Sorry, A Few More 9200 Questions Before Purchase

I am really considering the 9200 and I am going to try to order it by Thanksgiving but I have a few questions before I do.

Is the lid of the screen a flimsy plastic or a solid plastic/metal? It really looks nice either way, of course.

Is the Dell Media Experience Deluxe with the Remote worth it? I plan on getting one with a remote but the Deluxe is tempting. It says something about a Dolby technology that simulates surround sound with stereo headphones. Has anyone tried this? I really dig the idea but if it doesn't work very well then I don't have much of a reason for Deluxe other than the easy brightness and contrast controls for images.

Are there any complete image galleries of the snap ons? I really want to see the Carbon Fiber and the others not shown on the website.

How long is the battery life in the 80 Whr battery versus the 54 Whr? If it's not much I may go for the 54 Whr for $99 less. I may find it better just to get the 80 Whr when the 25% off is back. I'll just have to wait and see.

How does the Pentium M processor handle gaming, web design, image editing, and media tasks? I want to be able to multitask a decent amount. I want to be able to browse the internet, listen to music, have a code window open, and still be able to have MSN Messenger open and running. Would the 1.6 GHz processor be too slow? Should I go for the 2.10 or maybe just the 2 GHz processor?

Is 512 MB of RAM enough to run most games at reasonable quality? I may opt for 1024 MB of RAM if the discount is good enough just to save me from the work of upgrading. I also want enough to keep everything going smoothly.

How is the sound quality of this notebook? I will likely have some speakers or headphones hooked up, so this isn't a big deal, but it would be nice if the sound quality was good.

Is the DVD Burner a dual layer or just dual format?

That's about all of the questions I have right now. Thanks in advance to everyone who responds.

 

Theres alot here that ppl aren't gonna know because no 9200's have shipped yet...

However...
Battery life - the 80 whr is gonna be 80/54 times better than the 54 one - about 50% - why don't you get a second 80 whr battery and a primary 54 - after all its only $30 more...

You prolly want a 2.0 or 1.8 Pentium - in terms of gaming there is very little difference between the two - the 2.1 seems like a VERY expensive upgrade for a 5% increase in clock speed.

1 GB of ram is certainly a good idea if it is budget - in fact if came between 1 GB of ram and the 2.0 Ghz processor I would prolly go for the ram. 512 MB of ram is the minimum you want for XP (and decent performance) but you should be able to game fine with it.

"How does the Pentium M processor handle gaming, web design, image editing, and media tasks? I want to be able to multitask a decent amount. I want to be able to browse the internet, listen to music, have a code window open, and still be able to have MSN Messenger open and running. Would the 1.6 GHz processor be too slow? Should I go for the 2.10 or maybe just the 2 GHz processor?"

Hell I can do that (not a code window - but photoshop - and I've got seti running in the background) on a P3 800 mhz with 312 MB of ram - so you should be able to brezze through that sort of stuff even with the demands that XP puts on the system.

Media Experience - no idea

Speakers - no idea - says its got a build in subwoofer so go figure...

DVD burner - almost certain that its dual format.

Have
Dell Inspiron 2500, 800 Mhz P3, 312 MB Ram, 6.5 MB Onboard Graphics

Want
Dell 9200, 2.0 GHz, 1024 MB Ram, 128 MB Ati Mobility Radeon 9700 Graphics

 

I'm suppose to get mine in the first week of Decemeber so I'll post feedback then.

I went with the 1.8 Ghz and 1 GB Ram. Maybe you could upgrade to the 2.0 Ghz, but to go from 2.0 to 2.1 is $300 which, IMO, is ludicrous.

$300 is enough to upgrade to 1 GB Ram and the 7200 RPM harddrive -- both of which will probably impact application speed a lot more than that minimal boost in processor speed.

 

Ok, thanks for the reply. I guess I'll go for a 1.8 GHz processor with 1 gig of RAM. I'll consider the battery thing. So, it looks like I'm good to go.

I'll have to search the forums to figure out when they actually ship.