, there is always a catch in life and this time it includes bundeled software I don't want/need.

 

I'm in the same position you are, check out the sagar thread. From my experience, the dell windows install contains a lighter version of the bloat ware, meaning that you still have some of the crap, but not all of it. It is a customized dell PE install. You will see the friendly (sarcastic) and pleasing dell support button on the start menu. At one point in time, I knew how to nuke that, but I forgot.

I also don't want a dell, but the price is in my range and my range only allows for the two 17inch screens. However, check out that sagar 5750. It's pretty good for the price and has cheaper upgrades. Like 50 from 1.83 to 2.0 ghz, not 100$ (I know I'm getting raped by dell there, but oh well ) Adding the gig on your own is a good plan.

 

Since I don't own a Dell,I can only answer your first question. You defenitely will not get anywhere near 3 hours with a 6-cell. I have an HPdv5000 with a 6-cell and at max brightness and day to day tasks(like streaming audio, some video/watching dvd, some minor MS Office stuff lasts for barely 2 hours. Now this one is a 15.4" with a 7400 turbocache. So imagine a 17" with 7900GS. An hour of gaming,I'd say.

 

1) I would highly recommend the 9 cell battery, simply because that laptop is huge, the screen is huge, the card is huge, and it's going to suck battery like none other. I've heard of people getting around 4-5 hours with a 9 cell on the e1705 (of course with alot of power saving precautions in place, but 4 hours nonetheless)
2) the loudness is dependent on fan speed, which even at high is not that bad. Also, there is a program called i9kfangui that allows you to monitor the temperatures of the cpu, gpu, dimm, hd, etc and control the fans which includes turning them off completely
3)reformatting.
a)if you can wait 3-4 days, dont pay $10 and call dell support instead once
you get the laptop and request the cds (its free) just make sure to ask
for 1)the windows xp mce disk
2)the dell drivers disk
2.5?) the dell applications and utilities disc (can't remember if it exists)
3)the powerdvd disc
4)the sonic recordnow burning softwaredisc
and they'll ship it to you free of charge in like 3 days, just remember
to speak clearly and listen very carefully, or just pay $10
b)the windows installation is straight up, no BS. I've reformatted and have
been bloatware free for a while now. you can, off the dell applications
disk install any of the junk that you might want, but you don't have to.
The drivers disk has everything you need and once you do that
fresh install and get the drivers, you simply get the security updates and
you are set. You can also check out SouthernGirl's sticky for reformatting
to find out how to restore Media Direct (which might require another disc)

Hope this is helpful, and i'm sure that if i got anything wrong, plenty of people will correct me. Also, about the not wanting a dell, it really isn't that bad as long as you factor in the price Also, even with the "bloatware," it's not that bad. At least you get a windows install disc, my friend's HP desktop is only available with a "restore disc" that includes all the bloatware and junk. Reformatting with dell at least gives you the choice of what to keep and what to trash.

 

I forgot. Dell's crappy media direct is an actual partition? How stupid.

 

yeah i dont see too much benefit in playing a dvd without starting, i figure the startup between mediadirect and windows is about the same

 

So they really just put it on a partition? No place in the mobo? CRAAAAAAAP

 

it's small though. just do a search for media direct and you'll find plenty of info on it.

 

1.) no you get a clean install
2.) yes
3.) No. It is basically the retail version of XP, but it is an OEM version (meaning you can only install on Dell systems).

And I saw a question about Media Direct -- Media Direct is hidden on the HDD. It is not accessible by the user at all - not even when formatting. Good news that if you reformat and don't repair Media Direct, it won't work anyways.

Just to support the statements by Zoxan - you'll be lucky if you get 2 hours out of a 6 cell. You'll most likely get about an 1 1/2 hours with wifi, full brightness, etc. The 1705 takes a lot of power to run, so don't expect good battery life - even with a 9 cell.

Since this is more specific questions towards dell, i'm moving it to the Dell forum. If you want other suggestions for laptop, I suggest fill out our What to Buy and posting a new thread.

 

Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

I have the e1705 and I just tried re-installing the OS from the $10 OS CD that they sent me. It acted like a clean Windows OS all the way up to the first boot in (just after it modifies your display) then BOOM. It began the LONG process of automatically installing all of the extraneous GARBAGE. With a big window that says "Installing applications. Don't hit any key! FOR GOD SAKE DON'T HIT ANY KEY."

Now, I notice that in your guide to installing XP, SouthernGirl that you say that this process installs only XP necessary applications... so I let it go through. After It finished I checked... but... I don't think America On-Line and ESPN stuff are necessary XP applications. They are, in fact, junkware.

So I reinstalled, and this time I hit a key, and got it to cancel the install of most of the applications. Yay me.

So the answer is - Dell still saddles you with all of their garbage. even with the "OS CD" Isn't that nice?

 

Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong.
It is a clean OS Disk.
I know it cause I have E1505 and I've done a clean install.
Before clean install=70 processes
After Clean Install +some stuffs I need= 35 processes

 

exact same...even after all my programs etc.

 

Actually you are wrong on all accounts. Let me guess, you have XP MCE.

If you would have searched the forums before you posted or even before you reformatted, you would have seen that the software that you believe is from Dell is actually part of MCE. It is common to MCE and is installed on all MCE systems from several different manufacturers.

The disc that dell sends is a clean install, but MCE installs certain software like ESPN because of it being the "entertaining software" This software is only installed with MCE - not XP Home or Pro. The XP disc that you buy is basically a disc from XP with a dell label. Dell does not install any software on it. If you looked on your applications or one of the software discs that came with the XP disc, you would see all of the dell junkware that is included on the systems. Those discs has the dell junkware - not your XP disc.

If you don't believe me, here is the brochure for MCE (see page 5)
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...4823-A18A-7C83374AA825/mce2005RG_addendum.pdf