Need Quick Reply on XPS 1530

I really dont know to much about computers in depth, but am getting a laptop for school. I was hoping to order tommorrow to use that 25% off coupon that is here. Here is what I was planning on getting tell me what I need and dont need and what it does. I need a pretty fast computer, Im going to have alot of music and movies and need it to be able to work with CAD programs for engineering if need be.

Processor- 2 duo T7250 (I have no Idea what this will do lol) should i get better or lower and why

LCD- High Res Glossy screen. (is the LED a good upgrade for $75. Is it for better veiwing outside?)

Memory- 4 GB or 3GB (I am only using the Vista home premium edition SP1)

Hard drive- 250 GB 5400rpm/160 GB 7200rpm freefall sensor/250 7200 rpm freefall sensor (is freefall sensor worth it? would I really need 250 GB?)

Is the base 128 MB video card fine? Im not playing any games

Wireless Card- Basic Dell 1395 802.11g mini card (what is better about the others? Better signal?)

Would I need any bluetooth? That is just for wireless printers?

Sound card- No Idea here HD Audio 2.0/Integrated Sound blaster HD software edition are they any good? will this improve speakers or only headphones. Will this allow me to plug in 2 headphones?

Thanks sorry for the crappy post im just in a hurry

 

CPU - I'd go for one of the Penyrns as they use less power. The T8300 is a good choice.

LCD - Get at least a 1440x900. LED backlight is a bit brighter and uses less power.

Memory - Running 32 Bit OS? Stick with 3GB. Gonna go 64-bit in the future? Go with 4GB. 32 Bit operating system's (OS) can't use more then about 3.25 to 3.5GB depending on the chipset.

HDD - Depends on how much space you need for storage. 7200 RPM drives are faster.

GPU - It's fine but if your doing any type of 3D stuff go with the better videocard.

Wireless - I'd go with an Intel Wireless card. They are less finicky and may improve battery life as well.

Bluetooh - Most useless crap ever unless you are gonna use it. Phones, PDAs, Mice, keyboards, headsets may use bluetooth. I have a phone, PDA, and laptop with Bluetooth. I never use bluetooth on any of these devices.

Sound Card - Basic sound card is fine and yes it has 2 headphone ports.

 

You want a better processor, preferrably the 9300 just because it is best value and power. With the 25% off coupon, you will want as good of a config as you want for maximum savings. Though do not go too high just because 9500 really is a ripoff for its 100mhz difference. Plus, processors in the T9000+ are power savers and more efficient.

LED is 100% worth the upgrade. Countries outside the US such as UK long for the LED screen, but is not offered as an option. It helps a lot with using it outside due to its higher brightness settings as well as providing better color reproduction.

Regardless what version of Vista, you will want 4GB of RAM due to the fact that you can take advantage of dual channel, which is a plus. Since your using SP1, Vista will recognize and utilize all 4GB. It helps with multitasking (having multiple windows open) and overall performance of your computer.

If you want to have quicker file copying, get the 7200RPM. Free fall sensor is a nice plus, though all the 7200RPMs come with them, so the main point you should be worried about is 5400rpm vs 7200rpm. If you don't care much for speed, go for the 5400RPM, though I highly recommend the 7200RPM because it provides faster start up times and faster file copying especially for larger files. If you do a lot of video encoding, the 7200rpm helps a lot. In all cases, you want the 7200rpm drive. Personally I thought 160gb was a lot when I had it, but I managed to fill it up. Personally I feel the more space the better. Since you really are getting the best discount you can get in the M1530's lifecycle that is available... I highly recommend getting as large a capacity as you can unless you are planning to use an external. 250GB 7200RPM would be the best choice. I got the 320GB 7200RPM just because I dont want to lug around an external all the time and the more space the better.


The base is fine if you are not playing any games. Since you are not playing any games and you will only be doing basic word processing, and such tasks, you can sacrifice processing power for the one you chose, though true battery savings come with the T8000 and T9000, so I recommend you get the processor with the T8300 in your case for the extra battery savings and decent performance.

The Dell wireless card is not really better. I highly recommend the Intel. The Dell one is obviously made and maintained by Dell, so support for it is wholly dependent by Dell. Intel however works with practically everything so there is better driver support and so Dell is more likely to drop connections than an Intel depending on conditions and if there is a problem somewhere, Intel is more quick to patch up than Dell.

Bluetooth is just a nice feature to have, its only 20 bucks, so why not? It does more than printers, it makes it compatible with any bluetooth device so say you have a cellphone that supports bluetooth, you can wirelessly transfer ringtones, images, etc. Its really flexible. Ive never used it, but its just nice to have. If you ever feel like installing bluetooth if you choose not to buy it, its only 30 bucks to buy the separate card and installation is simple. Plus it saves a small bit of weight too.

The integrated sound blaster does improve from what I've been hearing but its really not worth it in my opinion as its just an express card optimizing software audio and not actually physically upgrading the actual hardware of your speakers. Sound quality is awesome already without it.

No worries about being in a hurry, I just hope that the time I spent in typing this will provide you with valuable info and the time I spent typing it will not go to waste.

 

I just want to add to what being said above. You don't have to get 4GB for dual channel. Recent advance in technology allows different memory size and even different clock speed, but it's more stable if you have identical ones. However, it's still better to get 4GB. Even in Vista SP1, you won't really get to utilize 4GB out of 4GB. You can see them but not use them. The reason is that your chipset allocated some of it to your video cards (even if you have dedicated cards) and other hardwares. But you can still get 3.2-3.5GB and it's better than just 3GB.

 

Thanks guys. The only reason I was really in a hurry was I wanted to use that 25% off that expires today. Or can I use that pretty much whenever?

 

^ is that still working for you? I'm trying to order right now and its only working for the 1330s!

 

- I would go with the T8300 for the processor. Best bang for the buck. T9000+ are not that much faster.

- Although Vista with SP1 recognizes 4gb of ram, it can't utilize it. It can use roughly around 3.5gb. Still better than 3 but if you want to save some money maybe, getting 3gb is an option.

- The LED screen is nice but don't you need higher resolution for CAD programs? I'm not an engineer or anything so I don't know but I assume any design work will benefit from higher resolutions on the monitor.

- Graphics card is fine if you don't use apps heavy on 3d.

- Go with the intel wireless N

- Get bluetooth. It's only a 20-30 dollar upgrade. Many devices use bluetooth to connect such as mouses, keyboards, phones, headphones...

 

Just to add on, if you get 3GB, you only get 2GB of asymmetric dual channel whereas if you have 2 2gb sticks totalling 4 GB, you get true symmetric dual channel which does perform better.