<p>I’ve decided to buy a dell inspiron 9300. I’m going to use it for music/movies/some gaming/some studying. Here are a few options im debating:</p>
<li>17 inch screen without “Ultrasharp” vs. 17 inch screen with “Ultrasharp”- $125.
-Leaning to without</li>
<li>256 MB ram vs. 512 MB ram vs. 1 G ram- $75, $250
-Leaning to the 1G.</li>
<li>40 gig hard drive vs. 60/80 with or without 7200 rpm
-Not sure at all about this. What’s the importance of hard drive speed?</li>
<li>Im also remotely interested in upgrading my video card, but that seems like an uncessary expense considering im unsure how often I’ll be gaming.
-thanks</li>
</ol>
<p>The 7200rpm hard drive will take up more power. This doesn’t look like it’s for portability due to the large screen size. If not and you will be doing a good ammount of gaming and writing to the hard drive then the upgrade will be worth it.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Go with 256, upgrade to 1 Gig later; for less than $250, you can upgrade to 2 Gigs.</p></li>
<li><p>Get the 7200rpm; I have heard great things about it</p></li>
</ol>
<p>okay. definitly getting the 1 G ram because I don’t want to be bothered later upgrading my laptop. I’m leaning to the 7200 rpm hard drive. I still have no idea about Ultrasharp…does anyone have any experience with it?</p>
<p>Either screen is fine. It’s a difference of resolution, not quality. Both the WXGA+ (standard) and WUXGA (upgrade) are Ultrasharp.</p>
<p>For the RAM: if you’re computer savvy at all (or if you own a phillipshead screwdriver) buy your RAM not from Dell – they overcharge a TON. A gigabyte of DDR2 RAM costs just over $100 from a retailer like newegg.com (I used a Transcend PC2 4200 SO-DIMM, and installed it in about 2 minutes, with no experience installing computer hardware)</p>
<p>I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 (the 9300’s little cousin) and I don’t think the higher hard drive speed is worth the price. Unless you’re doing something really hard drive intensive (not many people do), 4200rpm or 5400rpm will do just fine.</p>
<p>The video card is much more important, because there’s a huge difference between the ATI x300 and the upgrade, the nVidia 6800. If you want to play new games (like Doom 3, Half-life 2, or FarCry) get the 6800 because the x300 is quite weak. I know because I have the x300 in my Dell.</p>
<p>Post if you have more questions, I’m practically a Dell expert :-p</p>
<p>thanks for the insightful post. Im uncomfortable adding ram, so I’ll have to decide what to do with that. Meanwhile, dell seems to change its deals a lot. Sometimes its 250 dollars off, sometimes its 20 percent off, sometimes a ram upgrade, etc. I’m gonna buy as a small-business, when would the best time be to buy? recently the price went up from like 999 for base model to 1020 or something. Not really a big deal, but a little frustrating.
As of now I’d buy 1 G ram, no ultra sharp, 60/80 gig 5400, not sure about video card.</p>
<p>Dell’s deals change weekly. Before you buy, make sure that you google for “Dell coupon codes” and see if you can get a better deal. When I talked to a guy at the kiosk in the mall, he suggested that prices would be going up for back to school, but who knows if that’s true. Last week with coupon codes, you could get 35% off, a free wireless upgrade, and a free printer. This week, you can get $750 off a list price of $1899 or $600 off of one of $1499. Beware, however, that this is off of the price that is crossed out at the top the screen… without the code, it’s 15-20% off, I think.</p>
<p>7200 RPM hard drive was initially thought to use more power, but it has since been disproven. In fact, a lot of users are reporting that their battery life is actually BETTER with a 7200 RPM hard drive. I would go with the faster hard drive if you have the money.</p>
<p>And you say that you will do SOME gaming. What do you mean by some gaming? Unless you are playing the top of the line games with the top settings enabled then I wouldn’t recommend the 9300. It will take up a lot of space on your dorm desk, and frankly, would be overkill if you’re not an intense gamer. The 6000 would definitely meet your needs much better if you’re just a casual gamer.</p>
<p>With that said, if you’re absolutely INTENT on getting the 9300 then go with 1 GB RAM (not from Dell though), the 60 or 80 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, and the WUXGA screen.</p>
<p>Use coupon codes. Don’t ever pay the price they tell you :-p.</p>
<p>And usually buying from Dell’s “Home” division instead of “Business” can get you better deals with coupons. The deals tend to change every week (Thursdays, I think) or even more often. It’s usually $750 off or 35% off. Check out gottadeal.com/dell.php for the codes (you enter them once you add your configured computer to the shopping “cart”)</p>
<p>I agree with UC_Benz about getting an i6000. I have it and it’s plenty big and powerful enough for anyone besides power gamers. I didn’t personally like the 9300 because it’s so huge! (But it’s still nice)</p>