Will buy Inspiron 1420 tomorrow, but...

After much research, (mostly on this FABULOUS site), I'm all set to buy the Inspiron 1420, but I still have a few questions that I hope you all can address.
Here's what I am looking at:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5450 (1.66GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
DISPLAY High Resolution, glossy widescreen 14.1 inch display (1440x900)
VIDEO CARD Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
MEMORY 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
HARD DRIVE Size: 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)

My concerns:
DISPLAY - Is the glossy screen very reflective? I've seen an older Inspiron with the glossy screen and I find I get distracted by the reflections. I originally opted to NOT get the glossy but in pricing my options (good, better, best), the glossy is my only choice. Any thoughts?

PROCESSOR - Many of you recommend the 2 ghz processing speed. I am just an ordinary user, not into much gaming, but I do use photoshop and various movie making programs. Will the 1.66 ghz suffice?

VIDEO CARD - again, I'm not sure it is worth it to upgrade my video card as I don't know if a novice like me will notice the difference. Advice?

COLOR - I know its a personal choice. Currently torn between blue and red. Is the red closer to maroon?

Any help for this newbie will be much appreciated!

 

Question, what kind of Video editing?

If you ever plan for HD, then yes, you will need at least a 2GHz core2duo processor, if not, a 1.6 will do, remember that this is a core 2 duo, so you'll be fine even if the software you use says something higher(a 1.6GHz core2duo will perform about the same as a 3GHz single core processor).

About the video card, photoshop only requires a 16bit video card(the cheaper one), but again, if you are going to do HD video editing, you will need at least the 8400M GS offered by Dell.

 

Your concerns: answered!

DISPLAY - The glossy screen is obviously very reflective and if you've seen a glossy screen and didn't like it, I think you would be much happier with a matte screen. Dell calls it anti-reflective or something... I think.

PROCESSOR - Many people would not notice the difference between 1.66GHz and 2GHz unless you're a hard-core gamer. I would suggest you go with the 1.6GHz as it is cheaper and is more than capable of editing movies and Photoshopping.

VIDEO CARD - If you do a lot of movie editing with HD and stuff like that you should go for discrete graphics (Nvidia 8400m GS). A common misunderstanding is that in order to use Photoshop you would need a good graphics card. However, that is not true. Photoshop requires a lot of CPU and RAM power. Also, remember that if you do any kind of gaming at all, the X3100 simply will not provide the power. For gaming go for the Nvidia 8400m GS.

COLOR - I have heard that the colors don't appear the same as what Dell advertises on their ads and on their website. If you can, go to your nearest Staples to check out the Dells they carry.

Hope you enjoy your new Dell! =]

 

I would suggest getting less memory, you can save a lot of money by upgrading it yourself. With that money you can upgrade to a dedicated graphics card.

 

I've seen pictures of the red before, and it appears as a light red. The blue however, is a very dark, "midnight" blue. Personally, the blue looks the best.

I'd also recommend the dedicated graphics card. Even though you might think you won't be gaming, you'll find that you'll want to play higher demanding games. And the dedicated card really helps for video editing.

 

Thank you for your replies thus far!!!
Daniel G - No HD editing yet. Just home movies and very amateur dvd's.
One thing I forgot to include - I am probably getting the HD tuner. Does that make a difference?

thnksfrthmmrs - my gut tells me I would be happier with a matte screen. Does anybody know how to order it via Dell if it doesn't show as an option? (I know I can start my order over and instead of choosing "Best" as my start point I can choose "better", but with all the other options I have chosen, I get a better deal with "Best". So how do you get around this?
What you all say about the video card and processor makes sense.
As for the rest of my specs - do they look acceptable for my uses? I am so out of my league when it comes to this techinical stuff.
Thanks again.

 

I have almost the same config as that, except with the anti-glare screen (which I highly recommend) and only an 80gb drive. I use photoshop often with no problems at all, although I haven't done any video editing yet. Also fyi with the basic video card I can still play half-life 2 and portal at low settings quite well. It is enough for infrequent gaming as long as you aren't using the most demanding games.

 

I myself just bought a laptop after much research, so I guess I can answer some questions,

I didn't want to buy it either but it turned out to be great for me, it's not really reflective, I mean it is but it doesn't affect anything (for me) and it actually looks better,

Depending on what you're gonna use it for. I have 2. It's good. You'll always want more, so 1.6 should be enough I think,

If you're a gamer... You won't be able to upgrade it so make the decision now. I got one, as you can see in my sig. But I guess 128 would've been enough for me. I used a coupon so it was a good deal,

I was gonna get red, but went with black... more "professional" you know.. Communist Red looks nice, like one of those XPSs

PS: Blue is great too, my old inspiron was blue.
D

 

You would probably be happier with the matte screen. I don't think there's a way around by choosing BEST, but you can go with this Dell Coupons that are on NBR if you happen to look somewhere near the top of the page. From here you can choose BETTER and create your laptop, then save a couple hundred dollars. Or you can go with BEST and use the coupon, also save a couple hundred dollars but you would have to go with glossy. In fact glossy isn't that bad. It gives the colors more contrast and I happen to like it, but it's just personal preference.

The rest of it looks fantastic. Have you made up your mind about whether you're going with the discrete graphics or not? If you're that tight on budget you can go with the Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 and also save yourself like $50. Again, no one would notice the difference between such small speed differences.

 

Your are still good with the cheaper setup, but do expect 30-60% CPU usage with the 1.6GHz Processor while viewing/recording HD content.

You will be able to view over the air HD content, but keep the following in mind:
I think the x3100 will not allow you to view HD content from a HDDVD, or BlueRay player without third a party decoder, meaning your laptop will not be able to have a BlueRay/HDDVD internal disk drive, or even an external one that plugs into USB. A regular HDDVD/BlueRay player(ie, like the one you connect to an HDTV) will work, since you can plug into your HD tuner which will act as the 'third pary decoder'.

Or at least that's what I understand from the Intel's site: http://download.intel.com/products/graphics/intel_graphics_guide.pdf, and the reason I think Dell doesn't offer Blue Ray without a dedicated graphics card.