Question for Notebook Users

atomicdad · Post by **atomicdad** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:05 pm

I'm thinking about getting a new machine and passing my current home office desktop off to my kids to populate with games, viruses, and assorted malware they pickup. With that said i'm seriously considering a notebook purchase this time around. Went to the Dell Site and messed around with some different configurations, any comments on this setup:

Dell Precision M65
$2,109
Processor: Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2300E (1.66GHz/667MHz) Dual Core
Operating Systems: Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2 with Media
Graphics: NVIDIA® Quadro FX 350M 512MB Turbocache, OpenGL
LCDs: 15.4 inch Wide Screen WXGA LCD Panel
Memory: 2 GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMM
Hard Drives: 120GB Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Module Bay Devices: 8-24-24-24X CDRW/DVD Combo Drive w/ CyberLink PowerDVD™, No Media
Wireless Card: Dell Wireless™ 1490 802.11a/g Dual-band Mini-Card
Touchpad Options: Standard Touchpad
File System: NTFS File System
Batteries: 9 Cell Primary Battery

So what up with the battery, for an additional $29 is it worth it to bump up to the 9 cell primary battery from the 6 cell job, does that make a significant differance? I know ram is like horsepower and power tools, the more the better, but is bumping up to 2 GB worth an additional $399, over 512 Mb or is going up to only 1 Gb for $139 reasonable. For another $50 or so I can drop 20 Gb on the HD but bump up the speed to a 7200 rpm 100 Gb model.

Just wanting to get some opinions on what some of you think of this configuration and if it is a reasonable price.

Now for the no-brainer, my company has a policy to pick up half the tab, $2109 >>> $1054.50, oh yea my wife's company has a policy to kick down $500, $1054.50 >>> $554.50, say shipping and taxes will be around $200 or so.
How about paying $750 for the above system?

Shlomart Ben Yisrael · Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:24 pm

Very nice, although I'd prefer a DVD-RW drive to the Combo drive that's listed.

Mister Bushice · Post by **Mister Bushice** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:16 pm

Bump up the battery if you think you will be using it unplugged a lot, for ex. you travel and have airport downtime. If you will always be home, you won't need the extra battery power.

1 gb would be plenty of Ram, unless you are a real power user with large programs that suck memory, or have a lot of shit open at once. I have 1gb on my desktop and it is more than I need, and I run 8 browser windows, 16 MS Word files, photoshop, adobe acrobat, and google earth all at once with no slowdowns.

Also, I'd go for memory over the additional speed. Compared to your current box 5400 will most likely be an improvement, and you will like having the extra storage space later on when you are used to the speed ( not that you'll notice the speed all that much any way)

I would also get the extended warranty. LAptops take a lot more abuse than desktops do, and if the screen goes dead the day after the standard warranty expires, you'll be hating the $800 you'll have to be shelling out to fix it when you could spend a couple hundy now for the in home warranty service.

EDIT: Also, get a mouse. The touchpads will drive you nuts.

atomicdad · Post by **atomicdad** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 5:14 am

Marty, thanks for pointing that out, the DVD RW IS the better option.

Bush, I run some proprietary codes that are memory hogs, much moreso than the MS stuff, so I need the RAM. I'll stick with the size over speed on the HD though. With a few modifications to the above layout, DVD RW instead of the Combo drive, and a higher res screen the final out of pocket cost after tax, shipping and employer reimbursement is looking to be $795. Hell, I might just bump up the processor a bit.

Fucking A, Happy Birthday to me.

Mister Bushice · Post by **Mister Bushice** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 5:51 am

I was going to mention the better screen, but those costs are usually the highest of all so I skipped it.
war 17 inch hi res screens though. makes for easier viewing anywhere.

jiminphilly · Post by **jiminphilly** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:52 pm

Why the upgraded graphics card?

Shlomart Ben Yisrael · Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:12 am

atomicdad wrote:the final out of pocket cost after tax, shipping and employer reimbursement is looking to be $795. Hell, I might just bump up the processor a bit.

Man, that's a fucking steal...

Go ahead and buy it, and then sell it to me!

Okay, I'll pay shipping too.

:wink:

PSUFAN · Post by **PSUFAN** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:33 am

2,200 is a lot for a laptop, imo. Also, having bought a P4 3gig Vaio, I can't possibly recommend a processor that is not a mobile processor. A laptop with a desktop processor just doesn't stay cool, and just cannot exist without the battery.

Check this one out:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=2242

pretty much stacked, imo.

Mister Bushice · Post by **Mister Bushice** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:16 am

Dell offers good deals regularly, but if you upgrade a standard box, it will get pricey.

You can solve your heat thing with one of these:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid ... SR&cat=FAN

It does eat a USB port, though it give you two back. :)