About to buy Dell 8600 need suggestions ASAP

Here's the two specs I'm deciding:

Spec 1
P-M 745 1.8ghz (WSXGA+)
256 DDR (will buy 512mb @ Crucial)
64mb GEForce FX Go5200
60gb 4200 rpm
Total = $1,506 (after coupon and instant savings)

Spec 2
P-M 1.6ghz (WSXGA+)
256 DDR (will buy 512mb @ Crucial)
128 ATI 9600 Pro
60gb 7200 rpm
Total = $1,526 (after coupon and instant savings)

Questions:
1. I'm not really an avid gamer, but I would like to use this laptop to play some RTS games, like Ground Control II or C&C. Is 64mb enough? Or should I go ahead upgrade to 128 ATI 9600 ProTurbo

2. Is Dothan really worth the price?

3. Would it be better to upgrade the hard drive to 60gb 7200rpm? Or would the difference would be minimal, hence it's not worth doing.

4. I've heard stories about Dell's quality, is it worth spending $129 for a 2-year warranty?

5. Last question... Or should I just wait for another laptop that has an AMD 64. [ ]

So which of the 2 spec would you get?

I'll be using this computer mainly for programing, video editing, and web design. If you can answer a couple of those questions then it would be really helpful... I'm hoping to catch the coupon deal they have going right now and it ends on 6/9

Thanks in advance!!!

 

I'd take spec 2 as Dothan really isn't going to impact you bery much. The accidental damage plan has nothing to do with their quality, it has to do with your clumsiness. I would get a 2 or 3 year standard warranty though. As for an AMD 64, there are a few options there, but unless you need some heavy lifting, I'm not sure the battery life sacrafice is worth it. You're also going to pay more in most cases.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Oh yea, about the warranty... heh, I'll edit it to avoid confusion.

 

hi mico,
1. 64MB is probably enough for the resolutions you will be running at.
2. YES, it is. Especially if battery life is important to you. I don't the added cost of a 2.0Ghz Dothan is worth the cost right now, but the 1.8 is.
3. Upgrading the drive to 7200 rpm is one of the cheapest ways to really increase the performance of your notebook, but it is best to buy the notebook with the smallest/cheapest drive possible (and this goes for memory as well) and then buy the 7200rpm drive from somewhere else for 1/2 the cost. This is were they really rake in the extra cash from you! If you do it yourself you save a bundle of money and you will have the original drive to use as a backup.

4.Never buy the extended warranty, if it works for the 1st year it will 99.9% of the time work for the whole 3 years or more. This is the same principal that casinos use to make money. If you want to protect your investment, get a personal articles policy from an insurance company. I use statefarm and it costs $38/year for $2,000 of replacement cost coverage. It covers anything except "acts of war" and when they pay you you can buy any model notebook you want with the money, you don't have to buy the same one or have Dell or whoever send you a factory refurb.

5. I say no, unless battery life is not at all important to you and you will be using it exclusively as a desktop replacement.

I would take choice 2 becuse I think the added performance of the 7200 rpm drive will be greater than the added performance of the 1.8 vs the 1.6 CPU. A better idea might be to tkae number 1 and downgrade it to the minimum memory and a smaller hard drive and take the money saved and buy a 60GB 7200 drive from a 3rd party.

Jack

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by bootleg2go

 

Hi funky,
Insurance does not cover things like if something just dies in your notebook, just like car insurance does not cover mechanical failure of your engine. Insurance is a great deal though because if your notebook runs for the 1st year, everything gets broken in and will likely run for several years unless it get physically damaged and that is where insurance kicks in. Insurance will cover it if it is stolen, dropped, ran over with a car or if your kid drops it in the bathtub full of water. You need to make sure it is a personal articles policy, not any policy that is tied to your homeowners or renter insurance as they usually have high deductibles that must be paid 1st and a claim on your notebook could get your homeowners insurance dropped or increase the premium costs. Like I said, I pay $38/year with no deductible but your costs could be higher or lower depending on the rates and risk levels in your area.

If I were you, yes I would drop it and use the $100 towards insurance.
I bought my hard drive and ram a few months ago and paid right at $100 for a 512Mb stick of ram from crucial. I got the 60GB 7200rpm drive from www.computergiants.com for about $220. It worked out well because I then bought a hard drive adapter so that I can use the original drive in the bay of my thinkpad to do backups, I now do a complete drive backup every week or so and it only takes about 5 minutes.

Jack

 

One thing I forogt to answer.
When a cliam is filed for damage they will usually have you send it in for an esimate of repair (unless it is obviously totaled)then they will decide if it is worth repairing, if not they will send you a check. It depends on the exact situation as to if they will want to take the destroyed one or not. It does not really matter as they are paying you for the whole thing, but you could come out ahead if the hard drive or ram is ok and they total it[ ]
If it is stolen then you will need to file a police report and give them a copy of it. If it is lost, then you just file a claim with your agent explaining what happened. Of course you don't wnat to be filing every time a minor scratch or something happens because like all insurance if you file too many times then you will get dropped.

Jack

 

Dell has the best warranty to fix little things that goes wrong but you have to get the right tech to get RMA. You will be amazed what things I had fix on my Dell's. They fix everything but must know your stuff to get things repaired or you get the run around especially off shore techs, you have to call back till you get the tech that's know computers not just reading the script to repair. Best one I had AC power supply that went bad. I told her its no good but she said I to got with script. She told to do thing with bad power supply and I just did everything asked to do bit never did it and told her it didn't work on everything told to do never plug it in since I already diagnosed the problem.

I have to disagree on insurance for laptops Dell has the cheapest extended waranty for laptops except for IBM they give you 3 years with Dell They are giving back $100 on 4 year warranty and complete coverage for 4 years is only $119 no matter what warranty you get. I have had 8 dells for at least 6 years and I find little problems can happen like keys coming off, laptop screen stratches due to bad design of touch pads,AC power supply dying only exception are batteries. If you buy a laptop from BestBuy,Office Depot,Staples,Office Max, Compusa etc. All warranties are 3rd parties and they cost at least $200 and they suck when you try to get something fit.its always your fault.

If you want any information on Dell's laptops CPi,7000,7500,3700,3800,4000,8500,8600 and 300m what works in them in modules parts etc.

 

Bootleg2go - I noticed in an earlier post you recommended getting the cheap HDD and upgrading later. I was talking to the sales guy and asked if upgrading memory/hdd would void any sort of warranty. He said that the memory would not, but that the hard drive was not intended to be accessible to the user. I'm 90% sure he said it would void the warranty. I can't remember absolutely, but it's certainly something to check on.

It sucks too because I could swap it out no problem. At least, I think I could since I modded and stuck a 200 gig drive in it without much hassle.

 

Upgrading the hard drive will not void your warranty. In fact, I purchased a 60 GB 7200 RPM drive from Dell, and the warranty for the drive stated that hard drive takes on the warranty of the computer.

 

Ok, that's good to know. Because I didn't get the 7200 but I might want to in a year or so.