Dell E1505 Specs

Well After a couple months of trying to figure out if I want a Dell E1505 or a HP DV600t I decided to get the Dell. I am in college and will be using it for Autocad, Solidworks, Inventor,Watching movies, Surfing the internet, listening to music, MSFT Office 2007 applications, Matlab, and what ever else may come up. Are the following specs good for what i am going to use it for?

My Components
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM FREE Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with 1GB of memory
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife™
MEMORY 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
HARD DRIVE FREE! 120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition

My Accessories
BATTERY OPTIONS 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
WIRELESS CARDS Intel PRO/Wireless 3945a/g


I am having a hard time deciding between the TV Tuner or the 9 cell battery.

I am trying to get the total amount close to 1500 so i can use the 400 dollars off coupon. With the 9cell battery it ends up being 1101 dollars +tax, with the tv tuner instead it ends up being about 1132 dollars plus tax.

Does anyone have any suggestions on good TV Tuners at a reasonable price (I prefer under a 100 dollars) Or does someone have one they would like to sell THAT IS VISTA COMPATIBLE?

 

I would really suggest getting 2gb of RAM over anything else right now as well as the 9-cell battery. Go with the needs and then the wants.

 

Im going to uprade the RAM (will go with a 2GB Ram kit from corsair off newegg.com) and 7200rpm Hard drive later

 

Another thing, I don't know how much of a difference that sound "software" makes. You might want to check into that, may just be a waste of $$$.

 

If I were you I'd get the RAM now...especially if you're going to be using MATLAB for large calcs and simulations. MATLAB will eat it up.

If you want a good TV Tuner, I'd check out the ones from Hauppauge...I've got the HVR 950 which is a really good HDTV capable TV Tuner and portable as well.

 

LoL your spec is exactly same as mine except mine is windows xp and i got mine upgraded to 2gb later from fry's electronic. You really don't need that Audigy HD software thing. Hope you know that you don't get Audigy HARDWARE but software. And get 9 Cell battery. I am a college student too, I use my e1505 usually for visual studio, photoshop and mathlab. ITs worth every penny!!!

 

Alright, I thought the soundblaster was soundcard in addition to software...guess Ill drop it. As far as upgrading the RAM I plan to order it shortly after i order the Dell, and Ill sell the old ram on ebay or on here. the Corsair RAM im looking at is 170 dollars so i think i can sell the old ram for around 40 dollars at least. so it will end up being a 130 Dollar upgrade other than the $210 Dell Charges.

 

i have a similar config.


ram is very important...i got 2 gigs...of 667 and my laptop is pretty fast


but as far as your resolution is concerned

be very careful...

i went for the most exspensive and the highest resolution thinking it was best....


but dell sells the 1680x1080 screen..and when i got it ...man did it hurt my eyes...even w/ all the settings changed to increase the size of things...it still hurt my eyes...and my designs on photoshop took a beating..since everything was so small i missed so many fine details...and web browsing sucked


anyways..i returned it...a few months later..i got the screen one step down

and its at

1440x900 and its perfect

so pay attn to that too...test out both resolutions...cause it was enough for me to return my laptop

 

yeah im kind of skeptical about that screen too However it seems to be recommended often for CAD programs so i figured it might be good for what I am doing. Does the two screen resolutions have the same clarity and sharpness? I would like to have a screen that has VERY GOOD quality.

I dont know of any places around my area where I will be able to compare the screens. We had a Dell Kiosk at my local mall but they apparently pulled out a couple of weeks ago.

 

i use photoshop and flash 8 pro...very heavy

and let me tell u ...theres a big difference on a 15" screen
that has 1680x1050 vs. 1440x900

sure the higher the resolution seemed to be the best choice...but i hated it...800 pixels became the size of my palm..and u miss alot of details

 

That "Sound" Software you can download for free from the following link and save some $$$..

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=1&vercnt=2&formatcnt=1&libid=3&fileid=169315

Cheers ..!!!

 

I noticed it is only for Windows XP.... I dont think it will work. I tried to see if I could install it on my 2 yr old Inspiron 2200 and it would work, am i doing something wrong?



As far as screen resolutions go, could someone do screen shots of the SXGA+ and WXGA+ so I can compare the two?

 

This will work for the following systems only

Dimension C521
Dimension E521
XPS/Dimension 410/9200
Inspiron E1405/640M
Inspiron 9400/E1705
Inspiron 6400/E1505
XPS M1210
XPS M1710
XPS M2010

Creative Labs and Dell people are working to make it compatible with Vista.. as of now no lucks with Vista .. works only in XP..

 

Can someone that has the Widescreen SXGA+ do a screen shot and post it on here, also can someone do the same for the WXGA+? Thanks!

 

i would look at em in person

 

I would but i am unable to because i dont know of anyone that has either version of the screen, nor is there a Dell Kiosk around here.