Seriously considering a XPS 1530 - some questions

I'm seriously considering getting a XPS 1530 in a couple of months, as I have no real rush to get it right now. Will wait for the Penryn and Vista SP1 to become available first.

My questions:
1. I don't run that many games at the moment on my current notebook (specs last in post), and I don't plan on playing that many games either. What I am interested in is HD playback.
Is there any significant diffrence between the 8400 and the 8600 in this regard?
Also relating to this:
How big is the battery time loss with the 8600 compared to the 8400? Also how is the temperature difference, much hotter?

2. I currently use a Core Duo 1.66 GHz (Yonah core), how big of the difference is there between that and the Penryn 2.2 GHz? Should I bother spending more money on an even faster Penryn, or is the performance gain to small compared to the extra price?
I'm running some media encoding, but it takes quite a while on my current notebook, and I know Intel improved on this in the Merom.

3. What is the performance difference between 2 GB dual channel or 3 GB single channel? Does Vista gain more performance by more memory or dual channel?

4. Regarding the monitor:
I currently use 1280x800, but I feel that it is slightly to low resolution for me. How is the readability on the 1680x1050 compared to the 1440x900?
Is it worth to wait for the LED if it is released at all? I've heard some rumors of availablity around April, is this true?

5. Should I get the 9 cell battery? I mostly on AC-power, but if I would run on battery I'd like at least some significant time on it, I'm thinking about 3 hours at least.

6. As I already have 2 external harddrives (320 GB and 500 GB), I'm don't need that much space, I'd rather have a faster drive. What is the safest bet, a 5400rpm 250 GB or a 7200rpm 160 GB? How likely is that I get one of the good drives at these sizes/speeds? Would suck if get a drive which slower than the alternative.

7. Does the Dell Vista-DVD contain junk? If so, would the Dell OEM-key work on a clean DVD?

My current specs:
Asus A6JC
Core Duo 1.66GHz
2x 512 MB DDR2 533 MHz
80 GB 4200 rpm Seagate HD
nVidia GeForce go 7300

 

I Don't know much about battery life even though i have a 9 cell battery bro but watching HD videos in my M1530 is a Great !!!

AFAIK I don't think there will be a big difference between those processors , maybe a few secs faster

2GB is more than enough for Vista But 3GB would be nice added advantage ...

I would suggest you to get a 1440x900 resolution , its just right for 15" Screens bro and AFAIK these resolution screen are less prone to Grainy Screen issues . Led hmm i will leave it you

9 Cell gives me 2-3hrs backup time @ High Performance mode bro and it acts a nice laptop base to it gives it a nice angle for you to type ....

Go For 7200rpm Drive its faster but other comments might differ

No , DVD is just Vista Home Premium Bro . Yes the OEM key works with given OS Cd.

 

1. don't know about the mobile versions, but a very nice and extensive review for desktop parts was done here
It seems the 8400 has not enough power in many situations.

2. Media encoding will fly with SSE4.1 in Penryns. Plus, they consume less power.

3. for what I know, performance difference single vs. dual channel in notebooks iis risible. I think more ram the better

4. The LED monitor is already specified in the dell specifications; I'm waiting for it too. Any idea of release date? I will wait for it for sure!

6. go with the fastest one

7. don't know if the dell dvd is a system restore (with their stuff) or a vista dvd (no stuff). The key should work on any dvd (as far as I know, with vista there is only one ISO image, and even the difference between home ultimate etc. are decided when you enter you key.)

 

well..
1. 8400GS is suffies to run HD playback.. Battery loss depands upon how much GPU you are using that moment.. As 8600Gt has more stream processor. so its more capable to run much graphis.. and to do so it need more power and goes hotter too.. simple
2.You have answered your question yourselves.. Depands upon how much media encoding(or that type of CPU intensive work) you should select which process you want.. that all
3.Asolutely no performance diff..(no gain no loss ideally) as 3GB memory will run in 1+1 GB in duel channel mode and the rest will be in use if total memory use exceeds 2GB..so if your mem use is within 2GB you should not find any performance diff
4. LCD resolution is all depands on personal prefference... I personally prefer 1440X900.. but there are people who want to have the highest one..
LED is arguable brighter than LCD and less power consumer.. So LED would extend your battery life.. Now you deciede whether you need it or not
5.9 cell..(As you need 3yr backup..bigger is better)
6.In modern computer HDD is the main bottleneck(in those process where HDD access is nessary).. so having higher RPM harddisk is better.. and as you dont need to have higher GB rating you can go for 120GB 7200RPM HDD

 

In regards to the hard drive question, a 250gb 5400 will probably be the same speed as a 160gb 7200 simply because the disks on the 250 are more dense, and the head doesn't have to move as far to access certain portions of the drive. Depends on personal preference.