Upgrading Dell Notebook

[wii]

I currently have:

Dell Inspiron 6000:
1,73 GHZ Centrino (533MHZ FSB)
1024 MB RAM (400MHZ, DDR2)
60 GB Disc (5400 RPM)
128 MB Graphic Card (RADEON X300)
15.4 screen (1680x1080)
Pro/Wireless 2200 (802.11b/g)
8x DVD/RW

I´m considering an upgrade to:

Dell XPS M1210:
2,00 GHZ Centrino Core 2 Duo (677MHZ FSB)
1024 MB RAM (533MHZ, DDR2)
100 GB Disc (7200 RPM)
256 MB Graphic Card (NVIDIA 7400)
12.1 screen (1280x800)
Pro/Wireless 3945 (802.11a/b/g)
8x DVD/RW

I´m fine with a smaller screen, since I mostly use an external LCD screen anyway. Will I notice a huge improvement in performance, or will this upgrade be minor?

Thanks

[Joe Gronlund]

Thats hard to say, the dual core processors will have some advantages. But overall its not a huge upgrade, i would say it is a moderate one..

[wii]

What about the faster disc and twice as much RAM in the graphic card ? That must count for something, other than the CPU.

[Joe Gronlund]

You will notice a little speed increase due to the increase in disc speed, but the extra RAM on the videocard will only really be noticed, if you are a heavy gamer..

[wii]

Hmm, maybe I should wait for the next generation.

[HexOnxOnx]

I always heard people say thet unless you can double the processing power, it's not worth the upgrade.

[filburt1]

I upgraded from a Pentium M 1.5 GHz, 1.5 GB RAM, 7200 RPM 60 GB hard drive, Geforce FX 5200 Go to a Core Duo 1.66 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 7200 RPM 60 GB hard drive, Geforce 7400 Go. It's the base XPS M1210, slightly upgraded, yet only $950 (below the $1200 base price).

The speed difference is quite noticible, and obviously games are faster just because of the much better video card. However, keep in mind I sold the former system for $1000 and got this one for $950. I only upgraded because in the end, I planned to break even, although I actually made a bit of profit.

We'll ignore the fact that the first computer was $1839 a bit more than two years ago. I tend to upgrade notebooks every two years or less, although this one, like my last one, I'll probably keep for a while.

The 256 MB of video memory is a misnomer. 64 MB of it is dedicated; 192 MB is shared from system RAM. Therefore, consider it as only having 64 MB of RAM for all practical purposes.

A 7200 RPM hard drive is noticibly faster for even simple tasks. I was surprised, but in my experience, I'm only going to opt for 7200 RPM drives in the future for laptops over 5400. No battery life difference even.

edit: and my God, the battery. I get six hours with the extended battery, and that's with Wifi on, the faster video card, and the faster hard drive. If I shut all that down and lowered the screen brightness a lot, I might get seven or eight even.

[wii]

Thanks for the review, but are you sure about the graphic card ? Everywhere I read about the XPS M1210, they say it´s 256MB dedicated.

Is there anything about the M1210 you don´t like? Sounds like the right notebook for me, as I suggested.

[filburt1]

It is not 256 MB dedicated.

The total of local and shared system memory used by this graphics card is up to 256MB. Local on-board memory is 64MB. Up to 192MB of system memory is allocated to support graphics.

From http://www.dell.com/content/products...n=specs#tabtop .

However, never base a video card's performance solely on its VRAM size. The GPU is still hella fast, even compared to many desktop cards. It seems to tie my Geforce 6800 in my desktop with some games.

I do wish the screen resolution was higher, but I'm used to working with high resolutions. They also don't release video drivers often enough, especially given it's marketed towards gamers, or at least people who pay the extra money (or not...suckers) for the XPS brand.

In a year or so, I may upgrade from the Core Duo to the Core 2 Duo. It's drop-in compatible.

[wii]

I still don´t see anywhere that it´s not dedicated:

256MB NVIDIA® GeForceTM Go 7400 with TurboCache9 Graphics Card.

[wii]

Sorry, I see it now at the bottom of the page.

Strange...

[filburt1]

TurboCache = nVidia-speak for shared memory.

Don't let it get you down. It crushes unmercifully most other laptop GPUs. It's also one of the few laptops overall, and possibly the only laptop in its form factor, that lets you use 4 GB of RAM...for $2000 or so.

[wii]

Thanks and yeah, I read some reviews of it - amazing, the best 12" laptop !

[wii]

Ok, this is what I´m thinking - even better specs than originally planned:

Dell XPS M1210:
2,00 GHZ Centrino Core 2 Duo (677MHZ FSB)
2048 MB RAM (677MHZ, DDR2)
80 GB Disc (7200 RPM)
256 MB Graphic Card (NVIDIA 7400)
12.1 screen (1280x800)
Pro/Wireless 3945 (802.11a/b/g)
8x DVD/RW
Windows XP pro (With Media)
3 års NBD support (Next Business Day)

Looks good, doesn´t it ?

[filburt1]

Price?

BTW, please don't PM me with links to thread; I'll always revisit a thread if I"m interested in it.