I am going to dental school in the fall at UCLA and we have to get a Latitude laptop D430, D630, or a D830. I think I am going to go with the D630 because the D430 may be too small and the D830 may be too big, but if you have any advice on this as well please help me out.
Like I said I'll be using it to school and carrying it to there everyday,using it 8-5 off and on, and also at least few hours each night to study, along with personal use. It's going to get a ton of use and I want it to last all 4 years.
Here are the options they gave us on the D630, I'll post all of them and tell me what you would recommend, if the add-ons are worth the money. Also some of my questions in Red.
Processor
LCD
RAM
Hard drive Not sure about the free fall sensor, but I should upgrade to 7200RPM right to help with speed?
Keypad
Wireless card I should just go for the n now right? Will both still be compatible with a/b/g networks? Is intel's better?
Battery
Charger
These are the specifications that we have no choice in, any thoughts if I should really try to change/upgrade any of them:
Like I said I'll be using it to school and carrying it to there everyday,using it 8-5 off and on, and also at least few hours each night to study, along with personal use. It's going to get a ton of use and I want it to last all 4 years.
Here are the options they gave us on the D630, I'll post all of them and tell me what you would recommend, if the add-ons are worth the money. Also some of my questions in Red.
Processor
- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.20GHz) 4M L2 Cache, 800Mhz Dual Core [Included in Price]
- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 (2.50GHz) 6M L2 Cache, 800Mhz Dual Core [add $80.00]
LCD
- 14.1 inch Wide Screen WXGA LCD Panel [Included in Price]
- 14.1 inch Wide Screen WXGA+ LCD Panel [add $30.00] I couldn't find the difference between the +, anybody know?
RAM
- 2.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS [Included in Price]
- 2.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 1 DIMM [add $30.00] I though this would be better in the future if I needed to upgrade
- 4.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS [add $170.00]
Hard drive Not sure about the free fall sensor, but I should upgrade to 7200RPM right to help with speed?
- 80GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 5400RPM [Included in Price]
- 80GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM (Free Fall Sensor) [add $40.00]
- 120GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 5400RPM [add $25.00]
- 120GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM (Free Fall Sensor) [add $75.00]
- 160GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM (Free Fall Sensor) [add $95.00]
- 120GB Hybrid Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 5400RPM [add $130.00]
Keypad
- Standard Touchpad [Included in Price]
- Touchpad with UPEK® Fingerprint Reader [add $29.00] From what I've read is the fingerprint reader makes the keypad smaller and more of a pain to use, is the security worth it?
Wireless card I should just go for the n now right? Will both still be compatible with a/b/g networks? Is intel's better?
- Dell Wirelessâ„¢ 1490 802.11a/g Dual-band Mini Card [Included in Price]
- Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Dual-Band Mini Card [add $10.00]
- Dell Wirelessâ„¢ 1505 Draft 802.11n Mini Card [add $20.00]
- Intel® 4965 802.11a/g/n Dual-Band Mini Card [add $30.00]
Battery
- 6 Cell Primary Battery [subtract $99.00] Save some money and go with a smaller battery? The school recommends the larger for all day in class, so maybe stay with it.
- 9 Cell Primary Battery [Included in Price]
Charger
- 90W A/C Adapter [Included in Price]
- 90W A/C Adapter, Energy Star Compliant [add $0.00] Why would anyone not get this charger if it's better for the environment/powerbill, does it take longer to charge?
These are the specifications that we have no choice in, any thoughts if I should really try to change/upgrade any of them:
- Genuine Windows Vista® Business Service Pack 1, With media [Included in Price]
- 128MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 135M™ [Included in Price]
- 8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio and Cyberlink Power DVDâ„¢ [Included in Price]