Upgrading a Dell

Posted this in the Dell forum and then figured it would be more applicable here.

Sorry for the double post.

I'll be getting a 1730 soon and want to upgrade the HDD and the wireless card.

HDD: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) Free Fall Sensor
Wireless: Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g

I'd like to add a 320gb to the current HD bringing me to almost 500gb... is that hard to do? I've opened a laptop to clean out the fans before but never anything else.

How much would that cost for the 320gb?

Can I upgrade my wireless card and not break the Dell warranty? Is the agn wireless card enough better that I'll need it? For the record, I will always be using wireless for internet, whether in the house or at the library and I game so a good connection is important.

Thanks for the help.

 

i assume you want to buy an internal hd, does your laptop support 2 hds? i think it only supports 1 lol, i suggest you getting the 320gb western digital. also the wireless-n card will prob. not be any better. only get it if u intend to buy a wireless-n router or already have one. imo you should just get a 1730 with the specs you want and save some $$$

 

I have a Vostro 1700 and I just took the drive it came with, moved that to the second HDD bay and then got the new Hitachi Travelstar 5k320 320GB drive to use as my primary.

I don't know about the 1730 but on the Vostro the bays are slightly different so I had to order a caddy specifically for the second HDD bay from Dell. It arrived in 2 days. I also had to hunt around town for caddy screws and then screws for the bay.

I've never opened up a laptop before this so it was a bit daunting just looking at the hardware sitting in there waiting for me to mess it up. But I did it and everything works beautifully. If you run into any problems, you can always post here and you'll get quick answers. (I had a hard time removing the drive from the caddy and help was almost instant.)

Bottom line: I'm a woman who's not very tech savvy so if I can do it, you can too!

 

Ok cool thanks for the input!

 

The M1730 supports two hard drives. They are both in the same caddy so you won't have to hunt around for one or order one. It should be a very straightforward upgrade; Dell's service manual for the M1730 details the drive and caddy removal procedure here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsm1730/en/sm/hdd.htm#wp1109848

A 320GB 5400rpm drive goes for about 150 dollars on Newegg.

Upgrading the wireless card is also possible, though I don't think there's much point getting an N system right now. Neither upgrade will void your warranty unless the upgraded part becomes the source of whatever problems you encounter (not totally sure about that policy; this is just what I've heard).

 

I can see why you are upgrading the HDD on your own but can you just have DeLL upgrade the Wi-Fi? NewEgg looks like a good place to get HDD about $150. Have you thought of just using the original as external? I am only thinking batt life and weight. And Southpaw I am betting you can do it, no problem.

 

Southpaw, also if it helps, I got my drive from buy.com and using the $10 off through Google checkout (if you've never used Google checkout before), I got mine for about $135. I chose the free shipping, which said it would take about 2 weeks to arrive so I was happily surprised when it arrived in 2 days instead!

Good to know that you won't have to go on the hunt for parts or order from Dell! Sure wish it had been like that on the Vostro but it's all good now.

Enjoy!

Edited to add this link for a coupon if you are interested that doesn't require Google checkout:

http://www.dealigg.com/story-Buy-com-Coupons-15-off-200-10-off-175-5-off-50-more-1

 

Awesome thanks guys.

Reason I'm not upgrading some of this pre-purchase is because someone else is buying it for me...

I got lucky!