Dell Inspiron 1720 upgrade option advice needed.

s1lversurfer

s1lversurfer

s1lversurfer

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Trying to spec a Dell laptop:

Allround use really, maybe not so much of a gaming solo platform but more for multimedia (Photo, Video editing and Tv-out to CRT TV at present..Plasma/LCD near future).

Not sure which one to upgrade GFX or CPU:

From the standard T5450 to T7250 cpu upgrade

OR

From the standard 8400M GS to 8600M GT, upgrade

Is there a great difference between the T5450 & T7250 cpu's or will I see a greater improvement with the gfx upgrade?

Gonna upgrade the screen from a 17" TFT to the 17" TFT with True Life as well unless anyone has any objections.

Thanks for any help. :)
 
i'd go for the gfx upgrade myself, but then i would just be playing games, if you are going to use it for multimedia stuff then maybe the cpu upgrade is a better idea.
how much is the truelife upgrade costing? i heard that the glossy coating tends to saturate colours a little, so maybe not the best choice if you are going to do photo editing?
 
The true life is £20 whereas the other upgrades:

£40 for the gfx upgrade and £46 for the cpu.

I've never had a Laptop before, is there any special cables I'll require for going out to my CRT TV which takes composite and s-video/scart?
 
I have a Dell Inspiron 1720 , i must say i was a little disappointed with the Build quality and the feel on the laptop and also no DVI which was a shame , my inspiron 9400 was a far better machine , i am now looking to sell my Dell Inspiron 1720 . One good thing i like about the 1720 is the 17" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) its a great display very sharp and displays pictures with great detail .
 
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That screen sounds nice but I don't think I need the £120 17" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) option.

No HDMI out like in the XPS series nor a DVI out does take the shine off a bit but I haven't moved to digital TV screens yet so not much of an issue for me right now.

I just found this (http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3904) review. I can see there is an s-video connector but no audio out. Is the headphone socket on a laptop the audio out for external speakers etc.?
 
lord filbuster said:
i'd go for the gfx upgrade myself, but then i would just be playing games, if you are going to use it for multimedia stuff then maybe the cpu upgrade is a better idea.
how much is the truelife upgrade costing? i heard that the glossy coating tends to saturate colours a little, so maybe not the best choice if you are going to do photo editing?
Click to expand...

Sorry to hijack the thread but I was wondering about getting the LED truelife for the M1330 i'm hoping to get, the main use will be photo editing so that affects me. Do you have any more information on it? I wanted to get the LED screen due to the thinness and lighteweightness but if the other screen is better maybe I should stick with that instead?
 
to be honest i just looked at wikipedia's entry on truelife http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truelife, apparently it is just a type of anti reflective coating that is glossy, instead of matte. it says that it increases the colour saturation, percieved contrast ratio and sharpens the display, but it can over do it, decreasing colour and greyscale accuracy. I actually have an acer laptop, with pretty much the same thing, the image quality is good, but a little overpowering for my taste. i did read a review somewhere, i imagine you can find some reviews on google, but unfortunately they will all be subjective, try going into a "a well known pc store with really annoying tv adverts" or something and asking for a demo, that wikipedia entry has got a list of the brand names for truelife.
 
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lord filbuster said:
to be honest i just looked at wikipedia's entry on truelife http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truelife, apparently it is just a type of anti reflective coating that is glossy, instead of matte. it says that it increases the colour saturation, percieved contrast ratio and sharpens the display, but it can over do it, decreasing colour and greyscale accuracy. I actually have an acer laptop, with pretty much the same thing, the image quality is good, but a little overpowering for my taste. i did read a review somewhere, i imagine you can find some reviews on google, but unfortunately they will all be subjective, try going into a "a well known pc store with really annoying tv adverts" or something and asking for a demo, that wikipedia entry has got a list of the brand names for truelife.
Click to expand...

Its a great screen :)
 
Ah ok, so it's the truelife bit that may be the problem, so it doesn't matter if I get the LED or standard screen. Thanks, i'll have a read around. :)
 
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