Dell Xps ?

[Dave]

I am getting a dell xps 1530 and these are the specs:
My Components
Tuxedo Black
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB, 3MB Cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)
Size: 320GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate)
Free Upgrade to a 9 cell Battery
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition
Finger Print Reader XPS M1530

Now I have 50 dollars extra to spend after this so should I upgrade the memory to a 4 gig or upgrade the screen to this: High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1440x900) & 2MP Camera
I need answers by about 9 in the morning today

 

[starshine]

Do another stick of memory.

 

[jasonthebeast]

memory it is worth it

 

[Dave]

really because the ratings from consumer reports said that the 1530's display is good but not great

 

[chevre]

I'd also go for the RAM.

 

[Dave]

Good shit, Ram it is. Maybe I'll just do both thought we'll have to see how much money I have when my check clears

 

[recovery]

If it is not too late. My vote would of been get a better screen. Simply because its easy to upgrade the screen now rather than later. You can easily buy an extra stick later. And that the higher the resolution the sweeter it looks.

I suppose, you could wait a week or two until they do their double Ram offer. But for $50, I don't think it is worth it.

Also, my friend has got a Dell similar to the one above. They are pretty nice things. Just make sure you set your power settings to performance mode if you think anything is a bit laggy . But that machine cost twice as much as I payed for my no thrills AMD turion64 X2 laptop from dell.

 

[James]

I think you need some more ram, kick it up to 4 gigs, its not really a have to kind of thing, but it will help.

Also, get a better graphics card! Since your going to have vista, you'll want to run aero, and it is consuming.

 

[chevre]

Honestly the screen upgrade wouldn't be bad, but it's a fairly high res for the size. Personally I have bad eyes, and everything would be tiny. That biased my opinion a little . My LCD is 19" and has a ntive resolution of 1280x1024. I think it's great, haha.

 

[Mink]

I think you need some more ram, kick it up to 4 gigs, its not really a have to kind of thing, but it will help.

Also, get a better graphics card! Since your going to have vista, you'll want to run aero, and it is consuming.

The card is fine, an 8600gt is the second(I think) best on the market.

And get the RAM in my opinion.

 

[element]

For what it's worth, assuming it's 32-bit Vista, you're only going to be able to address (at most, not counting shared address space consumed by your video card & peripherals) 3.5GB of RAM, so going from 3GB to 4GB really isn't worth it compared to a higher-resolution screen and webcam. I assume it's too late, but a good thing to keep in mind in the future.

 

[Fire2box]

The card is fine, an 8600gt is the second(I think) best on the market.

And get the RAM in my opinion.

The 8600GT is not NEARLY the best card on the market let alone the 2nd best. Anyways since this is a laptop a great video card is not needed. 3 gigs of ram should be enough even with Vista. I say save the 50 dollars. You do not need 4 gigs of ram in that, I seen vista run on a single gig of ram on a laptop.

 

[chevre]

Core 2 Duo is a 64-bit chip. He better not be running 32-bit Vista. That would be silly.

 

[Dave]

I already ordered it I went with the screen, it is going to be awesome considering right now I am on a 4 or 5 year old generic brand

 

[recovery]

Core 2 Duo is a 64-bit chip. He better not be running 32-bit Vista. That would be silly.

All the retail machines i have come across are all 32bit. Yeah, its silly really. But does not vista 32bit come with PAE so it can use more than 4 gig or ram anyway? I would use the 64bit in any case anyway.


But Anyway congrats Dave for ordering it.

 

[Craig]

Well I always put performance first so I would have to go with extra RAM

 

[betagame]

Core 2 Duo is a 64-bit chip. He better not be running 32-bit Vista. That would be silly.

I am typing this on a supposed to be a 64 bit Vista computer and its running 32bit Vista.
What a waste.

 

[EmmEmmThree]

Dell and HP have 64-bit as an option on their machines.. I've built three just for shits and giggles and they've given me the option for 64-bit, especially the XPS series.

But, if your laptop only has two DIMM slots, then you can't get another stick like others have said, but you'd have to replace one with a higher chip.

3GB should be enough -- beef up that hard drive for a 7,200RPM disk.

 

[Ben]

Online Coupons | Cash Back check out of that site as they have all sorts of deals on computers etc. Also for ram i would upgrade that myself after the fact as its generally cheaper.

 

[chevre]

All the retail machines i have come across are all 32bit. Yeah, its silly really. But does not vista 32bit come with PAE so it can use more than 4 gig or ram anyway? I would use the 64bit in any case anyway.


But Anyway congrats Dave for ordering it.

I don't know if the new chips have PAE support anymore.. it seems kind of pointless on a 64-bit chip. So you're saying you've seen Core 2 Duo's in the store with 32-bit Vista installed on them? Are you sure? I doin't see why they'd do that.