Some questions before buying

Hi, I'm planing on buying a NP5796 and I was hoping someone might help me with a couple of questions.

1) I don't know too much about computers so I was wondering if someone could take a quick look at my configuration to see if any changes need to be made to min. price and max. performance. My main concern is the HD, I'm not sure if I should choose 5400 with 320gigs for 7200 with 200gigs. From what I've been reading the difference between 5400 and 7200 is very small?

2) Also, I choose one stick of 2gig DDR3 ram, how difficult would it be for me to install another stick of DDR3 ram

3) My last question is about the warranty. One of the I'm going with xotic pc is because of it's great customer service, but I noticed that everything besides the default warranty is with Sager, so would that result in me dealing with sager instead of xotic pc?

Thank you!

Sager NP5796 Custom Notebook (Built on Clevo M570TU) Sager NP5796 Custom Notebook (Built on Clevo M570TU)
- 17" WUXGA "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1920x1200)
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- ~Intel® P8600 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.40GHz w/3MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 25 watt
- 512MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce 9800M GT DDR3 DX10 (User Upgradeable)
- None Standard
- ~ 2,048MB DDR3 1066MHz Dual Channel Memory (1 SODIMM)
- None Standard
- NP579x Silver Frame Trim Color
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 200GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
- None Standard
- None Standard
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- Internal Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR
- Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5300 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi Link
- None Standard
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- None Standard
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Basic Black Business Case - Included
- Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- None Standard
- None Standard
- None Standard
- Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- None Standard
- None Standard
- None Standard - Drivers & Utility Software Only
- None Standard
- None Standard
- 3 Year Labor* 1 Year Parts Warranty Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Based Toll Free Tech Support
(Year2 & 3 Labor Warranty through Xotic PC)

 

1) I don't know too much about computers so I was wondering if someone could take a quick look at my configuration to see if any changes need to be made to min. price and max. performance. My main concern is the HD, I'm not sure if I should choose 5400 with 320gigs for 7200 with 200gigs. From what I've been reading the difference between 5400 and 7200 is very small?

-- go with the lowest CPU, because it doesn't matter as much anymore at this speed level
-- go for a 7200 rpm for your primary hard drive, 7200 is much faster than 5400
-- you don't have to worry about your secondary hard drive as much


2) Also, I choose one stick of 2gig DDR3 ram, how difficult would it be for me to install another stick of DDR3 ram

-- very easy to install another buy it from newegg.com

3) My last question is about the warranty. One of the I'm going with xotic pc is because of it's great customer service, but I noticed that everything besides the default warranty is with Sager, so would that result in me dealing with sager instead of xotic pc?

-- I believe you should deal with Sager in the first year, then Xotic pc in the second and third year.

 

PM Justin about the warranty specifics.

 

Is there a DDR2 RAM option or is it just DDR3? And if there is a DDR2 option, does it cost less than the DDR3 one?

And as for your HDD question, check out these threads. They might help clear things up:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=284798
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=284940

 

Synic there is no DDR2 option...

 

Wow, lots of quick replies! Thank you all very much! I'll take a look at the threads that were provided. I'm very excited!

@synic

Sadly there is no DDR2 option. But from what I've been able to gathered people have suggested that DDR3 is too expensive atm and does not offer a big performance increase?

@youdontneedtoknow

From what I've been reading, CPU does not really make a difference in gaming but it does make a difference in multimedia, trasncoding, etc? Considering this laptop will need to last me a 4-5 years, would you still recommend getting the slowest CPU, even if the laptop's primary use isn't for gaming? (I really don't know too much about computers and only started doing research this week. I have run into a lot of conflicting opinions and outdated posts, so I can very well be incorrect in everything I've previously said.)

Further information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

Correct, at the moment it's not cost effective to pay so much for such a slight price increase. Sorry for answering for synic

 

Yep, that's why I asked if there was a DDR2 option

I'll let it fly this time

 

1. The difference in performance between a 320GB 5400RPM HD vs. a 200GB 7200RPM is negligible. Go with the former if you're on a budget. Personally, I would go for a 320GB 7200RPM, for $140 bucks more. Not a bad price.

2. Very simple. But the price of 4GB of RAM @ xotic is just $120 more. That's a pretty decent price. I'd imagine that if you buy it from a 3rd party like Newegg.com you'd save about $40 or so. But then there's the hassle of shipping and installing it yourself. Unless, of course, you like doing things for yourself.

3. You would have the experience and negotiating power of a reseller who knows the ins and outs of the entire process to go to bat for you. That's the advantage of going through reputable resellers like Justin or Donald.

 

me12345 -- don't worry about CPU, it is plenty for multimedia even after 4 - 5 years. My 1.4 Ghz Centrio CPU which I bought 4 years ago still does everything pretty fast, no problems with multimedias.

Nowadays, you can even upgrade notebook CPU yourself, just buy them from newegg.com so in case after 4 years you are no longer satisfied with CPU performance you can always buy a much better and cheaper CPU.

As for the memory, I personally think it would be fun to install it myself, there is not much risk involved and it is much cheaper that way.

In addition, if the laptop is well built you don't even need the warranty, my four years old HP pavilion never had a hardware problem, and I can fix all the software problems...