Evaluate these upgrades for customized Dell

I am about to purchase a i1520. Have 90% of the config decided, but considering the following:

HDD - upgrade from 160gb (5400) to 250gb (5400) for $100? We have plenty of external HDD. Currently I am on a 40Gb HDD

Video Card - X3100 to 128Mb NVidia 8400M GS for $100 - I don't game, at most I watch DVDs, digital recordings/downloaded movies. Is the video card really worth it?

For either of the above although the upgrade costs $100, it pushes me over the $1500 threshhold which means I get an extra $50 in gift cards - so in effect the upgrade costs $50.

I can't really think anything else I could/should upgrade

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
Vista® Home Premium Edition
Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz (will upgrade this myself to 2gb)
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1680x1050) Video Card Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card (don't see a need for N)
No Webcam Option (I have a couple of external ones better than the in-built one)
Microsoft® Office Small Business 2007-includes Publisher + Outlook2007
85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)

 

Since you have lots of external space, don't bother upgrading the hard drive unless you need to store lots of stuff on it, ie. games, but you don't play games so it's moot.

For watching movies, either of those would be capable.

Personally, I would remove the MS Office stuff and go for Open Office and save a couple hundred $ there. Other than that, you could downgrade the CPU since it seems to be more than what you need, (Heck, my 1.66GHz T5450 isn't even being maxed playing Crysis) or you could always get another battery if you need to be wireless for a long time.

 

bluetooth wireless travel mouse would be a very handy add-on unless you already have a spare wireless mouse at home that you could use with your new laptop

if you don't play games you might want to downgrade processor to at least 2.0GHZ which would save you $75 and than you can use it to upgrade video card to a 128MB

 

MS Office I need - I researched open office and decided to stick with MS office (for business/work stuff).

I guess the downgrade in processor sounds good - but why then would i need a better video card?

is the difference between 7500 and 7250 that insignficant?

As for the bluetooth mouse, I plan to get one with my gift card

Another thought - can anyone comment on the differences between the screens:

Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800) [Included in Price]
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1680x1050) [add $100]
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900) [add $50]

 

The difference beetween 2.2 and 2.0 is only by 10% and if you don't play games 2.0 would be more than enough to handle everything else. For watching DVDs, digital recordings/downloaded movies even 1.66GHz T5450 will do just fine.
I think that with Vista OS it would be a good idea to go with at least 128Mb NVidia 8400M GS for $100 extra than just a plain Graphics Media Accelerator X3100.
if you decide to downgrade processor to 1.66GHz make sure that the price of laptop $1499 or above so you would get $200 gift card and not $150

as far as screen options its diff for everyone. some like screens with big icons and big text (1280x800) others with smaller icons and more space, its better for watching DVDs (1440x900), and if you like very small icons and lots of space than choose (1680x1050), its better for playing heavy games

 

Everybody has good points. With the original question I would go w/video card as 160GB's is so much larger than what you are used to I don't see storage of 250GB's being needed yet and external HDD's are an excellent option for this. The GPU is not able to be modified later that is why I would pick. The suggestions about lowering the cost of the computer are good but likely push you out of the range of that $50 "discount". On the 7250 vs the 7500 real world unlikely to see a difference. But on high demand (CPU) apps I think the difference will be closer to 20% (not 10%) the reason I think is the clock speed is about 10%, then add in 1/2 the cache. In closing, If your eyesight is good I would leave things as you have them and upgrade to the 1680X1050 resolution.