A few important questions/upgrades about my Vostro 1500...

Hello.

First let me thank this site for it's great source of information. It was a huge influence in what I decided to buy. I did search the forum for answers and found some but I need clarification on some issues.

After many desktops, I just bought my first notebook.

Dell Vostro 1500
Vista Home Premium
15.4" w/True Life
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.4
2Gb RAM
160gb 5400RPM HD
Intel X3100 Integrated Graphics Card
Bluetooth & Wi-Fi Enabled
$627 Delivered

I decided not to go with a dedicated GPU or a better C2D due to $$$ issues but now I am thinking I should have upped the GPU. Reason being when I watched a video (Dexter) stored on my hard drive with WMP and the video was choppy in fast moving scenes (any idea why?). (I later played it with nero Showtime and it played fine) so I was worried that my GPU isnt all that great. (But it runs Aero ok? *shrug*) I looked on ebay and see an Nvidia 128MB GPU for a Vostro 1500 for sale. I could have SWORE to it that the Dell sales rep said I COULD upgrade the GPU at a later time but from what I am reading, I guess not. Is this absolutely undoable? I just got it last Friday 11/23 so I think I can return it and build another? I am ignorant regarding Dell policy but I read that I could within 30 days on teh internets.

So my questions are these:

1. I do not plan to game on this notebook at all. It is mainly for web access & mobility, new toy. (I got Vista HP for the Aero eye candy). But I want to make sure it is still capable of running basic stuff smoothly for the next few years. Will the X3100 suffice? Is there a way to overclock/increase performance my C2D & X3100? (something I have never done before)

2. I have 2gb RAM, expandable to 4gb. Considering the above, where would I notice the usage of the extra 2gb RAM? I heard it's kind of useless to go 4gb unless you are gaming, photoshopping, music producing. Again, I have a desktop that is my work horse (somewhat) for gaming/photo/video editing. etc. IF I decide to add another 2gb stick, where do I install it?

3. For watching movies on the PC through a secondary display, VGA is better than S-Video, right? Does the GPU have any affect on this process?

Thanks for all your time reading my long winded/multiple question thread.

Joshua

 

jeebus, not one person can answer?

 

could be a codec issue

vga is betetr than s video

and you should of not gone with intergrated graphics then moaned that graphical issues like watching movies is a bit choppy in fast scenes

 

GPU is purely for 3D animation, so as long as you're watching 2D stuff (desktop, movies, pictures) the gpu won't matter. For your uses, the gma x3100 is more than enough. There's no point in paying more for a card that will run hotter, drain your battery faster and give you no apparent improvement.

As for the ram, look on Dells website for the laptops manual and it will show where the ram slots are (usually behind a panel underneath the notebook)

 

Polsta: I hardly consider standard video playback the deciding factor for a GPU upgrade. I guess i'll use Nero Showtime again in the future

Adinu: That was the logic for my decision. Nice sig.

Thanks for the responses guys.