dell 6400 concerns

I'm looking at buying my first laptop for school, and have a couple concerns.

I will be using this laptop primarily for programming, so needs to be able to run mssql server, apache, netbeans, visual studio, etc... Because of the space those big ide's take up, looking at the 1680 * 1050 screen on a dell inspiron 6400, but i'm wondering if at 15.4, would that resolution be too high as far as reading text, icons, surfing. I haven't seen many 1680 * 1050 laptops in shops so i really have no idea what that resolution looks like (I currently run 1280 * 1024 on an old 17" CRT).

When the 6400 first came out, only videocard choice was the integrated Intel G950 or whatever but in the forums a lot of people were complaining. If the most visually taxing thing i plan to do with this system is watch dvds or videos, do i need the ati x1300?

Lastly, if in the future i decide to get a new home monitor, can the Intel G950 or the ati x1300 run said monitor at reasonable resolutions?

otherwise... planning on a 1G ram, 80G harddrive... that's about it.

comments encouraged.

 

1680x1050 will take a little bit to get used to from the bigger monitor to the smaller monitor, but should be fine for reading (My opinion).

Well for watching DVD's and movies the integrated graphics should be fine. If you are looking to do any kind of light gaming, I would at least recommend the x1300.

I believe the x1300 and GMA 950 will run the monitor at the said resolution.

The setup looks good for what you are going to use it for.

Hope this helps.

 

ended up ordering it with the ati x1300 to keep my options open. thanx for the suggestion

 

Hope you like your new laptop! Just to clear up what USAFdude02 said... All three cards: the 950GMA, X1300, and X1400 can run at 1920 x 1200.