D630: Decrease system cost by buying own RAM?

I'm interested in buying the D630 but I don't want to pay the outrageous Dell prices for memory. I'm planning on buying it with only 512 MB of Ram and then buying two of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145172

This will max out the memory capability of the notebook for less than the price of getting the notebook configured with a single 2 GB stick from Dell.

First of all, is there any problem with that particular memory?

Secondly will this void my warranty? I'm planning on doing something similar with the hard drive down the road when finances allow (I'm ordering it with the smallest slowest one). I'm not familiar with 9.5 mm drives. Is that just a regular 2.5" notebook drive? Is it a basic upgrade like it would be on a consumer line notebook?

Last, will they even allow me to do this? Vista Ultimate requires 1 gig. How are they even going to install it to send it to me? I noticed the guy that wrote the review on the D630 on the main page here was able to get his with Vista Business and 512 MB and I'm wondering how that worked. If they send it to me without the OS installed that's fine but I doubt they would and I also wonder if having it configured below minimum specs when they send it out would instantly void the support for it.

Do you guys have any thoughts on this process? Thanks

 

RAM upgrades after you've bought the notebook is always the best way to go, if you wish to save money. Most manufacturers offer very high prices on RAM, and its pointless to buy from them. The RAM you have linked will work with your notebook fine.

Upgrading does not void your warranty, and the same is true for the hard disk. Windows Vista will install on 512 MB, but it won't be very fast and will feel very sluggish, so you should upgrade the RAM as soon as possible.

 

Thanks. That's what I was wanting to hear for the most part. The problem is that I get the following message when I try to order it this way on the website:

Dell recommended minimum memory requirements on Windows Vista Ultimate or Vista Home Premium Operating System is 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 2DIMMs.

I haven't tried ordering it anyways with the error message. I'm not quite ready for the purchase...maybe another week of research to make sure it's what I want.

Also, do you have recommendations on that 9.5 MM hard drive? Is that referring to the height of the drive? Is that the same as any 2.5" drive? I don't want to get a crappy drive if I can't upgrade it later.

 

Upgrading the RAM is a bit of a project in the D630. To get to one of the RAM slots, you have to remove the keyboard. See the D630 review on this site (published this morning) for more info. Still, this should be doable and may be worth it depending on how much money you can save and how comfortable you are taking the keyboard off.

 

I am very comfortable doing whatever it takes as long as it doesn't void the warranty. I really appreciate the heads up on the complexity of the task though. I'll take a look at it. Any other info about the hard drive?

 

Hard disks for notebooks are all the same. The 9.5mm refers to the height of the hard disk, and some of the newer ones are 12.5mm, which may or may not fit int the D630, but most of those drives are high capacity, with slow rotation rates. Most high performance drives are available in 80/100 GB capacities, with a 7200 RPM spin rate. I'm not sure on the D630, but it could be difficult to install a new hard disk, depending on the location of it.

 

On the Dell site you should be able to find the service manual for the D630 and it should show you, with diagrams, how to perform these upgrades.

 

Performing the upgrade yourself will almost always save you some money ... if you don't mess up. If you damage your notebook because you did something stupid during the upgrade virtually no one is willing to cover that under the warranty.

So, if you break the keyboard while trying to get to the RAM slot or damage the motherboard you will have to pay for those parts/repairs.

 

I will be posting a DIY guide tonight on removing the ram and installing new ones if someone needs.

 

Alrighty, here's the deal after calling Dell.

They absolutely will not send it out with Vista Ultimate and 512 MB of Ram so even if you want to upgrade the Ram yourself you're going to have to pay yet another 69 bucks for RAM you won't use. The next problem is that they say if you upgrade the RAM yourself, you are voiding the warranty. I guess I didn't ask him to elaborate too much. Maybe that means the warranty won't cover any damage you do to it in that process but it sounded more like it totally voided the warranty. I told him that was a deal breaker for me and he said OK...didn't try to give me a discount on the 4 gigs I wanted or anything. I was kinda surprised there was no attempt to convince me to buy it anyways.

What do you guys think he meant by the warranty is voided? Just for things you break during the process or it's permanently voided?

 

Sirius, you upgraded the RAM yourself? What's your interpretation of the warranty deal? Getting the three year warranty that covers everything was a big deal to me, but maybe I should just look at the standard and hope that nothing breaks if it's going to void it. I don't really have any desire to pay that much excess for RAM.

 

Actually, I don't believe that installing your own memory voids the warranty. This is concluded from what others have been saying here but maybe someone with more warranty experience than me will chip in.

I've installed memory in the past on many of my laptops, but this one I've configured through Dell because of the Premier Discount I've gotten which was too good to pass up.

I'll PM you pilot.

 

Some reps may not be aware of what the companies position is on upgrades, and I think you should make sure that it either voids the warranty or not. In most cases, its been that RAm upgrades do not void the warranty. Some manufacturers have said that if a product of thiers goes faulty, and there is RAM in there from a third party, then they will accept the product in for repairs, provided the third party RAM is removed, and the original RAM supplied with the product installed.

The same could be true for Dell, but its much better to get this checked out by looking at their terms and conditions, or in their manuals.

 

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/policy/en/policy?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~section=010

So I don't know but I would think that as long as the RAM doesn't break anything and you don't break anything putting it in there, you should be alright. Although, if you do have a hardware problem, say, with the motherboard, I don't know how you would really prove that the RAM isn't what broke it, although it seems unlikely that it would be. But RAM upgrades are so common and companies usually cover them in their warranties.

I wouldn't really listen to what the sales support people tell you on the phone. They can say any stupid stuff and there's no record of it. If you want to order Ultimate w/ 512 mb, I'm almost positive they'll ship it if it lets you configure that online. It's just not worth their time to call you and argue about it. If you have a question, I'd email them instead; at least there's a written record of what they told you. And in the email, instead of just asking is it like this or like that, I'd ask them to send a link to a document that discusses it formally.

 

I'll post a do it yourself guide tonight to help.

 

thanks in advance!

and the more high-res pictures the better

 

I'm pretty sure that they will not cover the new RAM or damaged caused by RAM, but other than that the warranty is still good. Of course, I'd recommend keeping the original RAM around and put it in the notebook if/when you send it in for repairs...just in case.

 

here it is gamma,

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2040018#post2040018

 

Did they let you buy the 630 with only 512mb of RAM, if that's the case, it seems like something I'd do too...always looking to save a couple bucks.

 

You might as well buy Dell
"certified" memory then...

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...9&category_id=4325&mfgpid=190797&chassisid=-1

The price is still cheaper than getting it built in... I can't believe it is so hard to install RAM