Puchasing a Laptop - Take a look at these specs.

[Wyers]

Looks like I'm going with the 9300 which seems to be a popular choice amongst 2+2ers. There doesn't seem to be many options anywhere if you want to go with the UXGA screen - so the 9300 it will be.

For all of you Yanks, keep in mind the price is in CDN funds. My concern is the processor speed. I see some laptops in excess of 3GHZ - although most fall in the 1.8 range. Any comments on this processor? Is it sufficient?

I know that doubling up on the RAM would be a good idea but I'm not sure if I'm want to dish out the extra cash right now.

Inspiron 9300
Date & Time: October 15,2005 10:26 PM CST

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Inspiron 9300 Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition Unit Price $2,379.00
Dell Customers: Savings on your Online Purchase
- $280.00
Catalog Number: 70702
Module Description Show Details
Base Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
LCD 17in True Life™ Wide Screen UXGA Display
Memory 512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
Video Card Free Upgrade to 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800
Hard Drive 80GB Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Document Management Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
CD ROM/DVD ROM 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Wireless FREE Intel PRO/Wireless 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g, 54Mbps)
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) No productivity suite- Corel WordPerfect word processor only
Security Software No Security Subscription
Digital Music Musicmatch® Jukebox Basic
Battery 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (80 WHr)
Carrying Case Dell Nylon Deluxe Carrying Case
Hardware Support Services 1 Yr Return to Depot Service with 1 Yr Tech Support
Dell Picture Studio (DPS) Photo Album™ SE Basic
Internet Access Please select an ISP subscription
Operating System Backup & Recovery PC Restore recovery system by Symantec
TOTAL:$2,099.00


Total Price
Sub-total $2,099.00
Shipping $0.00
GST $146.93
PST $167.92
HST $0.00
Total Price $2,413.85

[Bradyams]

Not sure if these work for CDN purchases, but here ya go just in case:

Dell Home Systems - 25% off Select Inspiron $999+ • w/ Coupon KBM$G8P671H4B8 •(Offer may be combined with select other offers. Exp after 5000 uses)

Dell Home Systems - 30% off Select Inspiron $1499+ • w/ Coupon 7RC$H$G3HS?101 •(Offer may be combined with select other offers. Exp after 4000 uses)

[SheetWise]

XP Home Edition - Yuck. Go Pro.
512MB RAM - Not enough (as you know).

[MyMindIsGoing]

[ QUOTE ]
XP Home Edition - Yuck. Go Pro.
512MB RAM - Not enough (as you know).

[/ QUOTE ]

For what is that not enough?

[SheetWise]

If you plan to do any multi-tasking, the combinations that will kill it are endless. I've moved all of my (XP) machines to 2GB+.

[Bradyams]

[ QUOTE ]
XP Home Edition - Yuck. Go Pro.

[/ QUOTE ]

What are the pros to XP Pro? As a student I can get a copy for the price of shipping, but I haven't jumped on the offer yet. Is it really that much better?

[MyMindIsGoing]

[ QUOTE ]
If you plan to do any multi-tasking, the combinations that will kill it are endless. I've moved all of my (XP) machines to 2GB+.

[/ QUOTE ]

Praise the world! 2gb will solve all problems... 2gb for poker is the worst bullshit I seen on this forum.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
XP Home Edition - Yuck. Go Pro.

[/ QUOTE ]

What are the pros to XP Pro? As a student I can get a copy for the price of shipping, but I haven't jumped on the offer yet. Is it really that much better?

[/ QUOTE ]

There is no difference except for networking capabilities. Im assuming your not going to use any features Pro offers in which case save your money.

2gb is super overkill. 1gb is more than fine and will do more than you need it too. Unless you plan on running memory intensive programs (examples include AutoCad, solidworks, and video/audio editing).

1gb will make it a lot more futureproof and I recommend that upgrade vs an upgrade in the CPU.

[SheetWise]

[ QUOTE ]
Praise the world! 2gb will solve all problems... 2gb for poker is the worst bullshit I seen on this forum.


[/ QUOTE ]
If all OP wants to do with it is play poker, the entire machine is overkill. I didn't read that in the post.

[SheetWise]

[ QUOTE ]
What are the pros to XP Pro? As a student I can get a copy for the price of shipping, but I haven't jumped on the offer yet. Is it really that much better?

[/ QUOTE ]
If you're a "home" user, probably not much. I've had business people bring in home versions of 2000/XP that I couldn't put on my network without teaching them to "undo" features -- I've had clients who wanted to demo active web sites without a connection, which required IIS, etc. I've simply found that using the pro versions eliminates a lot of headaches if you need to be interactive with other users in any sort of a development environment. A lot of the features XP is capable of require pro version -- if you know you're just playing poker, or running Office, it probably isn't a big deal. I mentioned it, and I upgrade all of my machines, because I couldn't tell you today what I will be doing with the machine next month -- let alone, next year. It's worth the price simply to avoid finding software that won't run or having to do an upgrade without notice to finish a project.

Oh, and good job on the 6800pro. Im actually buying the exact same system (with 1gb memory). Plan on having some fun with games.

[Wyers]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Praise the world! 2gb will solve all problems... 2gb for poker is the worst bullshit I seen on this forum.


[/ QUOTE ]
If all OP wants to do with it is play poker, the entire machine is overkill. I didn't read that in the post.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm looking to do a little more than play poker but it will not be used for the same intensive apps as my desktop. The desktop is a three monitor set up used regularly for video editing (in addition to poker and some gaming). In this system I'm using 1GB of RAM and I haven't found the need to upgrade to 2GB. The video work is a hobby - not professional.

The 9300 is not overkill as I will use it (to a lesser extent than the desktop) for mutimedia. It will primarily be for poker, web surfing, and some work related usage. I also wanted the UXGA display.

My concern was processor speed. 2GB of RAM is serious overkill and Windows XP Home will work fine.

I upgraded to 1GB and the order has been placed.

Thanks to everyone for the comments.

[ QUOTE ]
2gb is super overkill. 1gb is more than fine and will do more than you need it too. Unless you plan on running memory intensive programs (examples include AutoCad, solidworks, and video/audio editing).

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this true? What if you're running a million hand Pokertracker mined DB?

[KenProspero]

[ QUOTE ]
XP Home Edition - Yuck. Go Pro.
512MB RAM - Not enough (as you know).

[/ QUOTE ]

Why Yuck, unless he plans on networking his machine? Besides, Dell charges $114 to upgrade to XP Pro. If you ever need it you can pick up the upgrade on line for within a few dollars of that price, I think.

512 megs vs 1 gig.

I suspect that 512 is enough for most people unless they have a specific reason for more. (Example of reason -- I went with a gig, but I'm manipulating a 1gb database on my laptop from time to time and my software developer was pretty sure, but not positive that 512 was enough). Upgrading memory is easy if you should need it.

However, if you think you might want to upgrade memory in the future, it's probably worth it to make sure that the 512 that you're getting is on one chip, not two. This will cost a few extra dollars, but could save you money long run.

To the OP --

I'm not sure I'd buy the case from Dell. Look around and see if you can find one cheaper.

Also, with the latitude line, they have a package where they give you Microsoft Basic, plus Adobe Acrobat (full version, not the reader) for about $140 something. Since Acrobat goes more than this separately, if you feel you'll need this, it's worth doing the upgrade. It may only be there for latitude, or if you buy through the small business department for inspiron -- check it out. If you don't need Adobe, you can get MS Office cheaper (especially, if you're a student or a teacher or live in the same household as one).

Finally, with Dell, my advice, don't buy on line. Call their number and speak to a person.

1. No matter what the website says, the salespeople always match the price that you can get on line.

2. For the small business line, at least, salespeople have some authority to negotiate on the price (this isn't widely advertised, and may be limited to certain products). Ask.

3. If there's a delivery problem, you have a human to talk to.

[KenProspero]

[ QUOTE ]
My concern was processor speed.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a 610D with the 1.86 gh processor and 1gb of ram and I'm very happy with it's speed. As you may be aware, this uses the latest Pentium M chipset and has a faster FSB.

(Admittedly, I haven't been able to get anyone to come up with an easy translation of FSB vs faster chip, so take this for what it's worth). Anyway, I've been very happy with the performance.

[MyMindIsGoing]

[ QUOTE ]
512 is enough for most people unless they have a specific reason for more

[/ QUOTE ]

[Wyers]

Thanks for the reply Ken. This (along with your other post) was exactly the type of info I was looking for.

As for the case, it was a freebie thrown in by Dell. Depending on how functional it is, I may or may not purchase another one.

Order has been placed and I'm quite excited . I have an office on the second floor of the house where I do work, play poker and generally lay low. However the wife gets a little irritated if I make like a hermit. Now I'll be able to sneak in a few extra hands in the den while enduring yet another episode of Desperate Housewives.