<p>MACs are for people who don’t care if they spend too much money. Go with a Sony, HP, or Toshiba with 4GB of RAM, any drive over 250GB, and 64-bit Vista. Make sure you’ll be getting the Win 7 upgrade when it’s available. You’ll be all set.</p>
<p>^It looks like I’m getting all that… except I’m getting a Dell (since Northeastern is qualified to fix any problems without sending back to manufacturer). [Heard some bad things about HPs and my family has had the worst luck with Toshibas.]</p>
<p>I just hope I can find those free upgrades again!</p>
<p>I just went to the regular Dell website and this is what I was able to configure with the current deals:</p>
<p>P8600<br>
4 Gigs RAM
Windows Vista Home Premium—64 bit
256ATI Radeon HD 4570
900P LED Display (free upgrade)
Intel wifi 5100 agn half mini-card
9 cell battery (free upgrade)
backlit keyboard
500GB hard drive/ 7200 rpm with free fall sensor (AWESOME Free Upgrade)<br>
8X Slot Load Super Multi (DL DVD+/-R Drive + RAM support)
Bluetooth
30-day McAffee
Free Shipping</p>
<p>Cost $934 which is a $343 discount with the current promotion</p>
<p>My son didn’t like the 9 cell battery that his Studio came with because it was kind of bulky and had sharp pointy
“little feet” on the bottom. It’s fine if you’re going to use it on a hard surface but it’s literally a pain if you sit and use the laptop on your lap. He later ordered the 6 cell. He’ll use the 9 cell as a backup or something.</p>
<p>If you call the order in, see if they will throw in a free upgrade to Windows 7</p>
<p>Whatever you choose to buy, good luck with your new laptop.</p>
<p>Bye</p>
<p>All I can says is Wow. Thank you endlessly.</p>
<p>I can now find the free upgrades when I’m not going thru the NEU/Dell link, so hopefully I’ll be able to figure that out!</p>
<p>And I’m glad I don’t move in until the 3rd, since it looks like I won’t be getting this until the very end of August.</p>
<p>With Dell, the big problem is shipping and supply: they don’t really warehouse, so all of their computers (besides pre-built deals you can get online or at best-buy) are built once the order comes in. So they build it in Malaysia or some other country, it gets flown to a shipping location, then shipped to you. Which is why it takes 2 weeks or so for you to get it.</p>
<p>^Ugh 
I just hope my preliminary shipping date is accurate.</p>
<p>If anyone can help me understand some of the customization options, I’d really appreciate it (nysmile has already answered way more than his fair share of my unnecessary queries!).</p>
<p>I based most of my upgrades and whatnot on nysmile’s recommendations.</p>
<p>[This is from my Yahoo! Answers question that no one is answering, since I ask way too many questions, obviously ;)]</p>
<p>Color: For this, I just want to know if I should be spending the extra $10 to get “edge-to-edge” display. I don’t fully understand what that is.</p>
<p>Processor: Comes with Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T6500 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache) …should I upgrade? To what? What does this improve?</p>
<p>Memory: Am I ok with 4GB? Would I get use out of 6GB? I don’t want overkill, but I also want to make sure I won’t run into problems with this down the road. [Most of you guys and everyone else says 4GB is absolutely fine.]</p>
<p>Hard Drive: Comes with 500 GB, so I’ll stick with that.</p>
<p>Video Card: Comes with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator… I can upgrade to 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570. Do I need that? What does it do?</p>
<p>Wireless cards: Comes w/Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card and I can upgrade to Intel® WiFi Link 5100 802.11agn Half Mini-Card or Intel 5300 Ultimate-N Half Mini Card (3x3) with MyWiFi. Again, necessary? What will these do/what’s the difference?</p>
<p>Sound options: Comes w/High Def Audio 2.0. Dell recommends upgrading to Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled. I will be listening to music on this and heard the speaker quality on the Studios leaves much to be desired, but I not one who would notice the nuances.</p>
<p>If anyone can just shed light on any of these options, I really would appreciate it. </p>
<p>And all this stuff is compatible, right? Dell wouldn’t send me a customized laptop that would have conflicting things (like a processor that won’t work with a certain video card… Idk if that even makes sense, since I clearly do not know what I’m talking about!).</p>
<p>NO GOING BACK NOW; THE PURCHASE HAS BEEN MADE.</p>
<p>And thus an enormous stress has been lifted! </p>
<p>Thanks to each and every one of you for assisting me through this difficult process! Immensely appreciated :)</p>
<p>Congrats on making a large purchase, and probably a good one. Just for other lurkers, the edge-to-edge display means the screen touches the edge of the front of the computer. It’s a matter of preference on looks whether $10 is worth it (some think edge-to-edge makes it look a bit more professional).</p>
<p>the T6500 is a dang good processor. In order to make a meaningful upgrade (to the P8600), you’d have to spend $175 (maybe only 125), which is probably a good investment if you’re going to be doing a lot of processor-intensive work (the front-side bus size is increased to 1066 mHz, which increases data transfer), but if you’re used to a processor even one year old, the T6500 will seem blazing fast. Because it is.</p>
<p>4 GB of memory is plenty. If you ever feel like you need to expand it, it will be cheap to just buy memory at newegg. But for at least 2-3 years, 4 gb will come close to being overkill (3 is about right for running Vista 64-bit smoothly).</p>
<p>The difference between a g and n wireless card are sort of small: with an n card, if you’re near a wireless router, you won’t see any faster data transfer times than with a g card, but the n card has a greater range than the g. For most instances, it probably won’t drastically affect your performance, but the n card gives you a little more freedom to move about without affecting your internet browsing.</p>
<p>As for sound options: dell’s studios have really good quality sound, except without subwoofers, so it sounds a bit tinny (at least, my smaller 14z’s quality is great for a laptop). The sound software (Soundblaster X-Fi) is meant to improve your sound quality when you plug into surround-sound type speakers. It will make no difference if you’re listening through your computer’s speakers. In college, you’ll probably need headphones, and when plugged into a stereo/headphones the dell sound program works great (Soundblaster may be recommended if you’re an audiophile. for most of us, don’t bother).</p>
<p>As to compatibility: it may occasionally happen that things aren’t compatible, but when that happens Dell usually fixes it quickly with updated drivers (which is why you should download all the relevant drivers from dell.com as soon as you get your computer).</p>
<p>^Your answers make me feel a lot better about my purchase! So thanks again! :)</p>
<p>The nice thing about the Studio 15 (15.6" display) is that it does have a subwoofer and the sound is good. This was an improvement over the 1st generation Studio 15 (15.4" display).</p>
<p>Another nice thing to look forward to: All of the discs were included for free. </p>
<p>DVD movies are a pleasure to watch on this laptop.</p>
<p>Good luck and enjoy. Hope it works out for you.</p>
<p>^Thanks 
That all sounds great!</p>