Laptop Options

[AJ]

Say I was getting a new dell through work and it came with the specs below as the original setup:

Components
Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2050 (1.60GHz/533MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™
512MB Shared Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM 533MHZ, 1 DIMM
60GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Integrated Audio
Service
1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support
No Security Subscription
Accessories
53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11b/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Software
No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
Starter pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo
Also Includes
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Windows Vista™ Capable
Intel Core Duo ProcessorCompatibility Alert
Recalculating Price


----



What would be a few things I'd want to look at upgrading in terms of the what It would be used for, which would be:

School, Music, Web Design, and Wireless Web use. I'd obvious want something that has a touch of speed to it, but isn't over kill.

Here are some of the otpions I could add:

Processor:

Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache) [add $150 or $4/month1]
Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2050 (1.60GHz/533MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache) [Included in Price]
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T5500 (2MB Cache/1.66GHz/667MHz FSB) [add $100 or $3/month1]
May delay your E1505 Dual Core ship date
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7200 (4MB Cache/2.00GHz/667MHz FSB) [add $225 or $7/month1]
May delay your E1505 Dual Core ship date
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T7400 (4MB Cache/2.16GHz/667MHz FSB) [add $400 or $12/month1]
May delay your E1505 Dual Core ship date


OP:

Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 [Included in Price]
Genuine Windows® XP Professional [add $149 or $4/month1]
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD [add $10]
Genuine Windows® XP Professional with re-installation CD [add $159 or $5/month1]
Dell Recommended


Memory:

512MB Shared Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM 533MHZ, 1 DIMM [Included in Price]
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm [add $65 or $2/month1]
Dell Recommended
1GB Shared Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 1 DIMM [add $175 or $5/month1]
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 2 DIMM [add $300 or $9/month1]


Hard Drive:

60GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive [Included in Price]
80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive [add $35 or $1/month1]
120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive [add $75 or $2/month1]
Dell Recommended
60GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive [add $65 or $2/month1]
80GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive [add $125 or $4/month1]
100GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive [add $175 or $5/month1]


Video Card:

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 [Included in Price]
128MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1300 HyperMemory™ [add $49 or $1/month1]
256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™ [add $99 or $3/month1]
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™Go 7300 TurboCache [add $129 or $4/month1]
Dell Recommended


Let me know what would be suggested. The one thing I hate is when shit slows down when trying to run multiple programs at once.

[Steeltwo]

Processor: One of these two - if you've got the $ go for the 1.83, but if you do not, at least get the T5500 processor. Mainly for the bus speed increase.

Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache) [add $150 or $4/month1]

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T5500 (2MB Cache/1.66GHz/667MHz FSB) [add $100 or $3/month1]



OP: I've never used Media Center Edition. But if it isn't going to be connected to a big network, then I do not see a reason why you would need to get another OS. I would opt for the reinstalliation CD for the 10 bones.


Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD [add $10]



Memory: One of these two - Once again if you have the money go for the single DIMM. I'm surprised they do not have faster RAM available.


1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm [add $65 or $2/month1]
Dell Recommended
1GB Shared Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 1 DIMM [add $175 or $5/month1]



Hard Drive: No doubt, go with a 7200rpm drive at the MINIMUM. It'll just make life easier. The hardrive is the slowest part of the computer, might as well help it as much as you can by adding a few RPM's. However, you can get cheaper add-on drives than what they are asking for here. So i'd go with the 60 for now. You might not even need that much space. If you do you can just add a big fatty drive later for cheap.


60GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive [add $65 or $2/month1]



Video Card: If you plan on using the laptop for gaming at all or video editing.
up this to the X1300 and if you have the money, the maybe look at the other two. For 50 bones, it would be worth the X1300 just to have an option for later if you want to play some games on the road or whenever.

128MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1300 HyperMemory™ [add $49 or $1/month1]


hope this helps.

[scheides]

Get XP Pro, 1Gb (or 2 if you can) of RAM, and a bigger hard drive. Radeon graphics card would be a nice upgrade too, if you wanna go all out :)

[AJ]

Well I've changed a few things to reflect the following:

Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache)
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™
1GB Shared Single Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 1 DIMM
60GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD Software Edition

With these upgrade I'd be at the $1150 mark with what you guys would say would be a pretty fast laptop with ability to doing gaming and video editing.

Through work I can pick this up with a cheap payment play over 12, 18, or 22 months and it would be 100% intrest free.

Anyone think for the options and price and payment structure it's a good deal?

[Hoffer00]

No intrest! Shit go with the 22 months. Thats like 50 a month, sweet. If you want you can always pay more. It looks like you will have a winner.

I personally would get a faster CDRW though.

[AJ]

I still have a main computer that will handle 90% of the CD and DVD burning duties.

[92EvilTalon]

Then don't worry about the CDR then. What you are asking for seems like a good deal. I really like the Truelife LCD's. They are so much clear. But that sounds about good for what you need to do. And yes the 22 month plan will be great. Cut the payments down ... can you only get Dells?

[AJ]

Yeah, it's only through dell.

[JET]

I would upgrade the processor to the T7200 for only $75 more.

[Steeltwo]

I would upgrade the processor to the T7200 for only $75 more.
the 4mb cache would be nice.