New Laptop for my Lady your thoughts

Looking to purchase a new laptop for my good lady this xmas, and have come up with the following, and would like my fellow Geeks to give me there input, and suggestions.

Dell Inspirion 6400 Dual Core - $920 USD

Intel Core™2 Duo T5500 (1.66GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)

L.C.D. 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WXGA+ Display with TrueLife™

1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM @ 533MHz, 2 Dimms

120GB 5400rpm SATA HD

8x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability

128MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON®X1300 HyperMemory™

Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem

85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, with spare 53 WHr 6-cell L/I Battery

Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless Card

Linksys WRT55AG Wireless A/G Router

PilotMouse Wireless Laser Mouse

Thanks BCGray

 

I don't like laptops but if you think she will like it, go for it.
Just one note: the Radeon is HyperMemory. I suppose you know the problems caused by this memory sharing between the GPU and the rest of the system. I don't know much about these Dell PCs. Can you choose the parts (in this case the video-card) or are they standard from model to model?

 

Not a laptop fan myself Sailor, but we have found with her teaching job and my consulting travels that one would be handy............Video cards are limited to:- 128MB or a 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon cards, or the stock Intel graphics Media Accelerator 950 card.

 

Hey come on gang I need some more input here, I don't want to give my girl something thats not great so can I get some help here

 

BCC, make sure that it is Core 2 Duo and not just Dual Core, as the Core 2 Duo is the latest I think, and apparently a big improvement.

I thought the Core2 Duo would start at a higher Ghz than 1.66GHz, probably 2 GHz for example. Any options from Dell higher than 1.66Ghz?

I'd buy 2 x 1 Gig RAM sticks, first up.
Don't know anything about shared Dual Channel.
What EXACTLY does that mean, and DO?

Do they have a 256mb ATI option? Is the Graphics RAM shared or dedicated?

Price seems to be right as the same laptop would be well over AUD$2000 here.

Bazza

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Isn't this what HyperMemory means (if I am mistaking let me know)? Instead of the video card having its own memory it uses the systems existing RAM. That is holding the GPU back, because the frequency of the memory is usually lower than the core's frequency. In addition you have less memory left for the rest of the system.

 

I knew you guys wouldn't let me down

Bazza:-
Yea the T5500 is Core2Duo and is the first of the 1.66GHz procs with the 667MHz FSB,.............below that is the T5400 @ 1.60GHz with the 533MHz FSB.................Above is the EXtreme Core2Duo all at 2.+GHz.

The "Shared" memory if I am right, is two sticks of 566 MG (shared for 1GB) versus the options of 1 stick of 1GB........or two sticks of 1GB for a "Shared" cap of 2GB(thats a $200 option, which I can do later when the 533MHz Ram prices drop). Hey its a laptop and there are only two memory slots, which I believe is kinda standard.

Yes as per my post to sailor (above) there are three Video card options, but neither of us are really gamers so I chose the middle of the road on this one

Thanks Bazza, I am really glad you posted as I know you just got a Dell CoreDuo and would like ALL the input you can give me with regards to Dell quality and performance.......Did you have much garbage to get rid of...etc

Sailor:-

Thanks I am still checking on the HyperMemory thing, right now all I have is that the board uses the boards 128MB as a "Buffer" like L2 Cache but I could be very wrong.....And Thanks for the question

 

I'd still spring fro the 2 x 1 gig sticks if the budget allows. What is the difference if you install 1 x 1 gig initially instead of 2 x 512's? Ask Dell what it does to performance. maybe ask here for a second opinion.

As you say most laptops (all?) have only 2 x slots.

I have a Toshiba Tecra A7 duo core laptop (not a Dell) but still lots of crap that I haven't been game to delete. Norton AntiVirus is gone, of course.

I just bought a second hand Dell desktop, so you have probbaly got the 2 mixed up.

 

Thanks Bazza, and yes I did get them mixed up, how is your Toshiba laptop, and if not too personel why did you chose it over a Dell. I know you too would have shopped around and compared.

Memory question:- as far as performance the 1GB Dual Channel(2+566) is perfect for the Software we are going to use Windows XP, were steering clear of Vista for at least a year.....and again the price will drop and swapping RAM is within my grasp.

 

Okay found out that for $50 more I can upgrade the Video Card to the 256 ATI MOBILITY RADOEN X1400 HyperMemory which according to the reviews is the top of the Mobile Video cards in the mid range preformance class 3, as that is the top of the offered Video cards for this model build, I think that I will go for that, as neither of us are big gamers.

Also found this on Hypermemory

HyperMemory is ATI's version of shared memory. Usually, if a card is advertised as, for example, “256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 HyperMemory”, the video memory is double what it actually has. So this X1400 would actually be 128MB dedicated, and the other 128MB shared from your main system memory.

Any other input would be appreciated as I will have to be ordering this, this week. Thanks BCGray

 

A not so vital comment.

I don't know if something faster is available for laptops but 5400rpm sounds a little slow. Of course if it is over your budget forget I said that.

 

There are two basic HD options 5400rpm & 7200rpm with the 7200 rpm ones have smaller capacity, 5400rpm is kinda the standard for Laptops due to power consumption demands I think, so I went for the larger capacity Thanks Sailor

 

BCG, Toshiba agent is about 3 minutes walk away.
I have known the owner for 18 years and worked for him before, and after, I went to Africa to work.

As for Dell, I like the retailer to be in my hometown where I can go and see them, and bang on their door, if necessary.

I don't fancy shipping my PC to an on-line only dealer/retailler that may be thousands of kilometres / miles, away, if anything major goes wrong under warranty. Stuff that.

I don't know but I don't think Dell is as big, proportionally, in OZ as it is in the USA.

Bazza

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Recommend that you ask how hard upgrading things like RAM is Gray! Dell likes to make it difficult! They use proprietary parts when they can! If they had their way, you'd buy nothing but their parts, and have them installed by nobody but their technicians.

Also, this HyperMemory (love the marketing!) - 128 MB shared to the GPU out of 1024MB system memory is quite the chunk! That's 13% of your total system memory!

Also, in regards to Sailor's comment, since the memory runs in 'dual channel', I believe that the system RAM and Video RAM would HAVE to run at the same frequency. Sadly, this is likely the slower of the two.

 

Like they think we're dumb. Both Ati (HyperMemory) and nVidia(TurboCache) try to sell 100$ cards with 512MB of memory. Yeah right!

 

Thanks for the comments Mada, and here is what I have found (not saying it is right, just what I have found so far)

Changing RAM:- Supposedly an easy swap,if more is required later, and supposedly an off the shelf item (Not Dell specific like some of there stuff)

HyperMemory:- yea you gotta love the PR boys at ATI for that one, though there not alone, the others do something similar.

"Dual Channel":- From what I have been able to piece together, this simply refers to filling both Memory slots versus just one.......each slot having a seperate Channel at the frequency of 533MHz each..........I can't seem to find at what frequency the darn Video card memory runs at yet, I am assuming it runs at the FSB frequency of 667MHz

And Thanks to all who have posted so far, I can't tell you how much you have helped, as I am still looking for other options, and all your input is helping me nail things down.

 

If you have make /s and model /s in mind, maybe you could visit www.crucial.com and check out the various makes and models there, as to what RAM they take and whether crucial (and others) can supply it, bypassing Dell if you want to.

You can't, of course, do an on-line scan until you have the laptop in your hot little hands (doh) lol. Bazza

 

Yes, dual channel requires two sticks of RAM. They have to be identical frequency and capacity, but while in this mode, the memory bandwidth is doubled.

See this link for a more thorough description.

 

Sounds like on ok system but I would definately get 2GB of ram and at least the 128MB of dedicated video memory so that you will be ready for the higher end Vista when it comes out.

 

Thanks to you all........I placed my order today, and bumped up the Video card to the 256 MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400, that was the top option available, and will bump up the Memory if indeed we find we need it, they are standard DDR2 Dimms with easy access, and just as Spring will come eventually, the price will drop, and the speed will go up.

I again Thank-You all for your input, your questions made me look into things that I never would have thought of without you help, so again a Big Thanks BCGray

 

Let us know the make and model and specs, and how it performs when you get it. Bazza

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