Anything I need to know about this laptop?

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Vic

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Hi,

I am finally just about to buy a new laptop and have "built" it on DELL. My brain is fried and I am terrified of buying a rubbish one. I will only be using this for photo editing and will be travelling with it.

The one I have chosen is the Inspiron 17 DELL, here are the specs, does this mean there is only 2GB RAM, should I be aiming for 3GB;


MEMORY:3072MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [1x2048 + 1x1024]
HARD DRIVE 250GB (5,400rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD Intel Integrated GMA 4500MHD
OPTICAL DRIVE DVD +/- RW Drive with DVD Burn software
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 6-cell 48 WHr Lithium Ion battery
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g)
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 1 year

LCD 17.3" WLED High Definition + (1600 x 900) TFT Display with TrueLife™
WEBCAM 1.3 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
Gedis Bundle Reference N0875001
Power Supply 65W AC Adaptor
Click to expand...
 
Vic said:
Hi,

I am finally just about to buy a new laptop and have "built" it on DELL. My brain is fried and I am terrified of buying a rubbish one. I will only be using this for photo editing and will be travelling with it.

The one I have chosen is the Inspiron 17 DELL, here are the specs, does this mean there is only 2GB RAM, should I be aiming for 3GB;
Click to expand...

The specs you have quotes refer to 3GB of RAM but I would add one to make four as images are very hungry. The RAM is like a kitchen worktop, the larger the area you have to work the better ;)
 
Robert Davies said:
Can't 32bit Windows only address 3gb of RAM anyway?

-Rob
Click to expand...

Yes windows 32 bit only recognizes only 3gb of RAM.

Few thing I have noticed that would bother me are as follows:

The RAM isn't matched and paired (pedantic yes, but if your going to do it DELL do it properly)
The hard drive is 5400rpm not 7200rpm (slow)
Integrated graphics (as said previously will eat some RAM)
 
Robert Davies said:
Can't 32bit Windows only address 3gb of RAM anyway?

-Rob
Click to expand...

Yup, i think you'll be able to address 4gb of ram, but will only be able to use 3gb of it.. anything above wont be seen or used, and will need 64bit to make use of it..
My laptop has 4gb of ddr3 ram on windows 7 32bit, but i've never really looked at seeing how much of it was being used.
 
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The onboard Graphic controller is rubbish and could struggle to even drive that resolution screen, you might find when you scroll down pages with lots of graphical content that it stutters a bit when scrolling

5400rpm hard drive is slow

Im a great beleiver in matching Ram in pairs and 3GB isnt enough given the Graphics controller will use some of it
 
Also, why not go 64bit for CS5 and later if you ever get it?
 
I WAS going fot his then decided against it went for the Vostro instead better processor and a more faster machine. :shrug:

I wanted it for exactly what you wanted it for.
 
Thanks all, you guys are great! :thumbs:

TinaC said:
The specs you have quotes refer to 3GB of RAM but I would add one to make four as images are very hungry. The RAM is like a kitchen worktop, the larger the area you have to work the better ;)
Click to expand...

Cheers Tina, how can you tell it has 3GB, I thought "DDR2 SDRAM" meant 2GB? I'm so thick with computers :thinking:

The RAM isn't matched and paired (pedantic yes, but if your going to do it DELL do it properly)
Click to expand...

Thanks Stuart for the advice :) If I can ask what the above means? :D

Ok taking all your advice on board about the a faster one and without a graphics card I have had a look at the Inspiron M301z I cant see to find one without a graphics card?

PROCESSOR AMD Turion II Neo K625 (dual core)
LCD Display : 13.3in HD WLED (1366X768) TrueLife
MEMORY 4096MB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]
HARD DRIVE 500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 6-cell 44 WHr Lithium Ion battery
WEBCAM 1.3 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Dell Wireless 1501 Mini Card (802.11g/n)
GRAPHICS CARD ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4225 graphics
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Module
Power Supply 65W AC Adaptor
Click to expand...
 
Vic said:
Thanks Stuart for the advice :) If I can ask what the above means? :D
Click to expand...

Matching and pairing RAM is when you take two sticks of identical RAM (e.g 2 x 2gb)
The important part is ensuring they are the same capacity, the same speed e.g 2 x PC6400 and both either EEC or non EEC voltage.

In the case of the original specs you posted, even if Dell put 1 stick of 2Gb DDR2 PC6400 in one slot and 1 stick of 1Gb DDR2 PC6400 in the other slot this is not matched/paired as the capacities are different.

Its all about how the CPU and motherboard accesses the memory channels. Any indifferences will slow things down marginally.

Hope that helps you understand.
 
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A 17" is very chunky and heavy for travelling with - are you sure you couldn't get by with something smaller? My other half has a 15.4" XPS laptop, and I wouldn't like to take that anywhere, never mind a 17".....
 
stupar said:
Matching and pairing RAM is when you take two sticks of identical RAM (e.g 2 x 2gb)
The important part is ensuring they are the same capacity, the same speed e.g 2 x PC6400 and both either EEC or non EEC voltage.

In the case of the original specs you posted, even if Dell put 1 stick of 2Gb DDR2 PC6400 in one slot and 1 stick of 1Gb DDR2 PC6400 in the other slot this is not matched/paired as the capacities are different.

Its all about how the CPU and motherboard accesses the memory channels. Any indifferences will slow things down marginally.

Hope that helps you understand.
Click to expand...

Aaah cheers Stuart I see the bit that you mean now! So the latest one I am looking at has 2x2048 so they are matched?

A 17" is very chunky and heavy for travelling with - are you sure you couldn't get by with something smaller? My other half has a 15.4" XPS laptop, and I wouldn't like to take that anywhere, never mind a 17".....
Click to expand...

You are absoloutely right, that was originally the one thing that put me off. The latest one is 13.3inch and a lot lighter so I think that suits me a bit better>
 
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