9300 vs. XPS2 vs. non-Dell

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DigitalMP

Gawd
Joined
Jun 27, 2004
Messages
861
I was set on an XPS2 for a while, but now I'm thinking that I don't really need THAT much power, since I'm not really a gamer, though I do work alot with graphics/web/music...I should be just fine with the 9300 and the 1.73 740M (right?)

What would you all say about the config below? Pros/Cons? I think I'll wait another week to see what Dell does with back to school, but I'd like to know why some of you might go with a higher model or something cheaper.

Am I too stuck on Dell? Can I get the same quality as far as workmanship and support somewhere else? Even with a few hundred more off (if next week has a big deal offer), should I still look elsewhere?

btw, I'd LOVE to have a bigger hard drive, but I know Dell doesn't use anything bigger than 100GB (maybe 120?). What do you laptop cats do for more internal storage without paying $3K?


Inspiron 9300

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (1.73 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition - I'll upgrade myself
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
128MB ATIs™ Mobility Radeon™ X300
100GB Hard Drive
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g, 54Mbps)
No productivity suite - Corel WordPerfect word processor only
McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months
9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (80 WHr)
1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr Technical Support
Webroot - Spy Sweeper

$2,246.73 total (for now)
 
Have you thought about getting a 6000? It's a good bit smaller than the 9300 and you're not losing much since you've said you won't be doing a whole lot of gaming.

EDIT: And as far as quality of workmanship goes, the newer inspirons (9300, 6000, 700m) are built fairly well but before then Dell laptops were pretty cheap-feeling, with the exception of some of the nicer Latitudes. If you want something really solidly built, go Thinkpad.
 
Thanks for your advice! As for the 6K, I don't think I'd be able to deal with a screen that's less than a 17.

I'll check out the Thinkpads now...

edit: no go on the Tkinkpads...their screens max at 15.
 
i give much lovin to the XPS2, got one last week completly maxxed out, bout the memory at newegg instead of paying 500 for it at dell. Have had no problems as of yet, easy to access memory slots and mini pci slots, powerful as hell, can get hot at times, but less so than the p-4 machines out there, ive got one of those too. playing all games at max rez with everything up. WoW at 1920 x 1200 is amazing.
 
I think that 9300 will fit what you need rather well.

Here are a couple coupons for you:

Save 35% on select Inspiron™ notebook purchases $999 or more Expires 9/1/05 5:59am CST or after 4000 redemptions
GV8NGST6PF0DMJ

Save $750 on select Inspiron™ notebook purchases $1899 or more Expires 9/1/05 5:59am CST or after 5000 redemptions
CMJV4FPX60BVWM
 
Thanks for the coupons!

Should I wait until Wednesday, or do you think they'll jack up their prices before next weekend?

edit: i ditched the extra RAM (i'll get the Kingston on newegg), grabbed the 942 printer, and bumped up the warranty to 2 years. $1676.85!
 
DigitalMP said:
Thanks for the coupons!

Should I wait until Wednesday, or do you think they'll jack up their prices before next weekend?

edit: i ditched the extra RAM (i'll get the Kingston on newegg), grabbed the 942 printer, and bumped up the warranty to 2 years. $1676.85!
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Tough to tell what Dell will do on a week to week basis. The only better deal you will probably see is if another 40% coupon comes out. Is worth waiting longer to see if you can save another 5%? Then you might lose out on the 35% off.

You can always call their sales department and inquire if there will be any better deals in the near future. Heck they might drop the price a bit more for you. Might be worth a try.
 
Prices usually dont fluctuate much, but the sooner you order it the sooner you'll get it ;) I think you've got a pretty good deal, this is pretty close to the best deals they've offered so far (not that its phenominal that they're offering the 35% / 750 off deal, they do that ALOT)
 
Can I mix the 35% off coupon with my academic/school discount? That would be a good deal for the XPS I plan on picking up. Even without the academic discount, 35% would be a deal worth picking up.

.:Ttocs
 
no, the home section and school sections for dell are seperate, so you cannot use those "home" coupons on a student deal.
 
Use the coupons and good call on buying the RAM from newegg. But I'd advise you to get the 6800Go. Even if you do any kind of graphical work or gaming, you'll need it. The X300 is just such a bad chip you just don't know :p. You could even get the 1.6Ghz processor to compensate, there's not much performance difference between the 1.6-2.0 line up unless you're doing heavy CPU tasks like encoding, compiling, etc. Also, there's no point in getting the better wireless card unless you have an 802.11a access point. I've never seen one hotspot with a compatibility, so unless you have an a router at home, don't bother. Also I'm curious, did you pay extra for the McAfee 15months? McAfee Security Center, while it has a good firewall and virus scanner, is a resource hog and is expensive. There are many freeware firewalls (zonealarm, tiny firewall) and virus scanners (AVG Free Edition) that do great jobs and use less resources. Anyway, my $0.02
 
Mr. K6 said:
Use the coupons and good call on buying the RAM from newegg. But I'd advise you to get the 6800Go. Even if you do any kind of graphical work or gaming, you'll need it. The X300 is just such a bad chip you just don't know :p. You could even get the 1.6Ghz processor to compensate, there's not much performance difference between the 1.6-2.0 line up unless you're doing heavy CPU tasks like encoding, compiling, etc. Also, there's no point in getting the better wireless card unless you have an 802.11a access point. I've never seen one hotspot with a compatibility, so unless you have an a router at home, don't bother. Also I'm curious, did you pay extra for the McAfee 15months? McAfee Security Center, while it has a good firewall and virus scanner, is a resource hog and is expensive. There are many freeware firewalls (zonealarm, tiny firewall) and virus scanners (AVG Free Edition) that do great jobs and use less resources. Anyway, my $0.02
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Thanks man...

I'll reconfig it with the 6800 and check things out. Hopefully I get a girl on the phone when I call and can swing a little more off of that price.

LOL...no I didn't pay extra for the McAfee, just the $18 for SpySweeper. I'll run AVG, and if Zone Alarm keeps pissing me off every time Soulseek drops a new build, I'm moving to Agnitum Outpost.
 
I actually recommend not getting the 6800go. It's a power eater and will really kill your battery life. You said you're not much of a gamer... well, I played World of Warcraft at 1600x1200 on a 128MB x300 and there was absolutely no problem with it. The game looked and ran fine. If you're not a serious gamer, I don't think the 6800 is worth it by a long shot. the 128 x300 will run every game out there just fine, and for about $200 less.

-Nate
 
I agree with ^^^...

you dont really need the 6800 if you arent gaming much, it will just rape your battery life. go with the top o the line proc, order 2 gig o ram from newegg, and you will be set.
 
Ha! Another look at my config and I was paying $79 for McCrappy! I ditched that, dropped my graphics down to 128MB, and upped my chip to the 2GHz.

I think I'm set now...thanks everyone!
 
Nate Finch said:
I actually recommend not getting the 6800go. It's a power eater and will really kill your battery life. You said you're not much of a gamer... well, I played World of Warcraft at 1600x1200 on a 128MB x300 and there was absolutely no problem with it. The game looked and ran fine. If you're not a serious gamer, I don't think the 6800 is worth it by a long shot. the 128 x300 will run every game out there just fine, and for about $200 less.

-Nate
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Good luck a year from now...
 
TheScott2K said:
I'd say that to pretty much every laptop gamer.
Click to expand...

And why would you say that? A 6800Go Ultra is faster then a 6800GT and is more powerful then the majority of gamers video cards out there. The 7800Go Ultra will be releasing at the end of next month according to what i've heard. The Pentium M processor is as fast as any Athlon 64 in gaming. I've seen the Pentium M 770 beating an FX-55 in alot of game benches. If the game is too stressful for the new XPS 2 i just ordered last night then its too stressful to run on 90% or more of the gaming desktop computers out there as well.
 
burningrave101 said:
And why would you say that? A 6800Go Ultra is faster then a 6800GT and is more powerful then the majority of gamers video cards out there. The 7800Go Ultra will be releasing at the end of next month according to what i've heard. The Pentium M processor is as fast as any Athlon 64 in gaming. I've seen the Pentium M 770 beating an FX-55 in alot of game benches. If the game is too stressful for the new XPS 2 i just ordered last night then its too stressful to run on 90% or more of the gaming desktop computers out there as well.
Click to expand...

Hey, that's all super, but if you're the type of gamer willing to spend that kind of scratch on a laptop then you're the type of gamer who, in a year or two, will no longer be happy with that machine's performance. It's just the nature of PC gaming. No matter how much you build it up, it'll only get slower. It won't get smaller.
 
hmm... how about this analogy: a 9800Pro can still run modern games fine, a 9200 can't. You see what I mean? I just always like to make sure that nothing bottlenecks a system.
 
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