Buy now, or wait for Core 2 Duo?

I'm just about ready to order my 9400 (e1705), after waiting just about all summer. I need it for school and occaisonal gamzing. I'm not sure if it's worth it to buy the core duo now now or hope that the new chips are available mid to late-august before school starts (I suppose I could live w/o it for a month or two anyway.)
The main reason I am asking is that I do plan to use this computer with vista and I'm not sure about what the advantages of having a 64-bit processor would be.
Could any tekkies give me an idea of whether it is worth the wait and the extra (I'm assuming) couple of hundred dollars.
TIA
Cpt. Happypants

 

Additional question: Does manually upgrading void manufacturer warantees?

 

Its going to cost a fair amount more, just saying, from what u hurd

 

If you want, you could wait for the greatest and best out there and sooner or later new technology will be better than what you have.Vista is nothing but XP with some graphical features added. 64bit is the future, but right now, there are so few applications to use this technology.

For the Core2Duo, the performance gap isnt that big from Merom to Yonah and because of this, some are jumping towards Merom and others will wait since Yonah chipset notebooks are capable of getting the Merom upgrade later.

 

I am in the exact same predicament; any input here is greatly appreciated. Also how easily upgradeable will the current inspiron e1705's be when the Core 2 Duos finally do make it to market and how much do you think they themselves will cost?

 

it'll be costly when it first comes out

 

i think ill go ahead and put in my order tomorrow then and hope that a future upgrade w/ bios update will make all features available

 

Messenger of Light ,

I think that replacing the chip may void the warranty unless its performed by a technician, no one is real clear on that but it's def. something to consider.

 

Definitely keep in mind the fact that even if a CPU upgrade is possible, brand new processors are never cheap.

 

@captainhappypants -

I would definitely wait. Dell already displays a Core 2 duo option for the e1405 (granted, you can't order it yet, but probably in a few weeks). I would think that Core 2s are just around the corner.

 

Nope, it voids the warranty no matter what (unless Dell replaces your notebook or something on that scale). I don't think Dell would like the idea of having their (or contracted 3rd party) technicians going out and replacing everyone's Yonah with a Merom - its just bad business and unfortunate for the consumer

 

Ok so here's my 2cents on the core 2 duo deal,

when it first comes out, i highly suspect that they will be more expensive that what core duos are selling now... let's say you buy the core 2 duo notebook when it comes out... a couple of months later intel will issue price cuts and you probably paid $100-200 more than you should.

So then you think to yourself, I will wait for the first price cuts on Core 2 duo.. but there will always be more price cuts and newer technology... it's a never ending cycle...

So if you like the deal after you carefully researched.. then go for it, you can't play the wait game with technology in general, but especially computers.

 

I don't why everyone is saying the CPU's will cost a lot, etc.

Obviously Dell is either going to replace their current models with a new model and keep the similar prices or just add the new CPU's as the standard, but of course if you want your 2Ghz you'll have to pay more if I am guessing right since the 2Ghz CPU has 4MB cache.

 

Theres only like a 15% performance difference, nothing critical.

I dont see a Core Duo 2.0 being a SLuggish processor anytime soon either..

 

but any chance that e1405 gets a real video card? or is it impossible in the current design of that laptop? a webcam would be nice on the 14 dell

 

nah, Just get a E1705 yo its full fledged and its got a nice 7900gs. It also has the capibility of upgrading to a 512MB Go 7900gtx later on.

 

No, not without a complete re-design.

 

Some of u are forgetting that Core Duo 2/Merom is going to be using about 20% less battery in terms of performance and includes new instructions, like SSE4.