I just recently bought a XPS 1640, and I am wondering if I have chosen the right hardware for the laptop. I'm a college freshman, so I need a long lasting laptop with good battery life and hard drive space.
Here are the specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700(2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3M L2 Cache)
4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm for XPS 1640
15.6 inch Wide Screen 16:9 900p HD+ WLED LCD W/2.0MP, XPS 1640
ATI Mobility RADEON M96XT - 1GB
320GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Intel 5100 Wireless-N (1x2) Half Mini-Card
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion P Primary Battery
Is this a good combination of hardware? I know a TAD bit about computers, but not any in depth stuff.
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9600 (2.8GHz/1066Mhz FSB/6MB cache) The only option Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit 3 yr In-home Service after remote diagnosis + Complete Care+LoJack No one year options 15.6” Full High Definition (1080p) High Brightness LED Display with TrueLife™ and Camera/Facial Reco 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz Only option Size: 500GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) Only option McAfee 36 month Forced to get
I've been checking out dell notebooks and using their system builder for the past few days. And every time I configure a system there's always something different in their config options. Mind you, sometimes this is with the same exact model.
For example, I will customize a Studio 15 and it will let me select the "No security software" option, which is nice because I hate bloatware. But then I will try again in an hour or two and that option will be gone and I'll be forced to choose the Mcafee trial.
I am in the process of ordering a new e6500. I have been reading through the forum for the last week and I came to the following configuration but would like to clarify a couple of questions.
Just an idea of what laptops I have, I am using Latitude D610, Latitude D620, Thinkpad T60. This might give you an idea of what I am used to. I find T60 is the best overall, D620 very mobile but slow, D610 ok and stable.
Here is what I am thinking for the e6500.
Latitude E6500 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8600 (2.40GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB) Operating Systems Genuine Windows Vista Business Bonus-Windows XP Professional downgrade Memory 4.0GB, DDR2-800 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS Internal Keyboard Internal English Backlit Keyboard Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD 250GB Hard Drive, 7200RPM with Free Fall Sensor No Fingerprint Reader 15.4” UltraSharp™ Wide WXGA+ (1440x900) LED Display-Brushed Metal Black Dell Wireless® 370 Bluetooth Module Modem Internal 56K Modem 8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD™ Camera / Microphone Integrated Webcam with digital microphone Intel® WiFi Link 5300 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card Intel vPro™ Technology’s advanced mgmt features are Off for future use
This machine will be used mainly for the Internet and not so demanding applications.
Now,
1) What do you think overall? Any issues to watch for?
2) Should I go for the WUXGA? I have been reading about the small font but was not sure. My T60 is set to 1280x800
3) I read about HDD noise, should I downgrade to 5400 or maybe upgrade to SSD?
I’m about ready to buy my XPS 1530, but wanted to check with the forum to see if I’m making any big mistakes. I came up with the configuration because I always have tons of documents open at the same time & also have a lot of programs open at the same time. This includes more than one photo editing program & a video editing program. My hard disk is always going, swapping things out. So I wanted something that will really speed things up.
I also don’t have a TV so use my computer to watch DVD’s. Later on I plan to get a larger external monitor to make use of the Blu-ray drive. My configuration follows. Let me know if I’m missing anything.
Also, I had a few minor questions.
I’m going to bite the bullet & get the 64 bit version of Vista. Do I also get the 32 bit DVD so I can use that if 64 doesn’t work for me?
I’m thinking of getting the LED screen. Is it worth the extra cost? Any downside?
I’m getting Dell wireless N. Is that the best?
I’m getting Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate) since it’s not that much more, but I don’t know what it is.
I was just on the Dell site and noticed that some configuration options for the XPS M1730 have changed...for instance it doesn't come with Blu-ray by default anymore and you can't select a single hard drive option. Before I was able to select a "200GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)" but I don't see that as an option anymore. The equivalent seems to be the "RAID Performance: 400GB (2x200GB) 7200RPM". Do you think it is RAID-0 or RAID-1?
Also do you think they will bring back the old choices or can I request them? Also what do these changes in configuration usually mean...did they find that the original configuration was causing problems?
Finally with the two SLI 8700 NVIDIA cards...is SLI enabled by default or will Dell have to release drivers for them? I thought on the Alienware website, when customizing a M9750, it said that you can purchase SLI but Vista doesn't support it yet and you will be e-mailed the drivers when available...so does Dell have the drivers already (or is SLI not enabled yet on the XPS M1730 either)?
Any other difference other than turbo? For my uses I really don't see where turbo is going to be beneficial. My most demanding task is encoding where all four cores are going to be used so turbo will be moot. Anything I am missing here? I don't do enough encoding to justify the i7, IMHO day to day performance will be better with the higher clocked 1i3/i5. $75 difference.
IGP vs. Dedicated
No gaming so no dedicated card needed? One thing I am really liking with my current rig is the nvidia GPU with flash 10.1 enabling support for it. If I am understanding this correctly the GMA4500 is supported so it should be fine. Main thing is HD youtube videos, I noticed a tremendous difference once I installed the beta. $110 difference.
After several problems with booting, I had my Precision m4400 serviced by Dell. Just in case, both the mainboard and the processor were replaced (I also had my LCD replaced at some time due to inversion issues).
When I looked at Device Manager and dxdiag, both told me that I had a Quadro FX 1700M (my system is supposed to have the 770M). In addition, the viewing angles on my LCD became rather restrictive compared to the previous screens before they started failing.
I've noticed the improvements are relevant but not as big as I expected, I think with normal HD the RAID0 performance will be much better than a single HD drive, any experience using SSD in RAID0 configuration
I have a Inspiron M5030 laptop and the touchpad is not working. It only works with a wired mouse hooked up to the USB port. The Device Manager only showed the USB mouse. I reinstalled the dell touch pad from the Dell Drivers and Utilities DVD thinking the file may have been corrupted and the file was overwritten. It shows thw file in my C drive but has the message "Dell Touchpad Configuration cannot run withoutvxdif.dll properly installed. How do I go about reinstalling this folder or where do I go from here.
Got a new Inspiron 14z Ultrabook with Windows 8 64 bit, and I want to connect the Internet through a Huawei EC167 3G modem, running a program called "Mobile Partner". When I first install the modem it works fine, but as soon as I switch off the computer and switch it on again it stops working. The only way I get the modem working again is doing a computer refresh and re-installing the modem, but then it only works until I switch the computer off.
That Huawei modem used to work alright with an Inspiron 11z with Windows 7 64Â bit.
I really like some of the options in the new HP Envy 15, the blu-ray and 1080p to run it, strong vid card, etc. Anyways, I've specced out this version and I'm curious if it is sensible. Especially, do I need the 540M vs the cheaper 520 or 430 options? I don't want to spend extra money getting more power in one department when all it is going to do is be bottle-necked someplace else...
HP ENVY 15 customizable Notebook PC NX369AV
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-540M Dual Core processor (2.53GHz, 3MB L2 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.06GHz 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)...........
i visited Best Buy and went on the Sony Site and configured one that with their 200.00 savings comes in just under $300.00 more than the Asus, but has 10 times the specs. Can you tell me if there is such a thing as "over configuring it?!" The specs are as follows:
Model#: CW290X i5 540M Processor (2.53GHz/3.06 GHz w Turbo Boost) 6 GB Ram Nvidia GE Force GT 330M 512 dedicated graphics 320 GB Hard Drive - 7200rpm Blue Ray Player (Not Burner) High Capacity Battery
Those few items were so cheap to upgrade, it seemed dumm not to, but then again, will those upgrades leave me with NO battery life?
I thought perhaps a little less power and then i wouldn't need the high capacity battery (that was the most expensive (+100.00) i checked passmark on the cpu, video card etc, all looked good but i'm clearly clueless how it all runs together.
My needs are as follows:
not to see that lil blue circle everytime i open more than 3 windows
These laptops are equipped with the CULV processors from Intel. However, the highest processor upgrade option, the Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor SP9300 (2.26GHz, 6M Cache) does not appear to be a CULV. According to Intel's website, it runs on 25 volts, rather than the 10 volts the other processors for this laptop run on. Considering that battery life is one of the primary reasons for me purchasing this laptop,I am concerned as to how that will effect battery life. Could someone shed some light on this issue?
Portability and battery life is a necessity. However, I am concerned that the Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor SU7300(1.3GHz,3M Cache) will not be enough processor to be used as my primary computer. I do not demand a lot from my computer; I typically run several tabs in Google Chrome and run Microsoft Word simultaneously. Occasionally, I also use websites like Hulu that would demand more of a processor. My main concern is this laptops ability to be my primary computer and its longevity due to the smaller processor.
I really wanted the dv5t but I guess ya (I) can't a;ways get what I want.
I built this hv5z on hp's site, what do you think about it? Is it good or would I be better off getting a different platform? Like the dv6? This will just be used for college; email ,internet, homework, watching videos, a couople games like (general's zero hour)---but I'm not too much into gamming at all.
Color Onyx Operating system Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit) Processor AMD Turion(TM) X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor ZM-86 (2.4 GHz) Display 15.4" diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Infinity Display (1280 x 800) Memory 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) Graphics card 512MB ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3650 Graphics Hard drive 500GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection.....
I'm in the process of creating an XP Pro operating system install for my new Inspiron 1545, on a new SATA hard drive (taking out the original SATA hard drive from Dell with Vista preinstalled to use as separate bootup opsys which I have to reinstall to zap all the bloatware later).
Things were going really really well (I thought) with setting up my new drive with XP and I got past the problem that bites most folks (SATA hard drive not being recognized by XP install), by switching the drive in BIOS to ATA mode b4 doing the install.
I got XP completely installed & activated AOK, with only a few minor wrinkles which I was able to figure out. Applied a few simple quick tweaks to XP to make it easier for me to use (disabling autoplay, killing the search dog, setting folder views, removing stuff I don't use like Windows messenger, MSN, etc).
Then I went to install all of the necessary Dell drivers from the website for the 1545 for (in order) Intel GM45 Chipset, Video, Ethernet, Dell Quickset, Wireless, Sound, Card reader, and Alps touchpad.
I had figured that stuff out already and had all the drivers copied over to the new PC ready to go .....
I purchased a vaio F very recently from US.How can I know the full configuration of my laptop like details of my Network card,DVD Burner,Bluetooth device,Memory card reader etc.? I want to know the model number of each of these devices so that I can get the complete details from internet.
My HP dv6500t doesn't return from standby and/or randomly crashes when I have my 2x2GB 800MHz OCZ RAM installed. I'm not sure if it's the size (4GB) or speed (800MHz) that is the issue, but it's something, so I need to make a change.
Which of the following RAM configurations would be better/faster? I don't get errors configured with them.
Where does Quicktime for Windows save its configuration file? I need to manually change the config file in order to solve a problem with Merriam Webster Visual Dictionary that has a problem with the audio. If you don't use Windows but know the name of the file.
I have an HP Pavilion g4 laptop. Today, I tried to open up Microsoft Office Word Starter and got an error message saying "Click-2-Run configuration failure" and it wouldn't let me get into Microsoft Office Word Starter. I tried with the Excel Starter and got the same result. I tried restoring it to previous versions and it still wouldn't work. Before this started happening, I uninstalled some programs that were recently installed. I need Microsoft Office Word Starter for school
I got my CW27FX and i ran the VAIO update. it told me to update the updater, and i did. Now everytime i open the updater, i get "Cannot acquire the configuration settings for VAIO Update" when it's checking for updates.
Also, every now and then i get an error from VAIO messenger.
 I can't change my ram anymore. this is quite a silly problem.-, I am currently running on 6gb : 1 samsung 4gb @1600mhz(original stick) 1kingston 2gb@ 1333 mhz this works fine exept it gets really hot (80c) I have tried removing the slots one by one. but never managed to get into the BIOS once changed. also tried switching the sticks and just 2x2gb , even with just the original one it wont get into bios, sometimes i get beebs from the motherboard and sometimes I just get a black screen.  but it only boots into BIOS when I put them back where they were in the first place.  also tried removing the bios battery but that just resets the time -,-  laptop: E535 a6-4400 Windows 8
I am trying to determine the maximum memory and configuration for my Apire 5745G i5. Is there somewhere I'm supposed to be able to find this information? I couldn't see it in any of the manuals. How much memory can I run total? How much per slot?
I have purchased a Acer 6930. It had Vista installed and the 5.1 Surround was working perfectly fine. I recently Installed Windows 7 and i'm unable to get the 5.1 speaker configuration setup.
When i configure the speakers, it shows me only Stereo setting. how to enable 5.1 speakers in Windows 7.
