Looking at this Dell for my first Laptop...

THIS laptop. What do you guys think. I would stick with the 1.6 Mobile, but that seems super slow. Would that be enough for surfing the web, programming (Java), Office tasks, and playing music? What do you guys think?


Also, I would get the UXGA Display and the Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps) wireless adapter.

I know nothing about intel, nor laptops... so I am asking you guys. Maybe there are other places to shop for laptops than dell? I don't want to spend too much more than $1500. Any input is appreciated, thanks!

I'd say you'll love it. Great screen on that one.

If you're not looking for gaming performance then I'd personally get the 600m. Thats what I have, and its quite a bit smaller than the one you posted, and nearly the same price. Mine is a 1.8, 1 gig o' ram, 64mb ati 9000, and the only thing that was really unecessary was the gig o' ram, but I originally bought 512, but was at microcenter and they had another stick for only 75 bucks. With the 600m since it comes with a slower video card, it might be cheaper to upgrade the processor which will be more useful for more useful things other than gaming. Make sure you look in the cyber deals section as there is like a $500 off coupon, and if you go to a university some colleges offer big discounts.

Michael

mrw8419 said:

If you're not looking for gaming performance then I'd personally get the 600m. Thats what I have, and its quite a bit smaller than the one you posted, and nearly the same price. Mine is a 1.8, 1 gig o' ram, 64mb ati 9000, and the only thing that was really unecessary was the gig o' ram, but I originally bought 512, but was at microcenter and they had another stick for only 75 bucks. With the 600m since it comes with a slower video card, it might be cheaper to upgrade the processor which will be more useful for more useful things other than gaming. Make sure you look in the cyber deals section as there is like a $500 off coupon, and if you go to a university some colleges offer big discounts.

Michael

Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice guys.

mrw8419, you are right; I don't think I need a Mobity 9700 Radeon for sure. I don't know what I was thinking... I surely won't be playing games on it. The 600m is considerably cheaper, but it only comes with a 14.1" display. For about $300 more, I would rather have a 17".

Any other advice guys? Don't forget, I don't have to buy from dell.

I was also looking at the Inspiron 6000

Specs:

• Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60GHz/533MHz FSB) Intel® Graphics
• 15.4 inch UltraSharp WUXGA LCD Panel
• 512 MB Ram
• Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics
• 40GB Hard Drive
• 54Mbs Wireless
• 24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive with Sonic RecordNow

Those are the basics, all for 1,296.00 plus free shipping. What's the verdict? Cheaper than my first listing... it only has a 15.4" display as opposed to the 17in in the first post. What do you guys think?

The 6000 is a new model that I haven't seen in person yet, but I believe it's basically a widescreen 600m. Specs sound fine for what you're doing.

The thing that worries me is the processor part. I mean, a 1.6gig Pentium seems unbearably slow. Am I wrong? I mean, even if it's for surfing the web or what not, 1.6gigs of Intel power seems like nothing. Please tell me I am wrong.

With my 1.8ghz, while I'm at school I listen to music, aim, several windows open of firefox, and office and I never see a slow down. The mobile processors that they designed are very nice. The one thing I'd watch out for is that I'm pretty sure that the 1.6ghz only have 1mb of l2 cache, where the 1.8ghz have 2mb of l2 cache which might make the difference. These are completely different processor designs from the desktop system, so a 1.8 is actually quite fast. As for the screen its plenty big enough for webpages, etc, and it fits in my bookbag a lot better.

Michael

mrw8419 said:

With my 1.8ghz, while I'm at school I listen to music, aim, several windows open of firefox, and office and I never see a slow down. The mobile processors that they designed are very nice. The one thing I'd watch out for is that I'm pretty sure that the 1.6ghz only have 1mb of l2 cache, where the 1.8ghz have 2mb of l2 cache which might make the difference. These are completely different processor designs from the desktop system, so a 1.8 is actually quite fast. As for the screen its plenty big enough for webpages, etc, and it fits in my bookbag a lot better.

Michael

Click to expand...

Thank's for the note on the cache, I suppose that's pretty important

You are aslo right about the screen size; I almost forgot this thing would have to fit in a backpak.

I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned another place to get a lappy. Is Dell that good?

to see *about* how powerful a p-m is compared to a p4, multiply the p-m clock speed by 1.8. also, check out sager laptops, 3790 specifically, at www.pctorque.com . also very nice laptops. otherwise, the i6000 seems good for your purposes.

jnev_89 said:

to see *about* how powerful a p-m is compared to a p4, multiply the p-m clock speed by 1.8. also, check out sager laptops, 3790 specifically, at www.pctorque.com . also very nice laptops. otherwise, the i6000 seems good for your purposes.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that suggestion. I checked out the site and I liked what I saw. I am kinda glad to see that it shipps with no OS installed or no other BS software from Dell, as I can get office and XP Pro for free from my school. The 3790 seems to be a perfect choice in my case, I really like the specs for the price too.

One thing... what would I use the "blue tooth" for? I saw it both @ dell and pctorque.

I have a Dell I like it alot. Maybe not the best, but they are a good deal.

9mmCensor said:

I have a Dell I like it alot. Maybe not the best, but they are a good deal.

Click to expand...

Which model do you have?

He has the same one I have I believe, the 5160.

dreIU said:

Which model do you have?

Click to expand...

5160.

Dells, may not be the best, but I really like mine. Mine is one of the more simple ones that Dell does. Inspiron 1150, seems to do great since I don't play games on it, and it only cost (I am sure I have said it a million times) $630. w/60gig 5400rpm, wirelss b/g, 2.6Ghz celey (yuk), and so on.

Get an apple notebook. Those are a much better deal, but I'd only get it if it's a secondary computer. If it's gonna be your main rig, go with the dell.

dreIU said:

One thing... what would I use the "blue tooth" for? I saw it both @ dell and pctorque.

Click to expand...

Blue tooth is a small range wireless protocol that is used by cell phones, pda's, etc. The only decently cool thing if you don't have a blue tooth phone, you can use a blue tooth mouse and you never even have to plug anything in. Just turn the wireless mouse on and it works.

Michael

I love my dell. If you're not going to game I'd save the money from the 9700 and put it elsewhere. My 9600 Pro can play HL2 so I'm good to go with it. You could probably go a lot lower to a 5200 Go or something. Upgrade the ram or something. Oh, just a hint. You can save money on ram by buying the 256 stick and then buying a gig kit from the Egg for 160 bucks. Then sell the 256 stick on the forums for like 30 shipped and you got a gig for 130.

Dylruss said:

Dells, may not be the best, but I really like mine. Mine is one of the more simple ones that Dell does. Inspiron 1150, seems to do great since I don't play games on it, and it only cost (I am sure I have said it a million times) $630. w/60gig 5400rpm, wirelss b/g, 2.6Ghz celey (yuk), and so on.

Click to expand...

That's a good deal, but I don't know if I could settle for a celery I won't be playing games on mine either.

kayson said:

Get an apple notebook. Those are a much better deal, but I'd only get it if it's a secondary computer. If it's gonna be your main rig, go with the dell.

Click to expand...

I have used some apple computers here on campus, and I can honestly say that I hate their OS... I am used to Windows and I like it My lappy would be my second rig for sure, I still have to have this loud thing as my gaming rig I am sure that apple notebooks have their advantages, but I don't see myself being happy with one.

mrw8419 said:

Blue tooth is a small range wireless protocol that is used by cell phones, pda's, etc. The only decently cool thing if you don't have a blue tooth phone, you can use a blue tooth mouse and you never even have to plug anything in. Just turn the wireless mouse on and it works.

Michael

Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation... I don't have any PDA's or a nice enough cellphone for that (thoguh I may have one in March). So I could use my MX1000 mouse with the blue tooth technology?

enduro said:

I love my dell. If you're not going to game I'd save the money from the 9700 and put it elsewhere. My 9600 Pro can play HL2 so I'm good to go with it. You could probably go a lot lower to a 5200 Go or something. Upgrade the ram or something. Oh, just a hint. You can save money on ram by buying the 256 stick and then buying a gig kit from the Egg for 160 bucks. Then sell the 256 stick on the forums for like 30 shipped and you got a gig for 130.

Click to expand...

Also good advice, thanks. I have never dealt with a laptop before, but I assume it cannot be that hard to go in there and change the memory. Also, would 1gig be overkill for my purposes? I think that 512 wouls be enough for what I do, and they currently have an upgrade from 256 to 512 for free. I do think that the 9700 would be overkill for sure as well, but I will want to play some videos and such, so maybe a cheap integrated graphics card may not be enough?




Also, does anyone know if I would void my warranty by formating the HD and installing XP Pro, as opposed to the XP Home that it omes with? Or is there a way to have it shipped with absolutely nothing on the HD?


Thanks again guys!