Two questions about the area-51m 5500

As far as AW releasing a new video card for the 5500, I am extremly doubtful. Both the facts the it has AGP, which will be gone and over with soon. And the fact that the 7700 will obtain most of AW's attention. I would not count on them releasing anything new, I bealive I read another thread somewhere in these forums that discussed it in more depth.

I went with the 7200 RPM drive because EVERYONE I have talked to has told me it is noticably faster. I would go with the smaller 7200RPM drive and if you really need the storage space, just grab a 120G drive and throw it in a $20 external HDD incloser. That setup works extremly well for me. =-)

I dont mean to insult you, but thats a dumb question. If money was not an issue and the 5500 and 7700 where both out, of course anyone would go with the 7700. I bought my 5500 about 4 months before the 7700 came out. At the time, no one knew exactly when the 7700 was going to come out. As far as size and weight, the 5500 is not small either. Its a beast to carry around to school everyday. Not so much because of weight, but because of its overall size. Doesnt fit too well on a small desk at school. I am not a big doom fan, but I do play farcry and halflife 2 on my 5500 and it runs great. As far as an upgrade, anyone who tells you they know either way is blowing smoke up your but. Its possible, because dell did have a 256 mb card in an agp laptop. I wouldnt rule it out, but I wouldnt bet on it either. Hopefully, for people like me who purchased the 5500 a few months before the release of the 7700 they will come out with something for us. I definitely would have waited until December instead of buying in August if I had know it would be out then. Good luck in your decision, if money is not an option, go with the 7700. I enjoy my 5500 and it does everything I need it too so you wouldnt go wrong there either.