Ordering... Questions on Upgrades

Ok, I have decided to custom order an E6400 though my university. So far here is my config:
P8600 2.4GHz Processor
Vista Business 64-bit, With Media (Will be upgrading to Windows 7 Pro)
WXGA+ Screen
4GB RAM
Backlit Keyboard
Webcam/Mic
9-cell battery
Intel® WiFi Link 5300 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
Bluetooth
3 YR ProSupport for End Users + 3 YR NBD Onsite Service Plus Complete Care
What I can't decide is whether or not to get the NVIDIA 160M or not. I don't plan on doing much gaming, however, it would be nice to keep the option open if I'd decide to in the future... The other thing is with the HDD... The choice is the 160GB 6400RPM or the 250GB 7200RPM. I know the 250 would obviously have faster load speeds, however, do they run hotter, or suck more battery power?
-Thanks

 

the 250 will suck more power but not much ... but the speed trade off is worth it

the 160 is a good choice..... if you wanna keep your options open i reccomend getting it now

 

Okay, thanks for the info, will the NVIDIA 160m suck more battery as well? Any idea what I could expect for battery life with the previous listed configuration along with the NVIDIA and 7200rpm drive? ALso, I have heard a lot of people reporting having problem with dell controlpoint. Can I uninstall that right away and still have wifi and bluetooth work?

 

The NVS 160M will draw more power than the X4500. It's about 1-2 more watts at idle and can be quite a bit more at load. With your current configuration, a 7200RPM drive, and the Nvidia GPU, I'd say you could still get seven hours at max. Probably six-ish on average?

ControlPoint has been buggy for some people, but you can uninstall ControlPower and still have the BT and WLAN work.

 

If you want to keep your options open, I would get the Intel card. The Nvidia card isn't really too powerful anyway. You can use the $ you save to buy a new computer earlier. And yes, the Nvidia card has a higher power draw, perhaps a 15% impact on battery life while doing basic tasks.

As for your HDDs, in this case, the 160 will be much quieter. This is because the 160 is a one platter drive, meaning that there is only one thing spinning. The 250 may/may not have 2 platters, plus they are spinning faster, so the noise will be greater. Battery life is negligible, heat is maybe 3C additional, which is not too bad.

I'm going to go with The Commander on battery life. 7 hours would be with enabling every single power saving feature known to man, probably also turning off WiFi. On a plane, my config ekes me out ~6.5 while just typing. 6 seems a more realistic expectation, especially with WiFi.
Intel graphics may give you a max battery life of over 8 hours (I've heard even 9), with a realistic expectation of perhaps 7.5.

 

Haha.. Well what you said about saving money and upgrading earlier is complete opposite of what I'd like to do. My goal is to spend as much as I need to insure it is "for the most part" future proof so I can get it to last as long as I can without having to upgrade early. The most gaming I would do on the laptop would be some light stragety games and maybe a small bit of CAD but little to none. The CAD has always been a bit of a hobby, so it would not be too demanding, just a bit of "playing around" here and there. Also, Would it be worth $30 to go from a 160GB 5400rpm to a 160GB 7200RPM? Above that, the 250GB 7200RPM is only $32 above the 160GB 5400RPM. What are some recommendations?
Thanks

 

get the faster drive for sure ... then pick the size you want and defintely get the Nvidia card

 

I decided to opt for both the NVIDIA and the faster drive. They told me the drive would definitly be worth the $35 upgrade and the NVIDIA will be great if for light gaming, CAD, and would be a good "safety" feature if for some reason I decide to change my major to something to do with CAD.