Vostro 1500 opinions

I am an amateur DSLR photographer and I am looking for a fairly powerful machine to run adobe photoshop and Nikon Capture. I am not a gamer. I am looking at new machines and I came across the Vostro 1500. I went thru the Dell site and came up with this configuration for about $1000 after shipping. I am not quite ready to jump to Vista and the vostro still has the XP-pro option. I was looking at for opinions as to if this is a good price?


Vostro 1500 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Professional
LCD Panel 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
Video Cards 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
Hard Drive 160GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
Integrated NIC and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
Optical Drive 8X CD/DVD+RW Read and Burn CD and DVD
Sound Card High Definition Audio 2.0
Wireless Cards Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
Camera No Webcam Option
Bundle No Pre-installed Productivity Software
MediaDirect Dell Exclusive MediaDirect™ Instant Play Software Application
1st Software No Pre-installed Anti-Virus/Security Software
Primary Battery 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Limited Warranty, Services and Support 1 Year Basic Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-in Service
Installation Services No Onsite System Setup
Dell DataSafe Online Data Backup 10GB for 1 Year Online Data Backup by Dell DataSafe
Automated PC Tuneup 1 Year Dell Automated PC Tuneup
Network Assistant Dell Network Assistant
Purchase Intent Purchase is not intended for resale.
Processor Branding Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Labels Windows XP™

 

I would definitely skip the 8600GT upgrade. For what you do (photography and no gaming) you do not need that. Save yourself the money or put that extra savings into a faster cpu or more ram or a faster hard drive. Those will benefit you much more. Also, I suggest you get the high res screen. Just nice to have the extra real estate when working with high res pictures (which I'm sure you are).

 

All right, i moved the Screen to 15.4 in Wide Screen SXGA+LCD Display w/TrueLife (highest res they offer)


Upgraded hard-drive to 160GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive, 7200RPM,

upgraded the processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)

Price actually stayed the same and they offer free shipping.

sound better?

thanks, Bill

 

For what you're doing yes, much better.

 

I am also an (amateur) photographer that runs Photoshop and elements alot. I bought a 1500 with the nvidia 8400GS and am very happy, battery life is also excellent, though the 8600 may affect battery life it SHOULD (but may not) increase photo work speed significantly. The 1500 is definitely the best-built, best-priced workhorse out there.

 

order submitted. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm coming off a bad break up with an Acer Aspire 5100 that has put me thru hell and back and back to hell, so hopefully Dell can lift my spirits.

thanks for the input.

Bill

 

That's a common misconception. Truth is that photo work IS NOT DEPENDENT ON THE GPU. AT ALL. It is MOSTLY DEPENDENT ON THE CPU, while partly dependent on RAM [depending on the size, layers, etc. of the image you're working on].

 

Much better!

Hope you enjoy it when it arrives

 

Ordered on a wednesday and I got it the next Tuesday and so far I like it. Its a little hefty, well maybe its just solid. Boots up fast and was not loaded with much bloatware at all. All's good in my world again.

Bill