Rate my Future Laptop

[Killgannon]

gonna buy a laptop here soon from dell (i know loldell, but i only have credit at dell and my credit sucks so...)

Inspiron 1720 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
MEMORY 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
LCD Panel High Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920 x 1200)
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
Hard Drive Size: 120GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1
Optical Drive CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Sound Card Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition
Wireless Networking Cards Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card

Vista home premium will be replaced by vista ultimate, or xp pro, gonna be used for taking over for my desktop for the most part, play FFXI, surf the web, play other MMORPGs. And i know ive posted as an AMD fan boy before (still am) but the 1721s (amd version of this laptop) doesnt have the option for a decent videocard (IGP and AMD ONRY so i'll pass)

it's gonna roll at about 1300~ 1800+ pre the 500 coupon i have, plus i get a $200 dell gift card with it...

[Sigi]

Shared memory is disgusting. Check out the card to see if it actually performs well

[Killgannon]

the shared memory is only on the ATI boards
this card has its own ram

edit:
guess the shared part means the video card can borrow from system ram, but it has its own 256MB dedicated

[viperlasson]

That lappy is pretty good, just don't expect much out of that video card. It will run FFXI great though. The screen is pretty nice too (I like glossy screens). How's the battery life?

[Killgannon]

i got the upgraded battery, i hope its decent, they dont give specific hour lifeage on those

i dont play FPS or any thing that requires an OMFG WTF HOLY SHIT I POOPED MYSELF video card, so that's not a big deal, plus im going to build a new desktop around tax time if i do need that

[Vyvian]

Have you used Vista before? Be prepared >.> the more you know, the more different it is. And you have to download the Vista POL off of playonline.com

[Killgannon]

yes ive used vista
yes i know stuff about it
im just worried about drivers for XP is the only reason im considering vista ultimate

[Kaisha]

Check out the card to see if it actually performs well

The 256mb 8600m GT on my MacBook Pro plays UT3 fine at 800x600 with everything cranked (in the demo) if that means anything.

The problem is just finding some fucking updated drivers for it since nVidia doesn't bother with laptop model vid cards.

[levish]

you are worried about Drivers for XP with Vista installed?

that makes as much sense as Claustrum

[Vyvian]

Oh, and this is the combo the death.

Intel / Nvidia / Vista / FFXI..

Expect a low frame rate, unless they finally fixed that problem.

[Viena]

you are worried about Drivers for XP with Vista installed?

that makes as much sense as Claustrum

He wants to install XP instead. The only thing that can prevent him from doing so are the manufacturers not providing drivers for XP for the integrated devices.

[Killgannon]

you are worried about Drivers for XP with Vista installed?

that makes as much sense as Claustrum

He wants to install XP instead. The only thing that can prevent him from doing so are the manufacturers not providing drivers for XP for the integrated devices.

ding ding ding

and to the person with the FFXI worries, thats the point behind upgrading to xp pro =/

[viperlasson]

I am pretty sure that Dell would have the XP drivers for your devices. What laptop is it?

edit: oh lawl, Inspiron 1720, lemme check the site now...

moar edit: http://support.dell.com/support/downloa ... hidlang=en

Is this what you needed?

[Killgannon]

I am pretty sure that Dell would have the XP drivers for your devices. What laptop is it?

edit: oh lawl, Inspiron 1720, lemme check the site now...

moar edit: http://support.dell.com/support/downloa ... hidlang=en

Is this what you needed?

doesnt look like it has drivers for the vid card or sound card otherwise its good =/

[viperlasson]

You're right, looks like you are stuck with Vista until Nvidia makes XP drivers for your 8600M GT or Dell does.

[Shadowhusky]

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/ind ... opic=13361

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=51012

[retice]

Oh, and this is the combo the death.

Intel / Nvidia / Vista / FFXI..

Expect a low frame rate, unless they finally fixed that problem.

I have all 4 of these on the PC I built, only thing I have 6600GT 512MB. I don't get any framerate issues anymore. And the only time I had them was with BRD songs an Fire spells. But were cleared up a few drivers ago. At least for me they were.

Have you used Vista before? Be prepared >.> the more you know, the more different it is. And you have to download the Vista POL off of playonline.com

And you don't need to download their POL version to make the game work. Just need updated version of POLboot.exe if you plan on copying your FFXI files over to new PC.

[Killgannon]

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13361

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=51012

thanks those look good i'll have to try them

imma up the processor to 2.2 with 4MB cache... I have my cart saved so once my payment hits imma order, however i dont expect it til after thanksgiving/early december from what im reading about these when you customize them so final specs below

SYSTEM COLOR Ruby Red
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
DISPLAY High Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920 x 1200)
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
MEMORY 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
HARD DRIVE Size: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
OPTICAL DRIVE CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
BATTERY OPTIONS 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition
OFFICE SOFTWARE No Productivity software pre-installed
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service

the only bottle neck that i foresee is the 5400 RPM HD (besides the vid card but thats already been discussed) but the 7200 rpm one is $100 more and i dont have that when you throw in taxes and all =/ i may upgrade it in the future however

[Shadowhusky]

Unless you're done some heavy HDD stuff, the 5400RPM should be fine until you switch to a 7200RPM. The 5400RPM takes less batty life as well.

[Sigi]

Warranty needs some massive fixin
3 words: Get Complete Care.
As far as length, pay for the 3yr warranty. Onsite is a better option (if you're feeling your cheerios, you can actually request parts only with onsite, but you are *required* to send the laptop to the depot with RR)
(oh, and instead of a 3-day turnaround for parts and service, it's about a week.)
:-"