A couple of m1330 q's

I have a couple questions about the m1330 that I am not so sure about.
Im a college student. I'm not into gaming at all. I do videos on ocasion, but mainly a lot of pictures, and internet surfing. I am a bit computer savy when it comes to desktops, but not so much with laptops.

1. I pretty much have my mind set on the m1330, but I am not sure if its worth going all out on a really good one, or buying a lower end one with a better processor and building it up. what will be cheaper in the long run? i guess i would want atleast 2 gigs of ram.

2 .I wanted some opinions on was the LCD screen. is it really that much better? I am more concerned about battery life and weight.

3. how much more does the 9 cell battery weigh compared to the 6 cell, and how much better is the battery life? I guess i would want it to run about 4-5 hours. would i be able to accomplish that with the LCD screen and the 6 cell?

4. since I do videos on ocasion, would it be worth getting the 128mb nvidia force card?

5. Is it worth getting it with the wireless N card, or is that pretty easy and inexpensive to swap out later on?

6. Should I cheap out on a hardrive too, or just get a big one with it?

If I posted this in the wrong section, please move it. Thanks for your help.
Ed

 

1. T8300+ run on 45nm technology running a little bit cooler and using a little less energy. Any of the processors are fine if you dont have an emphasis on gaming. Getting 2GB is fine for now and easy and cheaper than going through Dell to achieve 4gb. Note that 32bit OS's dont use more than 3gb.

2. When you say LCD I am assuming you mean the LED LCD. All of them are Liquid Crystal Displayed. The LED one uses Light Emitting Diodes to light the screen instead of a Cold Carbon..Light..something. Its older technology and what causes light leakage on the top and bottom. The LED is more vibrant and bright also using a little less energy.

3. On power saving mode, yes. I cant tell you the weights.

4. Getting dedicated video card (Nvidia) relieves the rest of the computer for making up for intergrated, Yes get the 8400m GS.

5. Its swappable and their are guides on the site to do it. The Dell wifi card has be known to drop connections and need disabled and enabled to work again.

 

Hello itsmeagain5789, welcome to NBR.

1. I suggest you do get a good processor, and get the lowest amount of RAM possible. It is far cheaper to buy RAM from a 3rd party store. For example, I bought just 1GB of RAM with m1330, then purchased 4GB RAM separately for just $37 shipped.

2. The comparison here is between the standard LCD display, and the LED-Backlit display. I would really go for the LED display because of the thinness of it, superior whites, overall brightness, and whatever little power saving it provides. LED displays are the next big thing when it comes to laptops, and they will be coming in more and more laptops over the next year. It is good to future-proof here.

3. 4-5 hours is pushing it for a 6-cell. I receive maximum 3hrs and 45 minutes on a 6-cell, and that is with minimum brightness and wifi turned on for web browsing. The 9-cell does result in your m330 being elevated off the ground in the back, and adds about 0.3-0.5 lb. weight.

4. The nVidia dedicated graphics help a lot. Not only with games, but it can help with high-quality video rendering as well.

5. The wireless-N is a good option to have in your m1330. For me, I don't necessarily use the increased bandwidth (I get up to 140 MBPS over my wireless-N network at home), but I love the extended range it provides. For example, I have my N router in the 2nd level of my home, and I get a 100% signal strength in my basement, through concrete, and several walls. It is worth the $35 extra.

 

Im on a (G)angsta network and I can SEE the Wifi atennea and I have 92% signal.

 

thanks for the responses, and yes, I did mean the LED LCD. Is working on a laptop that much harder than on a desktop? i've ripped apart several new desktops to add better stuff to them, but i've never seen the inside of a notebook.

 

Yes because of the complexity it can become harder to work on. Somethings like the RAM and Hard-drive are pretty simple. Somethings cant be worked on at all (GPU)

 

that makes sense.
well i have found a decent deal on one in the outlet section, but the only thing it doesnt have is bluetooth. I don't think i would really be using it that much, but does anyone know if that would be hard or expensive to install if i wanted to use it later on?

 

First off, here's a tip. See if your school has a discount membership with Dell so you can get an extra 5-10% off of your computer. I saved some bucks this way plus Dell offers some extra things in software if you order through there. In my experience, it is cheaper to choose the specs you want off of the bat excluding maybe ram and hard drive rather than upgrade later. If you have the bucks to spend, why wait for better performance?

Since the ram is such a cheap upgrade for the unit, I'd max it out if its in your budget. Your computer performs much snappier and if you plan on keeping it for a while, I'm sure you'll need it if you want to upgrade to a new os in a couple years. However, this can be easily upgraded once you hit that road. I'd recommend a minimum 2 GB for smooth Vista experience.

Video cards are different on the Dell laptops then on desktops. Once you choose one, you are stuck with it. Vista is sort of demanding as far as graphics go, so you'll find your computer running much more smoothly with the graphics card.

I'd recommend to go for 2.4 GHz because the cash required to upgrade from the base 2.0 is small for what you get: lower energy consumption and faster operation. Once you get above 2.4, the gains seem small for what you pay for a processor.

Wireless N is a good upgrade and very cheap (I think I paid $10 or so for the upgrade) to do initially. The "n" is a new wifi standard that has a longer range and higher speeds. You don't really see any benefit unless you are using n networks which are backed with some good high-speed internet. In a campus setting, I'm sure you'll start seeing these types of networks.

I think when I got my m1330, I paid $10 or so for bluetooth built in. I don't like carrying around bluetooth/wifi usb sticks, so I found this to be worthwhile. A dirt cheap deal on a bluetooth usb stick is $10, so I'd recommend it. Its nice for wireless mice where you don't have to plug in to use.

 

Internal bluetooth is an easy upgrade. Take a look in the accessories section of Dell's website and see how much it is ($35 in the Canadian site, I believe). All you have to do is order it and then install it (very easy install, just snap it in). Alternatively, you can see what you can find on ebay.