Faster CPU or more RAM?

get the 1.6ghz one if they still offer it, then pinmod it!

If you need space, definitely opt for the 100gb hard drive over the 7200 rpm 60 gb. Also, go for the 2 gigs of ram and do what Toy-Yoda suggested.

Go for RAM, hands down. No good gaming experience with 512 of RAM buddy...

I had 512 on my I8500 when it shipped... WoW lagged, etc. Upgraded to 1.25 - no lag.

Now I have Inspiron 9300 with 2GB - NICE. Imagine playing WoW 13 hours straight without lagging ONCE in in any areas even IF and even when flying in/out of IF and then alt-tabbing to Windows in 0.1 seconds and back in within same time. You could also run two games at the same time hehe.

My recommendation: 2GB of ram. Plus, each generation of games uses substantially more RAM than previous generation, so if you really want your laptop to last over a year, get more RAM.

As apposed to what other pple said, I think you should get the processor, as ram is very easily upgraded later.

Plus, u dont wanna get ram from dell since they are wayy overpriced. Get the lowest memory possible and the highest cpu, and upgrade the memory urself. It will be much cheaper than gettin more memory from dell.

the extra money for the processor isnt really worth the money. You wont notice a significant difference in anything except maybe alittle change in encoding or something of that nature.

I dunno if you can still config the 9300 with only 1 stick, but if you can go for just 1 stick of 256 and get 1 or 2x 1GB sticks off of NewEgg for cheap, that should leave you with enough to get the 100GB HD and at least a 1.73 processor.

dont go for ram, upgrade the processor then buy ram for cheaper then dell prices on crucial or new egg, much smarter desision.

^ yep. You can get 2 gigs of RAM from newegg for ~$150

Get the better processor and this RAM here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820208312

Base on the Samsung Chipset and cheap. Worht every penny.

I posted this earlier but it also applies to you.. I'd say your paying too much. Orde the smallest hard drive and memory from dell that you can. Once you place your order go over to Newegg.com and buy a 1GB memory module for like $70.00 and buy a larger hard drive there also. Sell the smaller drive on ebay as well as one of the memory modules from dell. eBay is also the place to buy and save another 15.00 bucks on the 9-cell battery. Also use a coupon!!!

Just configured from Dell Home:
Cost: $1,270.00 after coupon: 0$?D8229VCQJCZ
($750.00 coupon off orders over $1999. Good through 12/01/05 )

Inspiron 9300
1.73GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB CPU
XP Media Center Edition 2005 OS
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800
60GB 5400rpmHard Drive
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Intel® PRO 2200 and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (53 WHr)
2Yr Ltd Warranty, 2Yr At-Home Service, and 2Yr HW Warranty Support
2 Year Add CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service to 2Yr Lim Warranty

Ohh and add the Free Dell Color Printer 720

Dont spend 10.00 on the Restore CD! Simply call or email Dell once it arrives and tell them you need a real Windows XP CD as well as the Application and Drivers CDs shipped out to you. If they give you a hard time tell them the OS is corrupted and will not boot. You have already paid for the MS software and legally they have to provide you with the disks. The 10.00 Recovery CD is just their way of making a few extra bucks.

I love the WUXGA LCD but if you dont want that get the regular XGA+ display which is 125.00 less and get the 2GHz CPU

Hope this helps and congrates to a hopefully new soon to be 9300 owner

If you get the bare amount of RAM from Dell and then get a GB for Newegg you can usually get 1.25 GB (1GB stick and one of the 256 sticks that came in it) for about $30 less than the $125 that dell usually charges to go up to 2x512. Another thing is you'll have to get rid of a 512 instead of a 256 if you do decide to upgrade the RAM. I think the extra Ghz helps when unzipping large (+1GB or more) zip files and doing things like tht and as others have mentioned it's easier to do the processor now and the RAM later as opposed to vice versa.

i'd say get more RAM