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What can I do to my XPS2? Detailed ???s inside....

post #1 of 4
12/22/10 at 10:49pm
Thread Starter 
Hey all,

So, yeah, I'm a "newbie". New to the forum, new to notebook upgrading/tweaking, etc. Not new to computers in general and fairly intelligent with hardware and software but haven't really tackled some of the stuff y'all are talking about since around 1996 when I was building desktops from scratch with the latest and greatest P166 and US Robotics x2 modems...lol.

I want to get back in the game and start learning again!

Having said all that, I have an i9300 and an XPS2. Love both machines for different reasons, but the XPS2 is the best laptop I've ever owned. So what can I do to make it better? Upgrades/BIOS/tweaks, etc....

Here's the configurations as I know them:

BIOS - A05 (09/28/2005)
Processor - Pentium M 2.00GHz @ 800MHz min/2.00GHz max
Memory - 2.048 GHz @ 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM
HDD - 80GB Hitachi
Video - NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra
Video BIOS - 005.041.002.036.107.000
Audio - Sigmatel 9750

AC Adapter - 130W

Any thoughts? I've been reading, reading, reading and I think I already have some ideas, but I'm curious to hear the thoughts of the more experienced members of the board. By the way, I'm NOT a gamer but I don't mind having the best of the best if I can make it work....

Thanks!!!
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post #2 of 4
12/23/10 at 6:00am
More ram if the comp can support it, faster drive if you have not done so, keep OS up to date and clean software environment ...

cheers ...
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post #3 of 4
12/25/10 at 6:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
More ram if the comp can support it, faster drive if you have not done so, keep OS up to date and clean software environment ...

cheers ...
He's already got the max memory supported by his motherboard's chipset (2 gigs). So a memory upgrade isn't in the cards.

From what I see in the OP's configuration he can upgrade his CPU, a used Pentium-M 2.26 GHZ can be found relatively cheap on eBay. However, there would be little noticeable increase in performance.

He could upgrade to an Nvidia 7800GTX video card, but even now 5 plus years after its release is selling used on eBay for over $250. Not worth spending this amount on a 5 plus year old laptop.

He could upgrade harddrive to a new larger faster one. However, these older laptops had a 128gig BIOS limitation which means that the drive would need to be partitioned with Windows residing within that limit. A second non-bootable partition could be created for data storage to use up the rest of the space on the drive.

None of these upgrades are really worth doing because newer laptops can be had that blow away the XPS Gen. 2 M-170 performance wise for around a grand. Or by carefully searching on ebay recent used ones can be had at bargain basement prices.

For example I've been following used Precision M6300s, which have better video cards, 64bit dual core processors, can use over twice as much memory, and have more durable magnesium cases; they can be found on ebay for around $500-800 bucks.

M6400s can be found on eBay for around a grand to thirteen hundred (not bad for laptops that sold for over 3.5K two years ago).

Save your money and spend it on an upgrade you'll really notice, not one that you won't.

I hope this helps.
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post #4 of 4
12/28/10 at 4:35am
Thread Starter 
Hi folks,

Thanks for the input! Tiburon, as mentioned previously, I've been out of the computer world for a good number of years so I'm reallllly behind on tech right now. But after I wrote my post above, I started doing some research and discovered the M1730. Now I'm seriously considering getting one of those!

Truth be told, I'm just not that impressed with some of the offerings that I'm finding at the big box stores these days....Plus, my physical size allows me to toss 17" DTRs around like most people do to smaller notebooks. For that reason, I've grown really comfortable with my Dells.

I may attempt some of the upgrades to the XPS2 just as a (re- )learning experience to see if I can still find my way around a system....

Thanks again!
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