Upgrade with Dell or Newegg?

I know that for RAM, Newegg offers much cheaper solutions than upgrading with Dell. However, what about Harddrive?

If, say, I would want a 100gb HD with 7200RPM or anything, would it be more affordable to go with Dell or Newegg? (Along with this, is the upgrade from 5400 to 7200 worth it? Is it a noticeable difference? **If you were to rate the importance of the following three on Notebook performance, what would be the order of importance from greatest to least: CPU, RAM, HARDDRIVE RPM)

How about TV tuners? And if it is cheaper to buy from an outside source, what TV tuners are good?

 

The hard drive speed really depends on your needs. I purchased my M170 with a 120 gig 5400rpm hard drive, and I cound'nt be happier with my system. Very speedy, even with the "slower" hard drive. I don't believe the speed difference is worth the jump in price, but this is just my opinion.

 

What brand/model hard drives does Dell put in their notebooks?

 

Yes, good question. Does anyone know?

And also, if you guys get a chance, make sure you answer my other question about ranking and about TV tuners. Thanks guys!

 

My 1705 came with an 80 GB Fujitsu.

 

The other thing to consider is if you upgrade with Dell you won't get to take the old drive and throw it in a case for extra storage or backups. You could also sell the drive on eBay thereby recouping some of your cost of the new drive.

 

My 6000 has a Toshiba drive in it. But I've seen others of the same model with Fujitsu, Hitachi, and even Western Digital. I guess it depends on whats available to thrown in there.

It would probably be a little cheaper to get an aftermarket 100gig 7200 HD off NewEgg or ZipZoomFly. Then you'll have two hard drives as Zazonz mentioned.

 

Try this:

Hard drive: http://www.thenerds.net/index.php?page=productpage&affid=2&pn=0A25016

PC5400 667Mhz DDR2 1GB stick: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231066&ATT=20-231-066&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r

 

Hey,

Thanks for all the comments guys. Sorry if this is a stupid question,....but is what Batboy suggested better(in terms of RAM) or is PC4200 DDR2 533 2GB(2 sticks)? Which will make my laptop faster(regardless of price and also considering that I will only get 1 stick of the PC5400 one that Batboy suggested)

Thanks=) Also answers on the TV tuner would be great too!

 

The "Best" always = what you can afford to spend.

667Mhz RAM is faster than 533Mhz.

 

Like batboy said it depends on what you want to spend. As far as the speed I really dont think the average person would really notice if it was running at 667 or 533. Two gigs of 533 will be better than one gig of 677. You can never have too much ram, and if you think you do you can send it to me.

Usually PC4200 DDR2 533 is cheaper than the 677mhz ram. I picked up a 1gig stick of corsair DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz for $79 at frys. Slapped it in with the 512 PC4200 stick that dell provided and it runs fine. I only bought the ram because it was cheaper than the cheapest decent brand of 533 at newegg or tiger and I have had good luck with cosair over the past few years.

Im no expert so the whole dual channel factor could make a difference, I dont think it will but like I said im not an expert.