Should I pull the trigger?

[Hoopster81]

I just bought a 9300 a couple weeks ago after much investigation and searching these forums. I can offer some constructive criticism - take it for what you will.

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Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm

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I ordered it with 256 MB at 1 DIMM, ordered 1 GB off NewEgg (~$100), and Ebay'd the 256 piece.

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Primary Battery 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (80 WHr)

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I believe this upgrade is $100, but for $129 you can just get an additional 9-cell and then also have the 6-cell as a back-up for $30 more.

As for the security stuff, just search these forums for the free alternatives (AGP, MS Spyware, etc.)

Good luck

[MicroBob]

Well Crap!!

The retards at Dell won't help me.
they say that if I 'change' the order that's really just cancelling this order and then making a new order and thus I would lose the one-time only coupon.

so I am apparently stuck with the 40GB hard-drive.

I might order an internal 80GB hard-drive seperately at some point for $239 (or perhaps less from new-egg or e-bay or somewhere) or I can get a 40GB external hard-drive as a back-up or something like that. Mostly stuff that I'm not terribly familiar with.


I'm kind of pissed at Dell for not letting me change the order.


Is there any point in calling them back and hoping to get a representative who will be more flexible??


Thanks guys.

[RunDownHouse]

I think I've heard that you might have luck trying another rep. How much is it going to cost you to call back?

[MicroBob]

Well...you even THINKING this might be good enough for me.
the biggest issue is the annoyance level of being on hold for 15 minutes and dealing with morons.

Sometimes I don't play well with others when I'm not getting my way.


It just seems REALLY stupid for them to not change my order when I'm willing to pay MORE money for asn UPGRADE.

I'm guessing it will be another $150 or so to upgrade that hard-drive....but they will take-away the $750 coupon and make it a $900 charge.
OR - I can just order the 80GB internal hard-drive seperately for $239.


Arrgghhh...Dell is pissing me off just thinking about it.

Here goes another call.

[MicroBob]

Well....the next guy I got had no problem changing the order at all.
WTF?!?!

sure glad I called back.
wonder why the other guy was so freaking difficult.


I changed the battery to the 6-cell as suggested and saved $99...
I'll order a 9-cell seperately some other time...perhaps via new-egg or e-bay.


I changed the hard-drive from 40GB to 80GB.


The total cost is LESS than what I was paying before which had me a little concerned at first since it seemed strange.


But I'm saving $99 on the battery.
And he says I'm only paying $40 or $50 or so extra for the better hard-drive.

Not bad.


I didn't bother with the whole RAM bit.
I just want it there when I get it. maybe I could save some dough by selling the low RAM unit and getting the 1k on e-bay but I don't feel like dealing with that because I'm lazy.



Sorry for hi-jacking this thread away from the discussion of 7200rpm and so forth. But I got on a roll asking questions about how all that crap works...and after awhile it felt silly to just start a new thread saying 'okay...here's the specs on my computer....tell me what you think' when we already had this one going.


Thanks for your help everybody.
Looking forward to my new machine.

[RunDownHouse]

Glad it worked out. I guess its just one of those CS things where if you get a completely apathetic or jolly rep, you're good to go, and if you get a pissed-off or uptight one, you're SOL.

[splashpot]

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Sorry for hi-jacking this thread away from the discussion of 7200rpm and so forth. But I got on a roll asking questions about how all that crap works...

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No prob. I learned a lot from the responses too. I too bought a laptop. However, I went with the 6000. I'll either buy a seperate 7200rpm HD or just put up with this one. Depends on if I get annoyed enough. I went with the 6000 because it was cheaper, total price ended up being $867. I still need to buy more RAM, but that should only cost another $100 or so. Yes, the screen is smaller, but I improve my mobility. My current screen is only 13 inches so I'm sure 15.4 will seem plenty big to me. I too am looking forward to my new machine. And I can't believe I got it for under $1000 including RAM!

[MicroBob]

Yeah...that's a nice score.

I would have very much considered this if I was on a more significant budget...but those 17" screens just sound too cool to me...and absolute is footing the bill anyway (see my other thread on this).



I guess I forgot that I can just buy a 7200rpm drive later if I need it. So I'll be less worried about that knowing that I can just change in the future.
somehow I doubt I'll need to though. I mean, this thing (5100) is kind of crappy now...but it still gets the job done and I can play on it just fine. So I suspect the new one with the increased RAM will be just dandy for me.

[hhughes]

I know Im probably SOL, but do you think those coupons are still available????? [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[steveg]

I'm looking at external harddrives that work through a usb port. It seems like a better deal then installing a new harddrive in a notebook. Any one have experience doing this?