Question:
Final Decision - Dell E1705
Hey guys...so I have decided that im going to go for the cheaper (with discount) gaming computer, that I think it will be the dell e1705. Let me know if you think my choice is well thought out and the best possible. I was considering waiting a few more weeks to see what the AMD Turion X2 proccesor was like but it doesn't even seem like those laptops (yet) are having high powered GPUs.
I am a hardcore gamer, I am student, and I do play alot of music, mess around with photoshop, a lil movie editting, etc. So I want a powerful desktop replacement laptop, that is portable enough to bring to classes and do word proccessing etc. but also a desktop replacement that I can bring back to my room, close it up and plug in DVI LCD, 2.1 Slim Speakers, and Wireless mouse and Keyboard. So becomes a more realistic desktop replacement for a college student in the dorm, and yet can unplug and be brought around to class during the day.
My facts/ideas/logic seem good so far? ;)
Inspiron E1705
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz/667MHz FSB)
Operating System: Genuine Windows® XP Professional + reinstall cd
LCD Panel: 17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
Memory: 512MB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Video Card: 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 7800
Hard Drive: Free Upgrade! 100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Network Card: Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Combo/DVD+RW Drives: 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with DL
Sound Card: Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy® ADVANCED HD Audio
Wireless Networking Cards: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g(54Mbps)
Primary Battery: 80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion + 80 9-cell Additional Battery
Wireless Personal Networking Card: Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth Internal
TOTAL:$1,548.00
That 750 off coupon is great, and if all goes well and I hear some good support from community members I will order this tommorow night.
I stuck with the cheapest 512mb RAM as I plan and hope to be able to remove it and get two G.SKILL 1GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) from NewEgg, only 80$ a stick. So is openening up the E1705 easy and removing the stick of ram and putting in these two? I would assume?
Also the screen XGA+ is cheaper and I plan to use an external DVI lcd screen with the laptop, so i dont really need the more expensive laptop screen, would you agree? All of the gaming and graphic intensive tasks I plan to do on an external LCD, and only school work and browsing and the occasional dvd on the laptop itself when being moved around. The HD only being 5400RPM should be sufficient for gaming and also not as hot? dell has free 100GB Upgrade so to get that same HD at 7200RPM would cost like $200+ more. Which doesn't seem worth it, but if you guys have a differant idea of it being really valuable, I may still get it...since this is such a great deal (cheap price imo) for a gaming desktop replacement, and I could afford getting the 7200RPM 100GB but the price doesn't seem reasonable to me. I wonder how hard it would be to upgrade to this HD (cheaper) at a later point?
I do like the power of the xps m1710, but at over 3grand its too expensive. I was considering the Asus W3J for about 1700$ 1.8 dual core + ati 256mb x1600 etc, but this dell e1705 seems to be a much better steal even if the build quality is not as good as the asus!
one more quick question about this dell...will the media features work with xp pro such as the no boot OS playing of media, or is that only for the media edition? I might want to reformat when I get the computer since I hate having all the extra crap-ware dell installs.
I appreciate you the forum reader for listening to my idea for the final decision laptop for me. I hope you will reply and offer some input, insight, advice, or confirmation of what I plan to do (getting this laptop, and replacing RAM etc).
Thanks,
Chris
Answer:
Re: Final Decision
try to get the price closer to 2000 and youre getting a better deal
dont upgrade the battery or buy an extra one. you can get them on ebay for $50 or less.
do upgrade the screen just because its not really upgradeable and so many people ordering the wsxga screen sent it back.
dont pay for ram or hd upgrades from dell.
Answer:
Re: Final Decision
try to get the price closer to 2000 and youre getting a better deal
dont upgrade the battery or buy an extra one. you can get them on ebay for $50 or less.
do upgrade the screen just because its not really upgradeable and so many people ordering the wsxga screen sent it back.
dont pay for ram or hd upgrades from dell.
well how can i get the price higher without upgrading the ram, hd, or battery from dell.
I will upgrade to the UXGA Screen with trubryte? :)
Answer:
Re: Final Decision
nononono
get the price lower
lower buy as little from dell as possible. 2000 before the coupon
Answer:
Re: Final Decision
hehe okay thanks for clearing that up haha, i definitely misunderstood you.
Anyone else have any comments? I was also wondering about how compatible Windows Vista will be with this machine? It will fully run once it comes out right ?
Answer:
Re: Final Decision
something to keep in mind is that a 17" is pretty large. you did mention portability, so i only mention that on the off chance that you haven't seen one in person yet.
Answer:
Re: Final Decision
as far as size this one is larger than any other ive seen
but lighter than many of them as well. go figure. Ive seen a lot of them.
Answer:
Re: Final Decision
well for one thing if you are a heavey gamer you need 2 gb ram. the grafics card is not too bad and everything elss is not to bad at all i would definatly get a faster hard drive rather than a bigger one. windows vista should work on this computer mainly because it has the guts to do it. vista will neead 512mb ram to just turn on. another option is get a verycheap laptop lit 500 dollars or so and then spend 1500 on a realy realy good dell desktop(if you want a dell)
good luck
Answer:
Re: Final Decision
i dont really mind if its big because that is expected from the powerful components i mean if i could i would get a laptop of a smaller size with the same components but im sure it would be very expensive and there arent really any other smaller laptops i could find with as many options as this one.
I wonder if i should just stick with integrated audio and get the pci-x Creative Audigy 2 ZS sound card instead of the integrated HD audio dell has.
Answer:
Re: Final Decision
well for one thing if you are a heavey gamer you need 2 gb ram. the grafics card is not too bad and everything elss is not to bad at all i would definatly get a faster hard drive rather than a bigger one. windows vista should work on this computer mainly because it has the guts to do it. vista will neead 512mb ram to just turn on. another option is get a verycheap laptop lit 500 dollars or so and then spend 1500 on a realy realy good dell desktop(if you want a dell)
good luck
yeah im definitely getting 2 gb ram but from dell its another 380$, so i can get 2sticks of even higher pc25400 ram from newegg, for only 160$ ...much cheaper :)
So would replacing the 512mb dell ram with ones i buy from newegg be easy? I've never modded a laptop, but i hear putting in ram is no problem etc.