Help! Trying to configure a Dell inspiron E1505

Hello, first off, i stumbled upon this forum searching for information, and i have to say i am very impressed. Everything i have seen so far has been very well researched and insightful, which has led me to this post.

I am looking into buying this notebook in order to take advantage of their great deal of $400 off any inspiron notebook that is over $1500. Now, i know quite a bit about computers, but now configuring, i am faced with a dilemma i cannot solve on my own. For budget reasons i can only upgrade 3 of the 4 main hardware components. (Processor, RAM, HDD, Graphics Card.) Obviously, the video card gets upgraded first due to Dell's underwhelming options on cards. So, i am stuck with the "maximum" card they offer, which is the "256mb" Ati Radeon x1400 with ever so misleading "hypermemory." With that out of the way, i am faced with picking 2 of the last 3, which breaks down basically as follows...

Processor: T5600 1.83 ghz, 2mb, 667 ---> T7200 2.0 ghz, 4mb, 667
OR
RAM: 1 Gb ----> 2 Gb (both 667 mhz, 2 DIMM)
OR
Hard Drive: 120gb 5400 rpm ---> 80gb 7200 rpm

At first it was only between the RAM or hard drive, but i have been reading some things that say the processor isn't quite as important as it used to be, so it's back to the drawing board. The notebook will be used primarily for school, music, and internet, but gaming is also a priority. I don't want to be limited, although i know that the ati x1400 is competant at best.

My current build is as follows, and ANY help, comments, anything, would be greatly, greatly appreciated. I apologize for the long post...

My Components
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM FREE Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with 1GB of memory edit
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™(glossy) edit
MEMORY 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM edit
HARD DRIVE FREE! 120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™ edit
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Audio edit
My Accessories
BATTERY OPTIONS 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit
WIRELESS CARDS Intel PRO/Wireless 3945a/g


This would cost me about $1200

 

i suppose the biggest question is, what is more important: more hd space, or faster load times (i.e. higher rpm)? another thing to consider is that it would be a little cheaper to upgrade your own ram. you could also even upgrade your own hd if you wanted.

 

It's easy to upgrade RAM later (especially if you get just one 1GB stick, rather than 2x512), and a gig of RAM is still quite good for most people's purposes, especially on Windows XP. The CPU, make sure it's as fast as you want for the life of the notebook, as long as you plan on using it, because it's a pain to upgrade, and rarely worth it for the money. The hard drive, I like more space on the hard drive myself. A 5400 isn't too terrible for gaming performance, no matter what everyone else here says Those are just my views on it, though. Go with what you want to use the machine for, and whether or not you want to worry about upgrading later.

 

Like Pitabred said RAM is easier to upgrade later. I would get the base level Ram offers (which would be 1 Gb for the E1505), and then order some RAM from newegg.com . Dell's RAM stick are crap, so i would go with a more reputable brand such as Corsair. You can get a 2x1GB RAM package from newegg by corsair for 170 which is cheaper than the 200 dollars that Dell Charges, and on top of that, you can also sell the old ram sticks and get prob around 50 dollars for them. I would get the best processor you can afford.

 

Thank you for your advice. The only thing that worries me is that i will be running Windows Vista and i have heard that you pretty much NEED 2 gb ram for it if you have any hopes of running games. This makes me want to get the processor, ram, and only the 120gb 5400rpm drive, but what concerns me with doing that is if the 5400 is way slower than the 7200, which i know is a running debate in this forum.