9300 question for the informed...:-)

Hi. Appreciate your comments on price, config, and any other comments on this deal. I will be using it for a very limited amount of gaming if at all, but will be using multiple apps, watch DVD's, business, etc...thanks in advance...

Inspiron 9300
Date & Time: April 15, 2005 4:58:11 PM

SYSTEM COMPONENTS
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Inspiron 9300 Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB), Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition Unit Price $2,179.00
Dell Home Customers
LIMITED TIME OFFER! View Details Remove Coupon
- $750.00

Catalog Number: 29
Sort
Module Description Product Code Sku Id
Inspiron 9300 Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB) SM16HN [221-7304] 1

Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition WHXP [420-4766][463-2282][412-0689][420-4928][412-0706][420-4830] 11

Display 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display 17XGA [320-4177] 2

Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm 1GB2D [311-3732] 3

Video Card 128MB ATIs™ Mobility Radeon™ X300 128ATI [320-4184] 6

Hard Drive 80GB Hard Drive 80GB [341-1808] 8

Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem INTNIC [430-0493] 13

Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0 ADOBER [430-1048] 15

CD/DVD Drives 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive 24COMBO [313-2580][420-5111] 16

Wireless Networking Card Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g, 54Mbps) IP2915 [430-1175] 19

Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) WordPerfect® 12 - Word processor only ICORELM [412-0714] 22

Security Software McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months MCAFE1Y [412-0740] 25

Digital Music Dell Jukebox - easy-to-use music player and CD burning software MMBASE [412-0741] 26

Primary Battery 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (80 WHr) 9BAT [312-0283] 27

Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options No Extended Service, Support or Ltd Warranty NW111N [950-9057][950-3337][950-3550][412-0361][960-2780] 29

Internet Access: Dial-Up 6 Months of America Online Membership

Included AOLDHS [412-0585][412-0625][420-3224][412-0687] 37

Digital Imaging Photo Album™ SE Basic DPS [412-0744] 38

Financial Software No QuickBooks package selected- Includes limited use trial QBSSP [420-5139] 83

ACCESSORIES

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tripplite Traveler Direct Plug-In Surge Suppressor Qty 1
Unit Price $20.00

Wireless 2350 Broadband Router 802.11b/g with 1 year service Qty 1
Unit Price $60.00
TOTAL: $1,509.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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Total Price
Sub-total $1,509.00

Shipping & Handling $60.00

Shipping & Handling Discount -$54.50

Tax $0.00

Total Price $1,514.50

 

I would suggest getting a 7200 RPM Hard Drive, this will give your laptop a nice boost in speed, otherwise I think it's a pretty good setup.

 

Nice setup, but you aren't taking advantage of the main reason why people go for the 9300, the geforce 6800.

You can get the inspiron 6000 for around 500$ cheaper with the same video card, xp pro, same processor, and 1g ram

but since you use multiple apps it sounds like you couldreally use the 17'' screen

However, if that is the case, why get the low resolution WXGA? You know, with a higher resolution, you can fit more stuff on the screen!

 

Get an even smaller surger suppressor at WalMart for 13.99...

 

"I would suggest getting a 7200 RPM Hard Drive, this will give your laptop a nice boost in speed, otherwise I think it's a pretty good setup."

They dont seem to have a 7200 drive @ 80gb.....and I want to put all my itunes (40gb) on this....hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

Bingo. I like to watch DVD's when I travel....

How is the price?

 

i think they got an 80gb at 5400rpm....that would be fine.

------------------------
*Dell Inspiron 9300
- Pentium M 1.60ghz
- 60gb HD (7200prm)
- 256mb Nvidia Go 6800

 

Nah, I was quoting another poster and THEN i replied to it...

 

I called dell and they said all their HD for the 9300 except the 60Gb 7200rpm are 5400rpm's



hope this helped...

 

I think the price on this system is probably pretty good, but you should take advantage of the best graphics card available.

I consulted a lot of people about the graphics cards before I ordered mine. The nVIDIA GeForce 6800 can't be beat (as far as the options available on the 9300).

I feel obligated to warn you that the WUXGA+ 17" display's native resolution will make everything tiny. You may need to adjust fonts, resolution, etc. if you don't like everything really small. I had a really hard time getting used to this, and tweaked for the first week or so. Now... it's great! Movies are fantastic and games are crisp. Enjoy!

Inspiron 9300, Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 Go, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife,60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Dell Wireless

 

Okay, maybe this is a stupid question (I can be full of them, sometimes, you know)... how do you find out the HD speed? Can you do it through Control Panel or properties? I can't locate. And, I can't trust what my order form or shipper said, since I got things I didn't order and just "discovered" on the computer when I checked it out the day it came.

I'm curious about my HD now. I have a 60 GB hard drive, but would like to know its speed. You've got me wondering, Heart. Again.

[9300 with Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 GeForce Go graphics, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife display, 60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Windows XP Professional, etc.]

 

Never mind that question. I found the answer to my own question, and downloaded a utility that I'm running right now. Thanks anyway!

[9300 with Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 GeForce Go graphics, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife display, 60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Windows XP Professional, etc.]

 

umm whats the download called?

 

I have HD Tune 2.1 and DiskSpeed 3.2. I can't translate the information, though.

[9300 with Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 GeForce Go graphics, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife display, 60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Windows XP Professional, etc.]

 

I have a 7200 rpm drive. I copied the drive name or manufacturer information into Google and searched for it:

Specifications
Manufacturer: HITACHI / IBM
Mfg Part Number: 08K0939
Model: HITACHI/IBM Travelstar HTS726060M9AT00
Capacity: 60 GB
Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM
Seek Time: 10 ms average
Buffer Size: 8MB
Interface: ATA-6
Z-Height: 2.5"-inch

Now I know. I can sleep again. Whew!

[9300 with Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 GeForce Go graphics, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife display, 60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Windows XP Professional, etc.]

 

Another interesting utility to run is DiskSpeed32 it basically benchmarks each Cylinder (Ring kind of like a record). When you run this you will notice that the end of the disk is half as fast as the front of the disk. Also you will get the disks transfere rate but the absolute number is only interesting to someone who knows alot about disk drives. What you can see though is forinstance 50000 at the start of the disk and 28000 at the end.

This means that if you plan on filling your disk it would pay to use something like partition magic to split off the last 1/3 into a new drive letter. Then put things there where slowness don't matter so much like say pictures of the family. Then the programs which run are actually at the front of the disk which is the fast part.

The real right answer is to get 2 drives and move the page file to it but that isn't practical with notebooks! It does make a large difference to anything running that uses more memory than you have physical memory, probably almost anything if you have less than 1gb.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

I ran DiskSpeed and it is interesting. I do understand what you're saying about the speed, access rate, and partioning the hard drive. I don't know about yours, but mine already has three partitions as it is (from Dell). I'm not worried about storage and access issues, since I couldn't fill a 6 GB hard drive in 9 years. Only has about 4 GB used on it (that's the desktop system).

I think I'll be MORE than satisfied with a 60 GB hard drive running at 7,200 rpm. That should meet my needs and then some!

[9300 with Pentium M 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 256MB NVIDIA 6800 GeForce Go graphics, 17" LPL WUXGA+ TrueLife display, 60GB HD, CD-+RW/DVD-+RW, Windows XP Professional, etc.]

 

Thanks everyone.

 

I.T.S.

Well I know what you mean. IN my case I do program development and the tools come with samples. These can be big. you can easily have a couple of gb of samples. It would pay to place stuff like that at the end. Also it pays to expand your virtual space before you start installing stuff. In my case I have 1gb of ram so my virtual size was big to begin with and the initial size was big too. If they are not I would make them big first. Genarally I mage max and initial the same to grab the disk space and keep it. This puts the page file as close to the front of the disk drive as it can get. Then I install everything.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center

 

Thanks everyone. I think I scored. Ended up with $800 off, plus free shipping, no tax. I have a friend who is getting me XP Pro and Office Small Business for free, so I passed on that.


Inspiron 9300 Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)

Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Display 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display 17XGA

Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm 1GB2D

Video Card 128MB ATIs™ Mobility Radeon™ X300 128ATI

Hard Drive 80GB Hard Drive 80GB

Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem INTNIC

CD/DVD Drives 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive 24COMBO

Wireless Networking Card Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g, 54Mbps)

Security Software McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-months MCAFE1Y

Extended Primary Battery 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (80 WHr) 9BAT

Carrying Cases Large Backpack Carrying Case BACKPAK

Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options No Extended Service, Support or Ltd Warranty NW111N


ACCESSORIES

----------------------------------------------

Tripplite Traveler Direct Plug-In Surge Suppressor Qty 1
Unit Price $20.00

Out the door:

TOTAL: $1,488.00


[image noborder]http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/avatars/Dell%20Inspiron%209300.gif[/image]

 

btw, the 60GB 7200 TravelStar 7K60/HTS726060M9AT00 is available for $165 if you want to add it to your system.

http://www.insight.com/site/product/detail/index.cfm?item_number=08K0939&qty=0&scsourcecode=WM029

Hope this helps someone...

standin' on each other's shoulders makes us all taller...

 

Hey golden one... (it's tar hehe)

u just wait gurl, you're not gonna believe it... RAZOR SHARP... you will LOVE IT!!!

may have to go thru a few tweaks (i'm certain you've read enuf bout that) but you will love it...

remember to right clk on desktop>nView properties>profiles and setup profiles for different resolutions... that way you can switch resolutions in seconds... but you may have to right clk on taskbar>chk/unchk lock taskbar to reset your desktop... i think there are some options in nView that would take care of this, just haven't had time to expore... also 'member to read my posts bout the steps for setin' it up...

HOWEVER, you my dear may just love it at WUXGA all the time cause i know YOU like small, sharp, crisp, clear fonts [ ]

tc & gl

P.S. you better post and let everybody know what you think! (or some really sneaky bad karma's gonna get U! lol

standin' on each other's shoulders makes us all taller...

 

btw, a 1GB memory stick (KTD-INSP6000A/1G) for the 9300 & XPS-2 is available for $195 from CTI. It's Kingston & has a lifetime guarantee.

http://www.ctistore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=KTD-INSP6000A%2F1G&Category_Code=



standin' on each other's shoulders makes us all taller...

 

Just an FYI, the 80gb HD that they have is 5400 RPM....thats what I went with....need the space for my itunes....

 

grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

10 days till ship....

 

So the good news:

I got my 9300 5 days early.

The bad news:

I hated it. Clunky, thick, bad finish, I didn't care for the monitor. I know it had a lot under the hood, but it just felt....cheap.

I sent it back. Quick note: Dell told me I had to pay to ship it back and that it would cost me $60. I told them that they were out of their mind, and that I would handle the shipping. I sent it back UPS Ground, including a case, for $22. Of course Dell tried to convince me to ship it using their number, telling me they get a discount and all. Scammers.

One other note, they offered me $90 back if I kept it. Might be worth checking that out and getting a little cash back.

Anyway, after a ton more research, and some soul searching, I've decided it's time to go back to Mac. A place I vacated in 1998.

I played with the new Mac OS Tiger and it just blows the doors off XP.

I'm getting a 15" Powerbook Superdrive. It's more money, but its where I'm going.

Don't hate me

And thanks again for all the guidance.

 

Yep, 15.2" screen, 100gb HD, 1G of RAM....

All in like 5 lbs.

I DID play with Tiger, its one of the reasons I switched. If any of you are near one of the Apple stores, go by and sit in on one of their public classes. You learn a lot, and you can't help but get excited about what's going on there.