got a new laptop

Hello guys, i recieved my new Inspiron 6400 today.
Its config is,
core2duo T7200
2x512 DDR2 SDRAM,
80GB of Harddrive,
screen with true life.
and all the usual stuff...
I received a 1 year complete care with this.
Dell was unusally late in delivery.This was for some problem by dell on my cheque.Since it was dell s fault, they are offering me goodies now.
I have option for
another 1 year of complete care
or a pen drive
or a hard drive upgrade to 120GB.
I asked for complete care and a colour kit.
1.will this be good enough? or should i drop that and ask for something else? 2.will a colour kit be good? My friend has an inspiron and i see some colour has already gone on his palmrest.Its 4 months old.Will this not arise if i go for colour kit?
3.Will the palm rest also be coloured?
4Which colour looks good?anybody has any pictures?
Thanks guys for helping me.The forum was really helpful in making my decision.I appericiate the good work and hope to contribute a lot to this..

 

What vid card are you getting? If your order was the gma950, I would ask for an x1400 above anything else, if you have the x1400, I would ask for more ram.

 

well colour i aint sure as its completely up to you...
why dont you ask for a RAM and HDD upgrade im sure thatll be worth it as itll increase performance too
if they say they cant stick to what you have decided now
all the best
cheers.

 

Upgrade the Ram ... n then the Hdd i would suggest

 

I have a 2x512 ram, i will have to sell one and get an upgrade.That does not seem good.and about harddrive, i have a desktop too, it has 160GB.so iguess space wont be such a bottleneck.
I have the IntelGMA, so i guess, a GFX card would be good too.
Which one should i ask?go7300 or x1400?
i will ask for the GFX card.Complete cover can be decided later.

 

I suggest updating the ram then do the HD

 

The ram and video card will have the MOST imapct on your overall system performance, I would really try and go that route if possible, you can get name brand 1Gb flash drives at staples for US $15. If they let you keep your old ram, what would be wrong with selling it?

You should be aware that if they do up the graphics card, you will need to return the notebook, the gma950 uses a different motherboard than the one that supports a dedicated graphics card.

 

I did not know that.I had asked the rep if its possible for me to upgrade the GFX ard say after an year.I don't have the budget.He had said yes.Now the intel chipset 915 has an PCIexpress slot.That means it should fit in the card right?

 

Congrats on your new purchase! I agree, upgrade the ram first...

Enjoy!

 

Thanks...but can anybody please clear my motherboard and GFX card question.When it has a PCIExpress card slot,why should i change the motherboard?Its Inspiron6400 and not the 640m.

 

You will need to change the motherboard if you want to upgrade from integrated graphics to dedicated graphics. They both use different motherboards.

 

No, the grpahics card does not use the xpress card slot, it needs an internal PCIE 16x slot. 1) the xpress card slot has only 1 PCIE lane, where the internal graphics slot has 16 lanes. 2) it woukld be impossible to put an efficent dedicated graphics card into a card, there are talks of external housings that would contain a graphics card and a power supply that would plug into the card slot, BUT it would require a special interface to improve the interface speed that isnt available on any machine that I'm aware of yet. The cost of said contraption is said to be a round $600 US, so between the lack of portability and the cost, its not worth it to the average consumer right now.

Dells laptop mother boards come in two flavors, discrete and integrated, the integrated board has the gma950 and no option for a discrete card, the discrete board is made to accomodate a discrete card.

 

Just looked @ Dell 's site last night, they got some crazy deals

Core 2. 1.6
1gb ram
160gb
ATIX1400

for under 1000$ that's nice deal ever. Very good for budget users

 

absolutely the RAM and GFX card or a 7200 RPM hard Drive

 

Thanks for all the help guys...
As most of you said, there was no hope of a GFX card as the motherboard has to be replaced.
I went in for the hard drive option.My 80GB 5400rpm will be upgraded to 120GB 7200rpm performance harddrive.and a dell pen drive.I am happy with the deal.what do you think might be the value of the deal?I mean if i had to do these things on my own, how much would this cost?

 

How di u get a 120GB 7200RPM Hard Drive?