post e1705 recommendations?

so, my e1705 is in the mail, should get to me in a few days, I'm wondering what owners of the e1705 would recommend I do... did you reformat windows? would you again? overclock the 7900GS? I know after a few months of owning my old laptop I f'd it up with too many programs, not deleting the bloatwaredellware, I was a noob back then, and don't wanna make noob mistakes again. anyhow, just curious, if you had a fresh new e1705 what steps would you take to make it purely enjoyable.

quick side q: how could I get my firefox stuff (favorites) to the new laptop?

 

yes, reformat it, doesn't take long, but just make sure you've ordered the reinstall discs (if not, just bug customer service a bit and they'll mail them to you for free). follow southerngirl's guide (it's EXCELLENT), and you shouhttp://forum.notebookreview.com/images/Notebook/editor/smilie.gif
http://forum.notebookreview.com/images/Notebook/editor/smilie.gifld be fine.

word of advice on drivers: you'll find very few on the drivers disc they give you, so literally download every one you can from the site first and put it on a cd or a separate networkable comp or some other storage (flash drive, etc.). you can use what little they give you on the cd, except everyone i've heard and myself included find that the intel wireless network adapter (if you ordered the 3945ABG) driver on the cd is a wrong, outdated one, so use the sites. make sure to download both chipset drivers (i thought they were for two diff types of chipsets, but one is for ur chipset, and one, the ricoh, is for ur media card readers).

you can try overclocking, but go up slowly and read the boards, especially the official overclocking forum

as far as firefox, not sure, but a simple help search should tell ya.

 

I didn't reformat it - I just went and systematically removed the programs that I didnt' need, checked through the msconfig and regedit and did a defrag. There's a stickey somewhere that tells you exactly how and what to do and what each program was for that came along in the e 1705. I didn't need to OC the 7900 either since every game that I've thrown at it runs fine to me though I haven't run the oblivion on it yet so I might OC it down the stretch.

 

I just got mine Saturday. I uninstalled just about everything that came with it short of drivers (there's a guide in this forum about cleaning a new e1505 which is the same for e1705 that I found useful). Normally I'd format because I like things fresh and clean, but I figure I'd keep it the way it is in the slim chance something goes wrong or something. Also it wasn't worth the time yet. After uninstalling everything it boots quick and runs fine. I'll use it for one semister and hopefully by winter break in January Vista might be out so I'll get that anyway.

As for firefox, go to bookmarks>manage bookmarks then File>Export to generate a nice little html file you can back up and Import onto your laptop. Make a list of extensions and download them again. Also don't forget to atleast check that you remember your saved passwords and maybe write those down too.

 

I got mine on Monday.
I reformatted HDD and repaired MD.
For now MD works perfectly when laptop powered off.

For OCing, I would wait till I replaced the thermal interface material first.

 

the first thing I did was reformat my e1705.. can't stand mcafee and all the bloatware dell insists on installing. Also got rid if the extra partitions taking up precioud HDD space.

 

I think reformatting is the way to go, follow the guide and you will be fine.

I did a minor OC and it got me 10 more FPS in the CS:S stress test. Its not neccessary, and i found diminshing returns when I went higher, but a little one seems worthwhile to me.

 

You can either uninstall the junkware or reformat. I just reformated 'successfully' yesterday and I got about the same performace as if I were uninstalling. Just make sure you get the correct drivers if you go towards the format path.

 

Within two hours of taking ownership of my e1705, I wiped the entire HDD using DBAN, installed a fresh copy of MCE2K5 (my retail MCE2K5 works with the code license supplied by Dell), installed select Dell platform drivers and hacked Forceware drivers, downloaded all Windows Updates, installed all my favorite apps, utilities, and games, and then OC'ed my 7800 as high as it would go. Voila! The perfect platform!