What features should i get on the 9300 Inspiron?

Im back I originally posted a thread entitled "Is this a good gaming notebook?" In which just about everyone flamed me for not getting a dell haha. I do live in the United States and did not realize that dell gave coupons. I was wondering what features you would recommend getting on it. Keep in mind i need the price to be around...1400..after the 750 coupon plus there is a 300 dollar rebate on it as well. Im into heavy gaming. Here is one of my configurations:

1.73 processor
256 graphics geforce 6800
80 gig hardrive
1 gig of ram

The main problem is I will be attending college pretty soon, and need a computer capable of networking. I definatly need XP professional and upgrading from home to xp from dell is 129 bux! I need the intel wireless card, and d-link wirelss router and these things incearse the price significantly. Would scaling down the processor to a 1.6 be worth it? What sacrifces on some of the specs should I make in order to keep the price below 1600ish after the 750 off coupon? Oh and is it worth it to upgrade the soundcard to a creative labs? oh and i need responses A.S.A.P becuase the 750 off coupon ends on thursday! Your help would be greatly appreciate!

 

If you are playing Counter-Strike: Source, the 1.6 should be fine. That is what I have heard. I chose the 1.86ghz for my 9300 because of the bargain. But when you receive your 9300, be sure to change the video drivers to something other than Dell drivers. That is the cheapest way of adding major boost to your computer without spending a cent. Example: Unreal Tournament 2004 Dell drivers- 75-80fps avg Xtreme-G drivers- 120-125fps avg both ran at 1920x1200.

 

To keep the price down, skip the Sound Blaster, you can always add it later. Get the minimum amount of RAM you can, and buy the memory online from someone else. The 1GB transcend modules from newegg seem popular, and are about 110 each. Shop around for a wireless router. I doubt Dell has the best price on one. Remember that for internet, any G speed router is faster than your internet connection, so no need to drop money on the latest standards unless your worried about transfering files around your lan quickly. You can probably find a linksys or dlink for 20 to 30 bucks after rebate if you look around a bit, or pick one up dirt cheap on e-bay.

If you still need to trim cost, then bump the processor down until your in your price range. As long as you get the Go6800, I don't think you will be unhappy.

 

are the soundblaster cards worth it? i was thinkign about buying one from somewhere else

 

I just recieved my sound card, it was shipped with my speakers seperate from my laptop, and I must say that I did notice a difference. If you like listening to music or playing games, the addition of the sound card does really help. While the i9300 has the best speakers of just about any laptop, when you turn the volume up, the sound does get destorted a lot without a sound card. For me, it was a cheep upgrade because I used the 35% off deal, so, it was only about $66 dollars more for an upgrade that was worth it.