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First night with I9100 - Dissapointed! :o(

post #1 of 55
8/27/05 at 1:07am
Thread Starter 
Get guys, tonight after work I went and picked up a used laptop from someone local:

Dell Inspiron 9100:

P4 3.0GHZ w/HT
512MB DDR RAM (expandable to 2GB)
80GB 4200 HD
DVD/CD-RW

I paid $800, it's like new. I thought this was a really great deal, because yesterday when I asked the guy what video card it had - he told me the ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 128MB.

When I went to see it, I checked out alot of things, that was the one thing that slipped my mind - the viedo card. I went into "settings" from the desktop, but it didn't say what the MB was - only 9700 etc.

I just finally got a few minutes to sit down and check out the laptop, and went into the "Advanced" tab under the settings menu. It said the following:

ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700 64MB

BUMMER! I bought this laptop for two things: 1) AutoCAD (what I do for a living, everyday, and 2) playing Counter-Strike. With the piece os sh*t 64MB I'm not sure if I'll be able to do either!!!

This is a huge bummer, everything else is nice on this laptop - except for the lacking video card department. I was planning on upgrading the RAM from 512 ---> 2GB in the next week, and also upgrade the hard drive to a 80GB 5400. This was all BEFORE I knew I had a laptop with a crappy, old 64MB card.

Sorry about the length, I'm just really bummed - found out about 5min ago What can I do to make this laptop capable for my needs?

Can I put in another video card, and at what cost???

If I can't replace the video card - then will the RAM/upgraded HD enable me to play Counter-Strike, and draft houses using AutoCAD?

Lastly, I am using a wireless setup in my house... I am about 25FT from the router (Linksys compact) and I get "Very Poor" or "poor" signal - and the max speed is down from 54MBPS to 12MBPS. I bought the "G setup...

Well I don't know I'm hoping I wake up tomorrow and find some better news here, I feel like I spent my $800 stupidly!!! Just frustrating!

Thanks alot for the space, any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
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post #2 of 55
8/27/05 at 1:27am
First step: Take a deeeep breath and relax. The 9100 is an excellent machine. For starters, why not actually *try* some 3d games with the 64mb 9700? If it doesn't work, spend 200-300 bucks and get the Mobility Radeon 9800 from Dell.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/P...=&refurbished=

(Could get it even cheaper with coupons possibly as well.) Why wouldn't you be able to do Autocad or gaming with 64mb on your video card? Some of Nvidia's Quadro cards had 64mb on them for awhile and obviously were just fine. The MR 9700 isn't "old'. It IS older, but a year or so ago, it was the fastest card you could buy in a laptop. But, as I said, if you want, spend the few hundred bucks and get a substantial upgrade to the 256mb Mobility Radeon 9800. As to your wireless setup, I don't know what to tell you there. I have a Linksys WRT 54gs wireless router about 60 feet from my desk with 2 walls between, and I'm getting good/very good signal. You may want to check and see if there are any other people around using routers, and possibly switch the wireless channel on the router.

You just need to relax and realize that you in fact, got a good deal. You're acting like you just bought a 486 when in fact you've purchased one of the fastest laptops out there. The 9100's are in fact excellent machines. Try out the lappy with the MR 9700, if it doesn't work, the MR 9800 is a very fast card, and can be either installed by yourself (if you are computer hardware savvy), or installed by a Technician. Either way, it's still a great machine that can be quite a powerhouse!
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post #3 of 55
8/27/05 at 1:37am
Been playing CS: Source on this thing for a while now, same card, as you have, and it runs just fine. I paid 1200 for my I9100 when I got it, and when I found out that months later, it became cheaper, and then Dell discontinued it...yeah.

Like me, your going to have to learn to run games well, with some limitations. Are you gonna be able to push 8x AA? No. Will you be able to play games, that look and run nice? Yes.

Experimentation is the key. I've got over 500 PC games, and they all run on my notebook, and run well...and somtimes, better then my friends desktops.
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post #4 of 55
8/27/05 at 1:51am
Thread Starter 
Well first off THANKS ALOT GUYS!

Your advice really cheered me up, I think you guys know alot more about this stuff than I do - and appreciate your insight very much.

I have wiped everything off the computer thats not needed, and have my AVG Anti-Virus scan running, complete defrag, and Adaware scan...

I'm definately going to upgrade to the 256MB 9800 - It seems well worth it to me. I think with the 256MB 9800, 2GB DDR, and 5400 80GB HD and I'll have a nice machine for $1550 or so... Anything else besides a processor upgrade bump up performance alot?

I thought I was STUCK with the 64MB card - and couldn't upgrade. Thats why I was so worried and bummed out. Is there any website that documents the installation of a video card?

Thanks again, you guys really helped me out!!!
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post #5 of 55
8/27/05 at 3:23am
It's easy to install stuff if your any kind of 'techie'. Good to hear everything is working out for you!
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post #6 of 55
8/27/05 at 4:11am
This site here has a complete how-to swap video cards. Start your looking around here.
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post #7 of 55
8/27/05 at 4:12am
I believe this is what you are looking for.

9100/XPS service manual

Did you get a prescott or a northwood? check your cache size. 1MB is a presscott and 500KB is a northwood. This application will tell you all about your processor - CPUID - reason I'm asking is that those of us with prescott are rather annoyed by how hot they run but those lucky enough or crazy enough to swap CPUs to a northwood have reaped the benifits of longer battery life and cooler processor. But even with a hot A** prescott I still love my XPS. Its still the best gaming/CAD machine in my office.
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post #8 of 55
8/27/05 at 9:52am
Glad to hear you are happy!

You should clean all the dust out of the fans. That will help the laptop run cooler and use less battery also.

I bet you got real excited when you heard you can pop a 9800 in there! I have a 9700 128mb, and it is very powerful for me, but i've heard the 9800 simply blows it out of the water. maybe one day i'll up grade.

Sweet dude!
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post #9 of 55
8/27/05 at 11:09am
I would stongly suggest you pick up a Northwood P4, if you can still find one. Check e-bay. By changing processors your laptop will run cooler, quieter, and longer (on battery). I think you'll appreciate the change.
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post #10 of 55
8/27/05 at 12:19pm
Thread Starter 
1) Well I've never installed anything on a laptop before! On a desktop, I can install RAM, processors, hard drives, etc - pretty much every piece that makes up a desktop. I'm going to check out the link, and see whats involved. However, with no experience dis-assembling laptops, would you reccomend I just take it somewhere else to have the service performed?

2) Is there anywhere I can find a better price on that graphics card, than $350? If I have to pay it - I will, just want to make sure I can't save some money by going elsewhere. I know Dell is usually up there on their prices. Is there ANYTHING above the 256MB ATI Radeon 9800 that will install into my laptop? I just want to buy once, and buy the best.

3) I am almost 90% positive I have the Northwood (slower one) I get about two full hours of battery life from the laptop, running a whole bunch of programs, and not changing any settings to draw less battery power. Is there somewhere in my computer that will tell me what my cache is? I went to that website, and it has all these disclaimers and crap - about how this software may damage your PC, and they're not responsible. I'm all set with that. Another reason why I think I have the lesser one, even while burning CDs, I haven't notice this thing get extremely hot - no major complaints in the heat department by any means. I had a HP ZV5000 series with the 3.0 w/HT and that thing used to PUMP OUT HOT AIR, and get RED HOT. This I9100 seems to ventilate 10x better (also alot bigger in size)!

4) When I was at Best Buy, grabbing the Linksys router (that I'm having range problems with) I also picked up a can of Compressed Air - I did every vent on this leptop, they keyboard, etc. There is NO MORE DUST anywhere in this laptop!

Thanks for ALL the help everyone! If anyone could shed some light on my range problem, with my Linksys router - that would solve my last issue!!!


THANKS GUYS!
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post #11 of 55
8/27/05 at 12:22pm
Ok, but have you even giving gaming a shot with the current card? See I wouldn't mind upgrading myself, but unlike many people who roam these forums, I don't have that kind of cash.

Still, you should at least give a few games a shot. I mean I play Battlefield 2 on this thing, and that runs smooth.

remember, I'm on a 2.8 ghz Pentium 4, with 512ram and mobility Radeon 9700 64mb...the supposed lowest of the low, in terms of a Dell gaming notebooks, meanwhile, I get isane FPS in games, and everything runs and looks great.

I think you might be discounting the Radeon 9700 64mb a bit...hence the reason I say to test it.
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post #12 of 55
8/27/05 at 12:49pm
I have the same machine and it plays 3d games GREAT. I have the 64mb card too! The unit should run autocad great. Mine plays Call of Duty great.

DON't PANIC! You got a great deal on that unit. If I were to sell mine (smaller HD) I would expect a somewhat better price.
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post #13 of 55
8/27/05 at 1:11pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks guys! I'm at work right now, but CS is downloading in my laptop at home as we speak! I will let you know what my results are!!! I'll post back in about an hour or so, when I get home and give this thing a run!!!

Any info about the crappy router performance?!
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post #14 of 55
8/27/05 at 1:29pm
Just curious ? Why didn't you get a new Inspiron 9300 for about $1100. I just got mine with the following characteristics:

Inspiron 9300.
WXGA
Pentium M 1.6 Ghz
256 Mb of RAM + 1 GB (newegg for $100 more)
80 GB 5400 rpm
DVD RW
256 MB NVIDEA 6800

Does not make sense to me to save a couple hundred bucks at the beginning and end up paying much more to get an upgraded machine.
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post #15 of 55
8/27/05 at 2:50pm
Thread Starter 
Well I wasn't sure about the whole 1.6GHZ < 3.0GHZ thing so I went with what I knew. The other HP I have 3.2GHZ w/HT, 128MB ATI Moibility works great for CAD/gaming. I want to have one at work, and one at home so I don't have to worry about lugging crap around.

I didn't look into it, but I just cant understand how a 1.6GHZ, does the same exact thing as a processor rated double, I didn't reasearch much about the Pentium M, everytime I say one I steered away. I was going with AMD 3400+ or P4 3.0GHZ+ so I dont think its THAT bad of deal...

In the end I'll pay the extra $250 or so, and have the exact same computer pretty much, with the processor I prefer. I didn't have the $500 on the spot to toss into the laptop fund haha.

Nice purchase though, do you do any gaming with it? Thanks for the input.
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post #16 of 55
8/27/05 at 3:07pm
Quite simply, the Pentium-m does far more work per clock cycle than a P4, Intel are now dropping the P4's architecture completely (netburst) and switching everything to an architecture based on the pentium-m.

Also, the GeForce 6800 is far more powerful for gaming than the mobility 9800 plus Nvidia cards are better suited to AutoCad and other workstation class applications thanks to their stronger OpenGL performance.

Anyway I'll say no more, you've bought it now and I'm sure when you have the mobility 9800 in there it will be a decent machine.

John
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post #17 of 55
8/27/05 at 7:03pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks alot, I appreciate the info.
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post #18 of 55
8/27/05 at 8:03pm
John:

How do you figure that the 6800 is "far" more powerful? It only outscores the 9800 by a few hundred on 3dMark05, and that's using stock drivers. Its definately more powerful, but not far more powerful, and to some people having the 17" screen is annoying. Yeah, the 9100 is a huge laptop, thick and heavy, but atleast its not wide
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post #19 of 55
8/27/05 at 11:10pm
Well , the pentium M or centrino 1.6 Ghz is roughly equivalent to a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz with better power management and runs much cooler. They were designed specifically for laptops.

I do play a lot of games on this laptop, and so far performace has been stellar with Far Cry. Doom3 etc... It has the NVIDIA 6800 which is one one of the fastest card out there.
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post #20 of 55
8/27/05 at 11:41pm
With the MR9800 that machine will be a beast. However, if you can't afford or get the MR9800, and the 64MB MR9700 isn't enough, I would take it back to the guy. Essentially, he ripped you off.
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