questions re 1730 laptop

[wombat]

is this processor prone to overheat? Intel® Core 2 Extreme Processor X9000(2.8GHz/800 FSB/ 6MB Cache)

What is: keep the spindle rate nice & high, how would I do that?

I have phoned Dell on 3 occasions and each time I get somebody with very hard to understand English and cannot understand what they are saying, here in WA there are now 2 kiosks in local shopping centre's, would you recommend a purchase from one of these kiosk's?

I have already telephoned one kiosk and I can understand the salesman.

Do you know what this means  Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate + Windows® XP Professional Downgrade Rights (this is one of the options on the Dell customise pages)

Does it mean that XP is included? and can I have XP put on as a duel boot system on one 200gb drive for FXS only?

thanks in advance for any help.

Regards Ron M (wombat)

[John Venema]

- Processor does not overheat - I overclock mine 24/7 to 3.0Ghz and it runs cool always. If you overclock to 3.2Ghz (which is supported in the BIOS) then the CPU fan kicks in but it's too loud for constant use for me, so I just stay at 3.0Ghz.

- Keep spindle rate high means get a 7,200 RPM HD instead of a slower 5,400 RPM drive which gives you 50% less sustained data bandwidth

- Use the local kiosks if they can do a tailored order for you - I have a dedicated sales rep at Dell because we have a corporate account

- Not sure about downgrade rights - have you Googled it to see if it means you can exchange Vista for XP. Best option is to have XP pre-installed on the laptop since you will also have the most recent drivers pre-installed ex-factory.  Dell *do* ship these with XP, because that's how I got mine built.

[Wolter van der Spoel]

Ron,

As far as I know, it is that you would have to indicate wich OS you want and then they will install either Vista or XP,

but I could be wrong, it's yours to choose

[wombat]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I may find time to go to a kiosk this Friday, to have another look at the 1730, trouble is the freebies they are offering I don't want so will wait until their freebies suit me.

(don't want tv + remote or McAffee extras.)