Dell Inspiron 9300 - Upgrade CPU or Harddrive?

Post by **Cooldown** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 5:39 pm

Inspiron 9300 Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
Windows® XP Home Edition
Display 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800
80GB Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
CD/DVD Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability
USB Key 128mb
Free Printer
$25 for usb printer cable

With 40% coupon comes out to around ~1500$

Which is a better/best bang for the buck, going for the 1.86GHz w/ a 80GB HD (Dell might send 4200rpm or 5400rpm I won't know unti l I get it) for $1503 OR 1.73GHz w/ a 60GB 7200rpm harddrive costing $1535?

Post by **Bdw3** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 6:40 pm

You'll see more of an increase in speed by going for the 7200RPM HDD.

Post by **DiscoDave** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 6:56 pm

Isn't it quite hard to find 7200rpm HDD's for laptops? and they cost quite a bit

Post by **Cooldown** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 7:10 pm

I'm currently researching and weighing on my options for an Inspiron 9300. I'm looking at getting the lowest memory option: 256mb of RAM and replacing it with either 1GB or 2GB of cheaper memory from NewEgg. My question is what type of memory do I get as well as what brands do you suggest I get. From what I understand, it is 200-Pin DDR2 So-DIMM at a frequency of 533MHz and there are two slots for ram on the laptop. Which speed should I choose DDR2 533 (PC4200) OR (PC4300)?

Any help would be appreciated (I'm a noob). If you can give me direct links on the most reliable + best value of RAM (either 1GB 2x 512mb OR 2GB 2x 1GB) on NewEgg, that would be great.

Post by **Cooldown** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 7:46 pm

Well fuck. Looks like the deal is dead. I guess I'll go with the non-gaming route and get a 700m for around 800-900$. I suck