Dell Inspiron 9300 - upgrade Qs

This is my first post, so... Howdy everyone.

I'm facing the common dilemma: Upgrade the old or buy something new, and I could use some help/advice.

I use this laptop for everything, the most labor intensive being Photoshop, some audio recording (Line6 UX2 into Live 7.0.10), Powerpoint (LOTS of Powerpoint), and some of the mid-range animation/editing software (nothing beefy like Maya... but that's a future possibility).

The Inspiron 9300 was great at the time but now it's getting sluggish, PLUS I'll have to upgrade the OS to Win7 and install Office 2010 (these are occupational hazards that can't be avoided).

Current specs:
1.6 GHz Pentium M
1GB RAM (2x512) - 2 GB max if I upgrade
60GB HD (5400rpm? not sure)
ATI Mobility Radeon X300 with WUXGA display upgrade

For the upgrade to be worth my time, I need to find a processor above 2.0 GHz, max out the RAM at 2GB, bring the HD up to 320GB @ 7200rpm, and pop in a crunchier video card.

The competition:
MacBook Pro 15"
Intel Core i5 (2.4 GHz)
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
500GB SATA HD @ 7200rpm
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 256MB

Yes, I know the Mac looks nice; at least until you turn it over and look at the price tag: $2,150. I can't justify that without looking hard at the upgrade possibility. I'm not interested in a used or refurb laptop; if I'm going to spend any serious money then I'm going to go all the way and buy for the next several years.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

What's "serious" money?
No point in upgrading your 9300.

 

+1 the 9300 day's have past.

You have plenty of options at various price ranges for a good replacement.

 

"Serious" money would be in the ballpark of $1,000 or more.

I suspected there wasn't much point to upgrading but the little bit of computer knowledge I used to have is way (way) outdated so I couldn't be sure. Thanks for taking the time to respond; I appreciate it!

 

I used to have a 9300, it has passed on to gramps now. I maxed it out, I put in a 2.1 chip (from the 1.6), maxed out RAM to 2GB, HD was the same 80GB. And most importantly, I installed a custom slimmed down Vista, it was faster than my XP that came with the machine. Anyway, I did those upgrades years ago and it finally was just not fast enough. Even surfing on the net, when flash ads came on, the processor would work like crazy ( from this came my understanding on why iPhones (pre 4) don't support flash). So I would suggest you skip the upgrade.

That said, you don't need to spend 2K on a laptop. You might even consider Apple refurb laptops, they have the 17" for 1.6K or so, it's the old C2D, not i series, but it's cheap by Apple standard. You can get a top of the line i series laptop PC about 1K plus.

 

What other requirements do you have?
What size screen and resolution?
Is weight/portability an issue?
Battery life?
Are you after a Mac?

 

Unless you need a mac for its operating system to me there is no point in getting one because you dont get very much for you,re money. If you like the look of the Macs then why dont you take a look at the HP Envy line which are better value for money and even more powerful. If you want something which you can be sure will last as long as youre current inspiron then look in to something like a Dell Latitude. Im not saying the Envy wouldnt last but if you want something which is sturdy and you know will last go for something which is more bussiness orientated.

 

totally agree... u'll nver reach the macbook lvl... and u can't upgrade the graphics card..if u really want something near to a macbook, get a new laptop... other than a macbook.. u'd get the same specs for half the pricer from another brand like acer , asus... for $1400 , u can get a Asus G73 which would crush a macbook..

 

I was just thinking i bet sean will post next recommending the G73

Looking at how the user is considering a macbook i would of thought then want something aestheticslly pleasing. I could be wrong though. If he wants a system which looks good look in to a sony or an HP Envy

 

ok sorry but if u want something looking better , a hp envy or sony or even a dell studio XPS 16 is a good option.

 

Aesthetics are generally meaningless to me. In fact I cringe when I read words like "stylish" and "sleek" in a product ad. To me, these words mean "lacking substance." I put function in front of form with just about everything I buy.

Here's a rundown of what I'll need from my next machine:

I have to manage everything from high-res digital photography to video editing to Powerpoint presentations so I need excellent graphics. I don't play games on the computer (because I suck at them) but I end up paying "gamer" prices because I want 1920x1200 (1080 costs me 10% of my vertical screen real estate), high contrast ratio, and clean color gradients.

I work with large image and video files so I need a boatload of RAM.

I need to render video and effects (and now audio recording/mixing) so I need a fast processor.

I have to work onsite occasionally so portability is a must.

I have to run Win7 and Office 2010 (several of my bread-and-butter clients require it, so I can't ignore this).

My monitor requires a DVI for proper performance (VGA is a serious impairment).

Software:
Adobe CS5 (particularly Photoshop and AfterEffects)
Macromedia (Flash and Dreamweaver)
MS Office (Powerpoint 2010)
Audio: Live, Reason
AVID Xpress (rare, but I do use it)

The reason I'm looking at a MacBook Pro is because it comes highly recommended from some people I trust who do similar work. I've been using a PC for the last 15 years so I'm not looking forward to learning a new platform, but then I'm not afraid of it, either.

Also, if anyone could recommend a 22"-24" external monitor (for the above named uses) for >$500 I'd be grateful.

Hope this helps. Again, I appreciate everyone's input!

 

Well, heck, if you're going to go spending $2K or more in "serious" money, you might as well go for a business class workstation like an HP 8740w. They have a basic model for $2000 (albeit with 1680x1050 resoultion), and you can configure a basic i5 version with WUXGA 1920x1200 and ATI FirePro M7820 for about $2500. It will come with only a single 2 GB stick of RAM and a basic 250 GB hard drive, but those are easy enough to upgrade aftermarket. Oh, and on the subject of RAM, while the dual core 8740w only comes with 2 RAM slots, the quad-cores come with 4 slots, for a theoretical maximum of 32 GB of RAM, now that 8 GB chips are coming on the market. Also note there's a listed 18% off any CTO order coupon on the CTO page, but you're probably better off calling HP directly and ordering through a representative; with the more expensive systems, people have gotten substantial discounts (20-28%). Of course, now that I've pointed you at the 8740w, you might get a little starry eyed at the possibility of picking up a (very expensive) Dreamcolor 2 IPS panel... You can take a look at Aikimox's review here ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/notebook-news-reviews/503121-hp-8740w-review-full-metal-jacket.html) if you're interested, or drift over to the large 8740w owner's lounge in the HP subforum.

 

Holy Macaroni, that's a sweet set up! Definitely out of my price range. I have to keep things under $2400 (with tax). The lower I can get the price, the more money I'll have for an external monitor. I know I'm not going to get unicorns and rainbows for pocket change, but I have to look for the most I can get for what I have.

(Why? Why did you have to show me that HP???)

 

well then , for ur uses a macbook will be crap... u should really look in the gaming laptops like asus g73 or sager NP8760... the g73 is a little port limited, u have VGA and HDMI but no DVI and only USB ports and no expresscard.. but u can use 16GB RAM easily... u also get option of dual hard drives in both laptops with same ATI 5870 GPU which is so far fastest mobile GPU... however , the sager is limited to 8GB RAM however , u get an expresscard slot and DVI and HDMI and VGA... it is really a choice of weighing it up and deciding what u want... did i also mention that the G73 has more battery life(about 2 hrs) compared to the sager's 45 mins..

 

Neither of those will work, due to his preference for a 16:10 screen instead of a 16:9 screen (unless he's waiving that restriction for the external monitor). Unfortunately, the only 17" machines that come with a 16:10 screen these days are the Clevo D900F, HP 8740w, Dell M6500, Dell Alienware M17x, Lenovo W701, and MSI 740 (although the MSI only comes with WSXGA, and I've heard people say the D900F has a poor (CCFL) screen). Everyone else has moved to 16:9.

Edit - I don't know if Macs have moved to 16:9 yet or not... I admit to not usually paying much attention to them.

 

hiiii


I used to have a 9300, it has passed on to gramps now. I maxed it out, I put in a 2.1 chip (from the 1.6), maxed out RAM to 2GB, HD was the same 80GB. And most importantly, I installed a custom slimmed down Vista, it was faster than my XP that came with the machine. Anyway, I did those upgrades years ago and it finally was just not fast enough. Even surfing on the net, when flash ads came on, the processor would work like crazy ( from this came my understanding on why iPhones (pre 4) don't support flash). So I would suggest you skip the upgrade.

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Are there 16:9 laptops that will support a display of 1200px (or better) vertical? I haven't found any, unfortunately. I would settle for 1080 if I knew the card could push at least 1200 with a capable external monitor.

 

Okay, the more I read (elsewhere on the web) the more confused and frustrated I get. I feel like a delivery guy who doesn't know how to change the oil on his own delivery truck.

The odds of me finding what I want in 16:10 are slim to none, considering that most manufacturers began dropping this aspect from their inventory about a year ago and I've already missed the clearance sale wave. My best hope appears to be 16:9 with a high-performance card that will push high-res to an external screen.

I still need the following (these are minimums):
320GB HD, preferably 7200rpm
4GB RAM (with room to grow)
2.4GHz processor
Superb graphics card (or at least one that can be upgraded aftermarket)
15" display (I can sacrifice ultra-quality here if the card can deliver it to an external monitor)

PC or Mac; it really doesn't matter to me. But I still have to deal with Win7 and Office2010.

 

for 15 inch , 16:10 , i actually have a solution.. MSI GX640.. the GPU is one of the top 5 best mobile GPU( ATI 5850).. processor is i5-520m which is 2.4GHz but u can put in a i7-quad, 4GB RAM is possible and best of all , 16:10 , 1680X1050 screen.