A few inspiron E1705 questions before I order

Hey my current ibook G4 is taking a crap so I need a new laptop. I really only use it for web browsing, IMing, and school work but I have a nasty habbit of corrupting my OS my breaking hardware on my PC so when I saw dell could get me a 7900GS GO/meron lappy at a decent price I decided I wanted it as a backup. Battery life is not much of a concern as I am usually at my desk, but how much can I expect with the 6 cell instead of 9 cell upgrade? Assuming I undervolt the merom, dim the screen, and only use it for web browsing.

All I really care about is being able to play cod2 @ 1280*1024 DX7 125 fps constant over VGA out to my CRT. My old 2.8 opty/7800GT rig did way more than that so I assume an OC'd 7900GS can handle it? Other games are a plus though. Does anyone know when Nvidia plans on an 8600 GO flavor DX10 card? Is the E1705 upgradeable?

Screen res: Is 1920*1200 worth it or to large? I'm used to 1280*1024 on a 19" CRT and 1680*1050 on a 22" LCD. This is the tricky choice because I'm afraid that if I don't get it I will regret it, but also if I get it it may be to large for me. Has anyone seen both in person or regret going for 1920*1200?

Warranty: my ibook died after 2 years. Keyboard numlock started turning on/off, then the touchpad died, now the battery is toast. How good are dells as far as quality/repair options? Saving 250 dollars by going from the 3 year warranty to 1 year with mail in service would be **** nice. I'd have no problem opening the thing up and swapping anything out assuming I can purchase the replacement part if it dies.

What is the Audigy HD software? Is it an integrated audigy card or just some BS software program?

Is the HDD an SATA drive thats upgradeable by the user?

Oh and are there any pin mods for the meroms? 200*12 would be nice

Thanks

 

In terms of resolution I would not get the 1920 x 1200. It will make everything much tinier than you are used too. 1680 x 1050 would probably be much more appropriate.

 

I would guess that Dell will not make the DX10 cards available on the inspiron line since dell is due for a line overhaul with Santa Rosa just around the corner. If you want one badly I would wait for the new dell laptops.

Yes, the harddrives are SATA, I upgraded mine. THe audigy program is a BS progream, I use an external sound card.

 

The UXGA screen is beautiful, much better then the regular XGA. Things arent too small, you will appreciate the high res, especially with the 7900 if you opt for that. Dont spend your money on the HD audio software, its a waste.

I think the HDs are upgradeable, not 100% sure though.

 

It's a piece of cake to replace the hard drive. I swapped my 5400rpm for a 7200rpm nearly a year after I bought the computer.

 

The sound upgrade is just software, apparently it does help, but if you are serious about your audio I'd get an expresscard or usb based soundcard.

 

There are no Expresscard audio solutions available. If you want quality audio, you'll have to go USB.

If you are serious about audio in/out, then you could always get an Expresscard Firewire card and then pick up any of the firewire M-Audio equipment. This is high end, very expensive stuff, so I doubt the casual user would even entertain such a solution.

 

I'll probably get one of those maudio trasports I think. The USB DAC. I think it was around 80 bucks. Haven't checked head-fi in ages because audio got so expensive lol.

Any opinions on warranty before I pull the trigger?

 

Anyone have a comment on the warranty and res?

 

With Dell it's always a good idea to atleast upgrade from the standard mail-to-depot service to at-home unless you absolutely can't afford it. Huuuuuge difference if something needs to be replaced (usually takes between 1-3 weeks for depot turnaround versus 1-3 days for at-home).

About the resolution, 1920x1200 is really nice for real estate, but the text is kinda smallish. You can always up the text size and/or DPI settings to remedy this though. One thing about the WXGA vs WUXGA options, the LCD's that Dell uses for the WUXGA option are usually (not always, as they still use a handful of different brands, and it's random which one they put in each build) a good bit nicer than the WXGA ones when it comes to color purity and backlighting evenness.

As for battery life on the 6-cell, I usually get about somewhere between 1:30-2:00 when just browsing with the screen either all the way down or in the middle. Not very good, but hey, it's a DTR notebook and that 7900GS has to cost something.

For games, you'll be fine with the 7900. It's a great card at stock and even better OC'ed.

HDD is SATA and user upgradeable, just unscrew two screws, pull the caddy, unmount old drive, install new one, reassemble.

Lastly, there are currently no pin mods that work fully for either Yonah or Merom CPU's. Hopefully that will change in the future, but who know?