A Dell Dilemma

First of all, I'd like to say that I've been to this forum for less than two weeks and I am absolutely amazed by the knowledge and insight of the people here.

I'd also like to say that this thread is NOT a 5400 rpm vs. 7200 rpm debate, or whether a question asking whether the Intel Next-Gen wireless card is worth it. I've done my research and those questions have been answered countless times.

My situation is this:
I've ordered an Inspiron 1420 for college on Monday (7-30) with a 160GB, 5400 rpm HD, and Intel Next-Gen N wireless card. Now I wonder whether I should have upgraded to 7200 rpm and downgraded to the basic Dell wireless card. The price would be the same.

My 1420 has T7300 CPU, 2GB RAM, and 128MB dedicated memory, just to give some basic info. And I plan to not do much gaming or photo/video editing; I've never seriously done those before and don't know whether I will in college, but I'd like to keep my options open.

Now my question is this:
Should I reorder and upgrade to 7200 rpm and downgrade to the basic Dell wireless card? The BIG hassle would be that I definitely will not get the laptop before I leave for college, which would suck because it's my first laptop and I want to have it ASAP. But on the other hand, I will keep this laptop for 4 undergrad years so I'd like it to have staying power. So would an N wireless card or the 7200 rpm benefit me more in the long run? If my campus (Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is N-capable right now, the debate would be no more. But I don't think it is. And I have absolutely no clue as to when would an N-wireless benefit me since I don't have an N-router either.

If you were in my shoes and have to chose EITHER the N wireless OR the 7200 rpm, what would you do?

Any input would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

I would have chosen the 7200RPM over the wireless N. Just because the opportunities to use the higher bandwidth of the Wireless-N would be pretty rare for me. As it is, I chose both. But I didnt really need Wireless N.

 

In my opinion, a lot of locations have just finished going to the g-band. N still appears to be in draft mode and not scheduled for full release until about Fall 2008. I opted to go with the Dell g wireless since in 3 to 4 years, once locations retool and go to the g-band, it'll probably be time for a new notebook (although by then the superultramega wireless band will be out and we'll discuss about this again in the future.. sigh..). You shouldn't have any problems with your g-band card even if you're in a location with n-band capabilities.

I opted to go with the 7200 rpm because it's roughly 20-30% faster; however, I do some computer programming which HD read/write happens quite a bit so it's more advantageous for me to go with a faster HD.

What stage is your notebook in? It may be possible to have the two parts switched (prices I believe would cancel out) and not have too much of a delay. Hope that helps!

 

agreed .. the n is still in the draft stages and really isnt worth the effort imo right now and ive just been through the desicion you are debating now

 

7200rpm is well worth it. 802.11n isn't going to be mainstream for quite a while, and when you need it you can purchase a card on eBay for a lot less.

 

Yeah exactly. Wireless cards are inexpensive to be honest.

 

Yea!! GO ILLINI!! (recent grad)

Anyways, back to your question. I agree with mtylerjr. Wireless B and G are still the being used the most now. I'm pretty sure UIUC is still on the wireless G, so you won't be able to fully utilize the wireless N. I used to have a Toshiba tecra with only b/g and had good-excellent reception on the quad and in the union. I'm most definitely sure you will be better off having a 7200rpm hdd than wireless N.

 

To follow Arfcom tradition... GET BOTH!

Anyway don't cancel your order it will be good to get it and have it ready before classes start. Order a 7200rpm drive with the same capacity along with a USB drive enclosure and some version of cloning software i.e. acronis...

Clone your 5400 drive to the new one then use the enclosure and the old drive to keep a backup cloned copy of your drive from there forward. If the drive in your laptop ever dies just pop in the cloned backup drive as if nothing happened.

Having the ability to use N networks won't hurt as they become more common.

The preceeding advice is worth every penny you paid for it and maybe more you be the judge.

 

Thank you all for your opinions. I'll call Dell the first thing tomorrow (closed today) and see how long of a delay it will be. The computer has been in production since Tuesday and the Dell site said I have to cancel and reorder, which would mean I have to wait till Labor Day when I come home from college to get the laptop.

This site http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1/mobile-hdds/index.x?pg=1 breaks down 5400/7200 really well and it shows not much of a difference. The biggest difference seems to be what brand of HD you have, which I have no control over. So if Dell gives me a ridiculous delay for upgrading, I will just stay with the 5400.

 

To OP, I agree w/ what people have said here. If you have money, get both, but if you must decide on one, DEFINITELY the 7200. Another way to look at it is, how much will you be accessing your hard drive vs. using wireless (let alone wireless N networks)? Also, I agree with you about being amazed at how much people know on here. I've also benefited greatly.

 

HappyFunBall, I think you make a very valid point. And if I can change it without having much of a delay to my shipping date, I'll do it.

Not to offend you or anything, but as shown in your signature (copied below), why did you choose the wireless N over 7200 rpm?

---------------------------------------------------
Dell Inspiron 1720 Midnight Blue
Core 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz/4mb L2/800MHz FSB)
17" UltraSharp WUXGA+ w/ True Life (1920x1200)
2GB DDR2 (667MHz)
160GB SATA (5400RPM)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
Intel 4965AGN Wireless-N
Total (w/tax): $1290 (+ free 1-day ship)
Ordered: 8/3/07; Est Delivery: 9/7/07
----------------------------------------------

On a side note, how did you snatch a deal like that?

 

^^^ 7200rpm drives are not available as an option for the 1720s right now as far as I can tell, unfortunately. Out of my upgrades, the wireless-N was the least important, but I'm thinking that it could be useful on down the road.

Yeah, I spent a lot of time researching and reading these forums! To save time, refer to my first-ever thread for what I did, and PM me if you have any questions:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=150958
(EDITED to make url linkable)

 

I doubt your school will be N-capable after you finish with your undergrad and finish your PHD and complete your post-doc.