Advice from some computer whizzes, please!?

eskimo

Hey, I'm hoping for some advice from some people who know more than me about computers! Basically, the one below is a pretty nice price, 389Euro from Dell (not incl.VAT&delivery), and seems grand for what I want it for. It's a laptop.

Basically I want something that will play DVDs for me and will play them well!! Also I want something that can handle about 30gbs worth of music and something that won't stall or crash when using my MP3 player with it.

I want it to manage broadband internet well and handle fast downloads, and also handle and play MP3's and other media files without crashing constantly (it happens even to the best of them!!). I don't want it for games whatsoever or anything too taxing.

I'm pretty sure that this one will do all that for me without bother but I would really appreciate some of your advice before I go for it! I've included ALL the spec (far too much, i know!) available for it just to be sure! If you could have a look and tell me what you think that'd be great, thanks!


Base Intel® Celeron® M Processor 380 (1.60 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 400 MHz FSB)
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition, SP2
Memory 256MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (1x256)
Keyboard Internal Keyboard - UK/Ire (QWERTY)
Hard Drive 40GB (5.400rpm) Hard Drive
Modem Internal 56K v.92 Capable Fax Modem
CD/DVD Drives 24xCDRW/8x DVD Combo Drive With Software (No Media)
Shipping Documents System Documentation
Gedis Bundle Reference List N06131- BSD 1300 (1)
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Works 7.0
Standard Warranty 90-Day Collect and Return service
Cover It with Dell Support Services No service upgrade selected - 90 Day Collect and Return service only
AntiVirus & Security Software No Security/Anti-Virus Software
Power Supply 60W AC Adapter
Digital Photography Combo: Paint Shop® Pro and Photo Album® Trial
Order Information Inspiron Order - Ireland
Primary Battery 6 Cell 56Whr Primary Battery
Carrying CasesNo Carrycase
Dell System Media Kit No Resource CD
Dell Media Experience Dell Media Experience 3.1 Basic - Inspiron
Adobe Reader English - Adobe Reader 6.0
Dell Internet Order Dell Internet Order.
Operating System Backup & Recovery PC Restore recovery system by Symantec
LCD 14.1inch WXGA (1280x800) LCD Panel

KdjaCL

More ram , get another 512 of ram and it will do all above and even some more. XP needs and uses 512 so 768 is fine. When you get it post back and people here show you how to make it faster by removing all the Dell **** on it.


Also check that the DVD drive is a writer, you will need to burn DVDs if your planning on downloading stuff.


Other than that it should be fine for the above use.


kdjac

Jammer

You would want more memory for XP SP2, 256mb will slug along. 512mb would be fine, 1GB comfortable. Don't buy it from Dell, they rape you financially for upgrades like this.

That celeron could start to slow down when the HDD gets full, and you've a few applications open. Software bundled with MP3 players are not known for their efficency, which could also present problems to the celeron!

eskimo

The extra RAM would cost the best part of 100e or more, a price hike i'm hoping to steer clear of! Is it absolutely necessary? Or is there a cheaper alternative to buying extra RAM from Dell?

I'm only gonna be using it for using with my MP3 player, watching DVDs, using broadband internet and downloading/listening to music.

Creamy Goodness

i'd get a hard drive upgrade tbh.

40gig's is not a lot when you consider the following.

* dell advertise 40 gigabytes as 40*1000 bytes whereas technically 40 gigabytes is 40 * 1024.

* the file allocation table takes another part of the capacity.

* not to mention the windows installation.

* then not to mention the hidden partition dell will install for recovery.

you won't fit 30 gig's of music when that's all said and done, well in my opinion anyways.

Triangle

Definately agree with the previous posters

1) 256 Ram won't be good enough
2) 40 gigs seems like alot, but after Dell have used some,windows, backups, and extra bits are installed - you'll prob be left with around 25GB (and I'm just using my own experience here, I install exerything onto a separate drive as well and still have used up alot of my main drive)
3) Celerons are not designed for multimedia

Ruu_Old

Yep, more memory, bigger hard driver but the celly wont get you very far multimedia but probably good enough for what you want to use it for.

TerrorFirmer

Ignore these people who say xp will "slug along" on 256mb ram. It won't. It will run fine. I not only used to run xp on 256mb of ram, I used to play games on it too, and it's fine. As well as that, XP can run on 64mb of ram if needs be. It performs perfectly fine - and not slow - on 256mb ram and if all you will be doing is what you described, you won't need anymore ram.

that said make sure when you get the laptop to get rid of all that dell rubbish they preinstall, that definately slows the machine down.

As well as that the celeron will be fine for using everything you've described. I don't know what sort of benches you lads are basing your opinions on but a 1.6 celeron M will handle any sort of mp3 player, while browsing the net, downloading, and whatever simultaneously no problems whatsoever. In fact as well as that, my friend uses his 1.5 celeron m to play games like Command and Conquer Generals, Pariah and some other games. No problems. A 1.6 Celeron M is only going to run into problems on New games or Multimedia Applications (obviously not talking about media players here). celerons are designed exactly for the kind of low usage requirements you have.

Although I would definately agree with getting a bigger HD. You will just about scrape the 30gigs on it, but it's hardly ideal to have zero space spare. If you want extra ram get it elsewhere - dell will attempt to literally charge you 250% of its actual worth for an upgrade, this is where they con alot of people.

Gurgle

eskimo wrote:

The extra RAM would cost the best part of 100e or more, a price hike i'm hoping to steer clear of! Is it absolutely necessary? Or is there a cheaper alternative to buying extra RAM from Dell?

Lets be absolutely clear here - DO NOT buy the extra RAM from Dell, you'll only encourage them.

This crowd are about a quarter the price:
http://www.shop4memory.com/

I'd recommend 1GB

Omnipresence

Memory and Disk....

Memory you could upgrade cheaper online from memory shops but disk upgrade usually means throwing out the one that comes with the box and replacing with a new one... so i'd defo upgrade the HDD at source...

Remember the first thing to do when you get your laptop ... put in the WinXP disk and format/re-install... don't even boot up once into the DellXP

Will save you precious disk space and annoying installs...

Oh make sure you get all the re-install disks shipped aswell... I know someone who bought a cheap laptop and it did not include the re-install CD's .. (these were extra - I know I don't think this was very legal) but hey...

-A

SouperComputer

Ignore these people who say xp will "slug along" on 256mb ram. It won't. It will run fine. I not only used to run xp on 256mb of ram, I used to play games on it too, and it's fine. As well as that, XP can run on 64mb of ram if needs be. It performs perfectly fine - and not slow - on 256mb ram and if all you will be doing is what you described, you won't need anymore ram.

While there is an element of truth to this, as mentioned already some of the apps this user is likely to use can be very bloated. Its also very easy for a non-tech user to use more than 256Mb of RAM, espcially with SP2.

512Mb is what I would reccomend, 256 will do the job, but you will outgrow it fairly sharpish.

LunaC

Bigger hard drive is a must, I would upgrade to 512mb of RAM (don't buy it from dell) just to make things run a bit more smoothly.

Tom Dunne

HavoK wrote:

Ignore these people who say xp will "slug along" on 256mb ram. It won't. It will run fine. I not only used to run xp on 256mb of ram, I used to play games on it too, and it's fine. As well as that, XP can run on 64mb of ram if needs be. It performs perfectly fine - and not slow - on 256mb ram and if all you will be doing is what you described, you won't need anymore ram.

that said make sure when you get the laptop to get rid of all that dell rubbish they preinstall, that definately slows the machine down.

I'm with HavoK on this one - got one of these for my mother-in-law a month or so back and she thinks it's the dogs proverbials. It boots quick enough, performance is quite acceptable with 256Mb of RAM and the battery life averages 2-2.5 hours with ligth use.

For the uses you have outlined, this machine will be perfect. Bear in mind that the chaps here are generally power users and want the best performance from their machines, hence the recommendations to upgrade. They mean well.

*puts on flame retardent suit*

You might get a another view over on the laptop forum

eskimo

Some pretty extensive advice there! I think I'm gonna go for it as is, except maybe increase the hard drive to 60gb at an extra 65e (why is my euro sign not working?!?! argh, another day, another computer **** up.).

I trust all of you when you say I should seriously increase the RAM and I would if I was on a looser budget but I'm not at all so I think I'm gonna have to leave it as is! I can't stress enough however that I'm really not intending on putting the thing under too much stress anyway. Basic MP3 usage, dvd watching, digicam using and net surfing hopefully won't have it in an early grave. Obviously going by what you've all said I won't be sticking 30gb of music on it now! I'll use disks to store MP3s instead. It's just to have while I'm away at college anyhow. There's already a Dell PC at home which has masses of RAM and harddrive space.

So for a grand total of E389.00, I think I'll go with the 256RAM and 40GB harddrive, with a possible hd space increase.

I really appreciate all your advice and value your opinions! I've taken them into account, trust me. I'm blaming the low budget and basing my final decision on that and the fact that I'll probably save up and get a decent one next summer anyway.

Cheers!

unkel

SouperComputer wrote:

While there is an element of truth to this, as mentioned already some of the apps this user is likely to use can be very bloated. Its also very easy for a non-tech user to use more than 256Mb of RAM, espcially with SP2.

512Mb is what I would reccomend, 256 will do the job, but you will outgrow it fairly sharpish.

Totally agree there. As long as you're no superuser, having many programs running at the same time, 512MB should be fine

256MB is cutting it for a multimedia machine, unless you know how to uninstall unnecessary programs and services

Dell regularly have free-double-memory actions. If you can't wait for one of them, ring the salesline and state you'll buy it if he gives you 512MB instead of 256MB. You've a good chance they will do this

Alternatively, buy a stick here. Check compatibility with their on-line compatibility checker. The cheapes stick of 256MB DDR2 ram for a laptop is only €21 and delivery is free

Deffo go with a bigger harddisk unless you decide you don't need all that 30GB of music at the one time