a few 1720 question

Hi. I'm considering selling my macbook for a 1720. I want a bigger screen and better video card. But I have some questions. How hard is it to change the ram in the 1720? To anybody that has one, how is the gaming with the 8600m gt (and 1920 x 1200 screen)? And how are yall liking vista now that SP 1 has come out? Thanks and I'm sure ill come up with more.

 

vista's fine, don't worry about that. as for gaming, it all depends on the game, Crysis, nay. but games that are not like crysis will run good.

what games do you want to play?

 

You have to take off the keyboard to change the RAM. Take a look at the service manual.

Vista with SP1 has been good for me. It fixes a few issues that I had with the 32 bit version, but they weren't major with which to begin.

 

I don't really have any games in mind. Since I'm coming from a macbook, I don't do any computer gaming. I have a 360 for most things, but I do want to be able to play some computer games.

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How does overclocking go with the 1720? And, uh, I've never done overclocking before, so how do you do it? And if I buy a 1720 with only one hard drive, how hard is it to install a second one later?

 

The 8600m gt in the 1720 overclocks pretty well.

 

Scott, you should be fine with it since you don't really play much, or play light games. the 8600M GT runs well.

I'll second that. It's one of the most amazing and cool notebooks around especially for a DDR2 range. The 1500 Vostros are pretty good overclockers too also in mind that they are just 15.4.

You shouldn't have any problems overclocking the 8600M GT. But it STILL depends on how well it can overclock as not all 8600Ms are made the same. I Know there are some people around here and that I know of had artifacts when they OC by just 120 - 150Mhz increase. And there are some who can up their clocks by 300Mhz and runs very effective, cool @ 65 degrees and no artifacting... (I'm one of them... Wink Wink* 650 core, 526 memory... Oh yeah... )

Anyway but in general, 1720s with the 8600M GTs are definitely cool. Of course, that is you maintain your fans and vents regularly and you shouldn't have any problem. If you need any help about OCing, we're glad to help. And of course there are downsides for overclocking.... For first timers, just be cautious with your machine, you must also be careful to prevent it from artifacting and overclocking it too much. You may damage your card in the long run. Just remember to reset to default speeds once you have finished with your game.

Harddrive isn't a problem. However the caddy and the... What's that called.... Ah yes,

What you need is this
Caddy: C7586


and more importantly this
Harddrive Adapter: XK231


Make sure you ask them for the screws as well.

Here's a guide on how to install a second harddrive on your 1720. It's pretty logical and easy to install. I didn't even see the manual while installing it.
http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=page&id=6&chapter=0

 

It's called an "Interposer"

 

Oh yes..... THAT, thing! The poser thing!

 

Anybody played cod4? How does it run & look?