Dell Inspiron 700m

Alright, I'm just about to get the 700m ( in a few weeks). What really disappoints me is that people in the USA are saying how "dirt cheap it is " ($$ wise of course) I went to dell.com and it starts at 999! The configuration I would like is SOO MUCH MORE expensive in Canada, and its because there are no canadian coupons. Oh well.

Anyways, I was jsut wondering about the configuration. The CPU is available in 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0. To go from 1.6 to 1.8 its 200 CAD$$ and to go from 1.8 to 2 its another 200$. I figure that I wouldn't really notice a 200 mhz clock speed difference, so why spend the 200? If I'm goign to spend money on a faster machine, does it make more sense to get teh 2, so I will definitely notice a difference between 1.6 and 2.0? It is 400 $ though...

Another thing, ram. Upgrading to 2 512 DIMMS (for a total of 1 gig) is 350$. Is it worth it? Is 512 sufficient? The laptop I have now has 256 w/ 64 shared for video mem and its slow! Its also like 8pounds, which Is why I am upgrading. I do run a lot of applications at once as I have computer rage. Is the 1 gig worth the money ?

Also, I like some of the sony models but theyre like 3000! Peopel have told me to look at teh fujitsu models, but I really wouldn't feel comfortable buying from newegg or those other places , as I have never heard of them before. I'd feel most comfortable buying from dell as I have experience with them. People are tellign me how much thicker the 700m is than other laptops. I ve seen it and its very ncioe, but i havent seen otehr models in PERSON people are talking about. Is the 700m a good choice? I will be bringing it back and forth from shcool so size is very important.

 

anyone?

 

well,, ill be getting mine by wed. for sure hopefully...i have 1 Gb ram 2Ghz..ill let you know how i think it performs etc.
but i wont be able to compare it to anything.

hopefully i can help you in a few days, but icant now

 

Have a friend in the US buy it with an awesome coupon and send it to you?

[ our words to still their voice | our hands to break their worthles necks ]

 

Thanks,
I was thinking of getting the 1 GB ram 2GHZ. I figure that once I'm spending so much money on it, might as well pay the difference and get a much better machine. We'll, you'll let me know on how it performs. I'm not sure at the one iI tried out, but it was pretty speedy. Let me know on the form factor also. Thanks!

 

That would obviously get stopped at the border and have to pay like 2000000$ tax..lol...good idea tho

 

Have friend buy it, drive/fly down and pick it up. Bring it back like you already owned it.






I was robbed by a sweet little old lady on a motorized cart and I didn't even see it coming.

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Thinkpad T42:
* 1.8Ghz Pentium M * 1.5GB Memory * 60GB Hitachi 7200RPM * 15" SXGA+ Flexview * CDRW/DVD Combo *

 

Fly there! Airfare alone would cost more than the difference in price!

 

i have the laptop now!

im not really sure how to test it etc.
i put my scores in for how it performs in the sticky in the general forum, i dunno if that will help...

 

hardware forum, sorry

 

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

 

Well not if you mail they don't really check.

I got my 700M 3 weeks ago works VERY nice.
Well since I live in Washington in the US I got mine DIRT cheap for $740 USD(Right now 1 USD = 1.18CAD I think)

1.6Ghz
256MB Ram
CDRW/DVD
8Cell Ion
40GB HD
3yr Warrenty/Accidental
Home XP
$740

1.6Ghz is good enough not like you need any faster on this small Pocket Rocket. It's not worh the $$$ for what it can performe its PERFCT as is. In my 2million Pi calculation test I got 2min-01sec which is very good for a small notebook.

RAM- I'd Stick what dell gives you; they will RIP your Canadian @$$ wide open the way they charge for RAM unless your Bill Gates =P

Its like this,
Dell Charges 2-Dim 512 = 1GB for $250
Aftermarket RAM Corsair 1-Dim 1GB for $180(You can find cheaper but Corsair are the Best!!!)

Whats better now eh?

DIM are the slots where you add your RAM too; The more slot the more RAM(Remember USE the same RAM no Mix and match)

1GB should be better; Why? because if your doing Photochop its RECOMENDED even for lots of Application.

700M isn't good for gaming but it'll run it at low qualty so most game will work even HL2 not bad too hehe its Decent for a small sucker. Besid that doing application like Photochop and imiging is VERY good for a small thing plus if thats what your gonna do might as well Bump the GHZ if not the 1GB is a MUST! and same for the 8Cell Battery

And last of all the size of the notebook is the size of a Notebook paper. I can run this sucker for 5hr strait on low lighting with a crisp screen hehe.

I LOVE it!

 

Thanks for your input monkeykevin.

I don't do any photoshop, but I do run a lot of applications at once ( word, i tunes, msn, firefox, excel ...etc... ) I am a HARDCORE alt-tab user lol.

See what I mean, you got yours for SOO CHEAP! The lowest configuration from dell.ca is like $1500.

I think I'll go with the 1 GB ram, only since the video mem is shared and I'd like to keep it at 64 (not chanign it to 8 or something). If you do 512 - 64...that's definitely less than I want so might as well get the 1 GB. Also, the 2.0 GHZ sounds so much bettter than 1.8, but can you really tell apart the two?

For the battery, 2 hours is enough for me; I'd definitely be able to get to the wall before that. But hten I'd have to carry the AC adapter...But after all , ive seen pictures of hte extended battery and its not cool, sticks out like crazy, kinda defeats the purpose of the ultraportable imo. ASnyway, I always like to kepp waiting til next Friday to see the new deal dell puts out, eventhough it doesn't really c hange the cost; one week theyll jack up the price of the base system yet theyll give you a USB key or something. The next week theyll lower it then give you a printer or something. Ill let you know on which one I get!

 

Just a quick question from a fellow Canuck. When I try to customize a 700M, it will only give it to me with a 1.6, how are you able to customize it with a 1.8 or 2.0?

It also says that it's an "M" processor. I'm still confused over Intel's stupid naming system, is it a Centrino?

Thanks.

 

Ah, that's because you chose a "pre-configured system" go to dell.ca--> notebooks --> 700m--> cuztomize. THen you can choose the components. The pre-configs apply to certain deals Dell gives only on those ocnfigurations. I still cant decide if I should get the 1.6, 1.8, or 2 GHZ PENTIUM M, which is the processor type and is Centrino. Centrino I believe is a combination of a chipset, processor, and wireless .

 

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

 

The processor is the part of your computer that depreciates the most of any part. Your screen, components, keyboard, adaptor don't go down in value half as fast. Since the speeds change so quickly a 2.0 won't be cutting edge in 3 months max then in a year you wouldn't care if u had the 1.8 or the 2.0 (they both will be slow compared to what's available). Spend the $$$ on extended warranty and maybe premier support because i've had some bad experiences with their normal crew. 1GB a must but i've read you can get 1gb dimm for 180$ but how do you put it in?

 

I agree! In a few months, they'll be at like 3 Ghz or what not, so 1.8 or 2 wont make a difference. I think I'll just go for the 1.6 since the speed difference isn't so much .

 

Yeah, Remmeber to buy the RAM sperately at www.ZipZoomFLy.com thats a really good place for the bucks. in the search bar typs in SO DIMM then you'll get a huge list of laptop rams. be sure to know what your frequentcie is for the 700M its a PC-2700 200pins DO not get anything slower or faster than what it is but more memory.

Dont bother geting a 1.8 or 2.0 you wont notice much... if so I do a 1.8 much cheaper... but overall I wouldn't bother because I do Photochop its perfect plus a little bit gaming =P

I'll tell you, you may think the EXTENDED Battery is UGLY, it's not I will bet my family jewls you wish you got that because you'll be running on low dimlight whch kinda defeate the purpose of a Cool small Notebook so you want it nice and bright when working on it.

Think of this the battery only sticks out about 1-1/2inch which isn't a big deal... you WILL regret to get the extended 8Cell... how bad can it be eh? its not much of a hassle I assure you. the normal 4cell alone sticks out, the 8cell isn't that much more. If you could try to see them in person, its not bad at all.

I know your doing Application your Power will drain fast dont think doing app wont because you'll be using your HD constently so its a MUST for the 8cell hehe

Sorry to bug you about it but I think its a must so Im giving you my suggestion.

 

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

 

coolqf:

Ya I know ,that's why I'm saying it was slow...I'd have office open (excel, word, pwr point all at once sometimes!) Itunes, MSN, print shop, firefox... Sometimes I'd set the video mem to 8mb but I wouldn't notice much of a difference. To make things worse, thse CPU is an athlon 2400 (or 2200 I think, one of those) and it's not bad, but it's not anythign like the 700m I tried at teh dell kiosque. I'm not really upgrading it for the speed (well, Kinda, the other day I had a big powerpoint and when I opened it it jammed( 30 mb file) ARGGGG. I have 512 on my desktop and it's nice, but I'm sure if I wouldnt have the p4 3.2 It'd be much slower.
Sicne the video mem is shared, Ireallty want a gig because I know I won't be left with as much as it says...

MONKEYKEVIN,

Thanks for your post; I'm not bothered at all!!!!! !!! I'm so glad you told me this...Thnaks!, I know that the 8-cell puts the life to 4-5 hours which is WILLLLDDD - much beter than 2. My x50v (dell pda) does 2 ! The laptop I have now barely gets 1 h 45 min... andthe battery is HUGE.

Can you post me some pictures of the extended battery? I just don't want it to be an inconvienience and take away from the portability of hte laptop. I was thinking I'd get the regular one then buy the extended one separately then whenever I plan to do extended work away from my desk I'd pop in the extendeded one otherwise I'd just use the regular.

I could just see the battery being really really heavy and annoying , but apparently , that's not the case. Is the form factor still really small with the extended? Tell me more about it please....your adivce means al ot to me!

And also, were you saying to go with the 1.8? Every one's telling me something different, some are saying get the 1.6, you wont notice the difference, others are saying 2 for the power, and others are even saying that in a few months , theyll be something new and you wont care if you have 1.8 or 2 because whatever they have out itll be am illion times betterthan what you have now!

So many curveballs being thrown at me! I reallt want to make a final decision, although it's no emergency. Bseides , i'm waiting til atleast next friday to see the new dell promotion...now they're giving a free dvd burner upgradewhichI really don't need, I have one on my desktop. I just need a cd burner and a dvd rom. And am I correct that the 700m doesn't have a pc card slot?

THANKS , and sorry for this really long post .

 

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

 

^^ Link you gave me doesn't work (for the dothan 1.6)

 

are the processors in the 700m actually running at 1.6 or 1.8 or 2.0 like they say or are they just numbers and are actually running at a faster speed? i am asking this because i was told a 1.6 was actualy running at 2.8 or something close to that?

 

Oh yeah, forgot to metion those are just the outercore clock speed, but the cach at 2mb makes it up... Few weeks a go I did the 2 million Pi calculaton I got 2min-01sec and I ev en tried on my friend P4-M 3.2Ghz his took forever lol after it took longer than what I had I just stoped and laughed at him.

ANy how the Pentium M runs at slower clock speed like how AMD runs thier chip but has a LARGER innercore that really counts for doing application. so like a 1.6Ghz is equvolent to a P4 2.8Ghz

It's not the BIG number you see but the inner numbers like "Cach mb" THe Pentium M does a 2mb cach at 1.6Ghz where a P4 3.2Ghz is only 1mb cach.

The Intel Pentium M is just like a AMD chipset but a Intel Version bitting off AMD.

I will tell you AMD is SUPPIOR to Intel because intel is all about the outer core for Calculation when me as a gamer need AMD for HEAVY demanding game at higher cach than BS marketing scheme of outer clock.