Dell Vostro Advice

remus808

Ok so it seems the Vostro is a great deal, so I'm looking at picking one up for College, specifically the 1700. Have some questions/thoughts though..

1. I'd really rather XP than Vista, yet this dosen't seem to be offered, although they say it is. Will I be able to get if I order by phone or something?

2. Although I'd like it to be mobile, I'd really like to have the 17" screen and the 9-cell battery. Will this make it excessively bulky/heavy? I'm a big enough lad so can't imagine having trouble carting it around

3. Whats the difference in performance between the Geforce 8400MGS
and the 8600MGT? (It's €60 more, worth it? I'm hoping to do a bit of gaming like)

4. What's the difference in battery life, weight and dimensions between the 6-cell and the 9-cell battery?

5. What are the speakers on it like? In terms of volume and clarity

Has anyone on here got a Vostro? How do you guys rate the specs I'm looking at for that price?

Thanks alot!

edit: Btw it's €720 ex. vat (or €860 including VAT) for the following specs:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 Processor (1.8GHz,800MHz,2MB L2 cache)
(whats this processor like? there are other but more expensive options)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Business - English
(REALLY would rather XP!)
Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support
17.0" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display
Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camer
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
128MB nVidia® GeForce® 8400M GS edit
(^ should I go for the 256mb card?)
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)
^ (should I go for just a 6-cell?)

RoyalMarine

i got some similiar specs in my laptop from dell.

17" isnt too big. i really thought it would be so much bigger but its not.
very mobile tbh.
the 9 cell is not that great. ok it lasts a little longer, but it sticks 2 inches out the backside of the laptop and its ugly.

honestly, i decided to buy 2 6 cell batteries and keep one charged for spare.

specs wise, the laptop your looking at is sweet! 2 gig ram and dual core 1.8ghz will be fine.
id go for the 256mb card if your going to be inclined to play games etc.

when i rang dell i asked them to remove windows vista and put on xp. they gave me some excuse that they cant with this offer. but its worth a shot.
i formatted my laptop when i got it and installed my own windows xp.

now i have a dual boot with vista/xp and im more than happy with it.

other than that its well worth it for 860.
but you will be waiting 5 weeks for it to arrive.

remus808

RoyalMarineComm wrote:

i got some similiar specs in my laptop from dell.

17" isnt too big. i really thought it would be so much bigger but its not.
very mobile tbh.
the 9 cell is not that great. ok it lasts a little longer, but it sticks 2 inches out the backside of the laptop and its ugly.

honestly, i decided to buy 2 6 cell batteries and keep one charged for spare.

specs wise, the laptop your looking at is sweet! 2 gig ram and dual core 1.8ghz will be fine.
id go for the 256mb card if your going to be inclined to play games etc.

when i rang dell i asked them to remove windows vista and put on xp. they gave me some excuse that they cant with this offer. but its worth a shot.
i formatted my laptop when i got it and installed my own windows xp.

now i have a dual boot with vista/xp and im more than happy with it.

other than that its well worth it for 860.
but you will be waiting 5 weeks for it to arrive.

Cool advice thanks!! .. yeah I was thinking of getting an extra 6-cell.. how much is it though? Yeah guess I'l format and install myself alright..

dulpit

Ring them up, go through the business number.... I've oredered 2 different Vostros, 1 for work, 1 for myself (got a beast for me, a 1500 with everything, VAT free and all \o/)

The one for work arrived yesterday, it's a Vostro 1400 (so it's a 14" screen) came with a 9 cell battery, which is quite heavy and looks kinda funny sticking out the back... When i rang them they are able to customise the thing an awful lot more than you can on the net...

I do know when i rang about my own i was originally going for a 1700, and just rang to enquire about it, there's a way smaller choice of windows for it (business/home premium/home basic) while i think (but am not 100%) that the 1500 had all versions of Vista (inc. Ultimate) and XP too... So that might be worth a pop....

1 thing to be aware of is there's a bit of a delay on the machines, the one ordered @ work was ordered on the 20th July, arrived yesterday (26days later) and i ordered mine tuesday, estimated delivery is 6th September (23 days) so you'll have to wait, but you should have it for college... It's an amazing offer though, the vostros...

Jr.Hero

yea just wondering, was looking at the 1500, excellent specs for the price, but the problem is am a student not a small business.

i've heard of ppl putting there name in as a company name..... is it really that simple, do dell not check up or something. it's not that i'm avoidin tax as i'll be paying that also but even with tax, its a killer price.

AlmightyCushion

Yes you can sign up as a business customer even if you don't own a business and the vat will have to be paid.

remus808

Ok so I finally ordered mine the other day, somehow came up to €970 in the end though, which makes me quite sad

Intel Core 2 Duo, 1.8Ghz
2048MB DDR2 SDRAM
256MB Geforce 8600M GT
160GB SATA

how do you rate that for the price? Btw will the 17" screen eat battery life? I went for the 6-cell battery as I was worried about the 9-cell protruding. I want to get a spare 6-cell though.

Jr.Hero

ok so i've read a few reviews about the dell vostro and i've seen a few talking about build quality and them being quite a bulky machine. does anyone here know what they look like in reality build quality etc.
i know ppl say they are just a black inspirion.........

dulpit

Jr.Hero wrote:

ok so i've read a few reviews about the dell vostro and i've seen a few talking about build quality and them being quite a bulky machine. does anyone here know what they look like in reality build quality etc.
i know ppl say they are just a black inspirion.........

So I have seen 2, my own 1500 (15") and my boss's 1400 (14")

I think they look great, nice black finish, kind of a matt feel to the outside. Beats the crap out of boss's old business laptop (Latitude something, ugly machine)

They are nice to look at, nice to use too... Only problem i've seen is that it picks up finger prints fairly easily on the outside, but i suppose that's only superficial...

Kingkong

Could someone with a 9 cell battery for there vostra please post a picture. I want to see how much the battery sticks out thanks

AlmightyCushion

I have a 17" inspiron with the 9 cell battery and it doesn't protrude at all.

Jonathan

AlmightyCushion wrote:

I have a 17" inspiron with the 9 cell battery and it doesn't protrude at all.

Anybody know what Vostro 1400 is like with a 9 cell battery?

dulpit

jmccrohan wrote:

Anybody know what Vostro 1400 is like with a 9 cell battery?

I do, it's not great... I'll try and post a pic in a while...

Jonathan

dulpit wrote:

I do, it's not great... I'll try and post a pic in a while...

Thanks.

dulpit

OK, apologies for the quality of picture, i took them with my crappy nokia phone...

At least it gives you an idea of how far it sticks out...



(By the way this is my 1000th post, I'd like to thank my parents, eircom broadband, my boss for going on holidays to make this possible...)

Jonathan

Superduper. Thanks v much for the pix. Its not half as bad as i had anticipated.
Do you mind me asking when did you order that 1400?
I ordered mine on 29th July and now have a revised EDD of 28th Sept!!

bazcaz

I got my vostro 1500 today I ordered it on the aug 21st.....had ordered the new xps m1310 before on august 6th and wasnt due for delivery until sep 28th so I cancelled it

dulpit

jmccrohan wrote:

Superduper. Thanks v much for the pix. Its not half as bad as i had anticipated.
Do you mind me asking when did you order that 1400?
I ordered mine on 29th July and now have a revised EDD of 28th Sept!!

Ordered the 1400 on the 20th July, arrived on the 15th August...

Ordered a 1500 on the 14th, was given a delivery date of the 6th Sept, but it arrived on the 24th...

So hopefully that date is a worst case...

Jonathan

dulpit wrote:

Ordered the 1400 on the 20th July, arrived on the 15th August...

Ordered a 1500 on the 14th, was given a delivery date of the 6th Sept, but it arrived on the 24th...

So hopefully that date is a worst case...

Ah it doesnt matter now anyway. I saw the new dell offer on today so i canceled and reordered. Saved my self a packet while bringing my EDD forward 4 days lol.


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=53859903&postcount=32

Kingkong

Thanks dulpit for taking the pics

Jr.Hero

ok so i'm interested in the nice little 1400. but was just wondering with the 128mb graphics card what games could you really play on it. by the way i'm not a noob i actually do know a fair wee bit about computers and hopefully a bit more once i start my degree

dulpit

Kingkong wrote:

Thanks dulpit for taking the pics

No problem, it was an excuse to use the bluetooth on my laptop to grab the pics from phone...:D