Will there be a difference?

This will be my first laptop ever so I'm super excited. It is a Dell Vostro 1500, the laptop will be used mostly for World Of Warcraft, web surfing, and music. I have a few questions about some stuff to put in it so please bare with me.

-It comes with a Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5270 1.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache but for $50 I can upgrade to a Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB and for $130 I can upgrade it to a Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB but that would take me over the price limit. Would there really be a big difference?

-I'm running it with Windows XP Home instead of Vista because I heard it runs better or something is that true?

-It comes stock with 1GB of RAM would that be enough to run WoW and other programs smoothly, for $90 I can get 1.5GB of RAM but that is still pushing my budget (only 16 lol).

-It comes stock with a 160GB harddrive which is fine lol my old Dell had a 25GB harddrive, technology has come a long way. It comes with a 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS but for $100 I could upgrade to a 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT, now since it will be for WoW(and a few other games) will that upgrade be worth it?

-Now wireless card hm... I have a crap router but it will be fine the Vostro comes with a Dell Wireless 1390 822.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card, for $49 I can upgrade to the Dell recommended Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card any improvement?

I really appreciate all the help I get and if you could be a bit detailed it would be awesome since I don't know all the technical stuff. Thanks and hope to get a response soon!

 

Don't upgrade much from Dell. For a surprisingly cheap laptop, the upgrades for componens such as RAM and HDD are a rip off. I don't know much about your warcraft game but in general, games do not need much memory, the bottleneck is the gfx card and cpu, so upgrading to a 8600m gt would be a much better option if you're willing to spend a little extra. You can always buy ram from elsewhere later on. I assume you don't have a wireless N-router so the default option should be fine, it's what I chose too as I am not planning on setting up an N network as there is no point, g is more than fast enough, esp. for most purposes such as Internet and quick file sharing. And learn a bit about XP vs Vista. I chose XP due to the fact that I see Vista as XP with a few features and visual changes that can easily be mimicked in XP and Vista has some performance, compatibility, and DRM issues. Also, I'm accustomed to XP and it gets the job done. But Vista can be configured to get around most of its issues so don't count it out.

 

I say spend the $50 for the upgraded cpu, but no any further. I would get at least 1.5gb of ram, but don't do it thru Dell. Get yourself another 1gb stick for 30 bux from online instead of $90 from Dell.

About the gpu, the 8400GS will be enough for Wow, but if you plan on doing other gaming, then the $100 is a good investment for the better gpu.

 

dont get the memory - you can buy for about $50 online - 2GB of memory and put it in yourself (extremely easy)

dont upgrade the wireless, no point. you won't use N and its not even finalized yet so it wont work once its finalized.

the video card, if only needed for WoW than your fine (will be quite smooth), it will play most games atleast on low to med settings, but if you want higher settings on most games, then get the 8600m GT (remember, you can't uprgade the video card later)

also the speed, that isn't a easy upgrade later too so i always say get the fastest u can get. but i would say upgrade to a t7300 with 4mb cache (2.0ghz) but still i say get as fast as u can

personally i always say get the best u can in the stuff u cant really upgrade, or can't upgrade without voiding your warranty and its not easy (processor and gaming)

the 8400m gs is fine for you, get as fast as u can and upgrade the memory on your own

 

Thanks for those fast responses! I don't really want to play World Of Warcraft on low settings, not necessarily on high but not ugly looking. I wish I could upgrade to the T7300 but I just can't afford it. Maybe once I get a job later on I can buy a better one... A few more opinions would be great. Also anyone know when the Fall sale is off? It takes off $309 and free shipping if it goes up then I can't get it. Thanks again!

 

Good advice from all! The CPU yea the rest do on your own, you will save money. As far as the CPU goes it would be a good choice to go with what you mentioned, only $50 so go for it! The more keep moving up the more they charge X2, X3, X4. The sale never ends! It just keeps changing it's name. If you don't need it now and can wait a couple months most likely you will get a better price. The one exception may be black Friday from big box retailers who count on the holiday season to cover cost of excess inventory and generate profits for their year end sales reports.

 

Here is what I put in my Dell Vostro 1500, $881.

-Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 (1.8GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
-Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
-15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display with TrueLife™
-1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
-160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
-8X CD/DVD Burner w/double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/Roxio Creator
-256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
-Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Wi-Fi Mini Card

Should this be able to run World Of Warcraft very smoothly?
How is the Dell Vostro 1500 overall? The user reviews here are very up and down...

 

Nothing to recommend about that laptop Maybe the memory but you can get it from elsewhere for cheaper anyways if you need it.

Yes, very smoothly. And the quality is great, no problems and exceeded my expectations. Every laptop will have negative reviews and remember those are the ones who are more vocal.

 

LOL cool I'm guessing you have almost the exact same laptop as the one I'm looking at just 2GB of RAM instead of just 1 correct? I will end up buying more RAM if I like the laptop from Best Buy or something... Any problems you have with it?

 

Yes, should have made it more obvious instead of just a smilie. Funnily enough, I also have the same (non default) OS, screen and hard drive.

No problems at all, and was just mentioning how nice it is a short while ago.