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General discussion

Oh Man.. 600m or 700m? School and Fun??

Mar 7, 2005 9:06AM PST

Im starting college this summer and I need a laptop, not only one to do college crap on, but to actually have fun with as well... I really have my heart set on a dell, but im not really sure which one to choose!
The 700m seems like a dream to me, Its beautiful and all, but I know thats not all I should be looking at.. I AM a little girl and i need somthing to be easy to carry around.. and the keyboard being pretty small probably wont bother me.. but what im scared of is the 700m will not be able to handle my photo editing (which i do ALOT of) is there anything I can put on the 700m extra to boost its ability in that area?
Should I just play safe and get a 600m??? There is alot of bad things Ive heard about it although it does seem to fit my photo editing standards.. What should I do?
Thank You all So Much!
-Tam

Discussion is locked

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600 only offers a little more . . .
Mar 7, 2005 9:34AM PST

The 600m only offers a little more in the way of graphics-handling ability.

The biggest thing with photo editing is that you have a strong processor (i.e. the 2GHz Pentium M), and lots and lots of RAM. You might see a slight edge in the 600m if the two were similarly equipped, but not much.

The thing to be concerned about is the screen. Will you be squinting or leaning in too close on the screen when photo editing? I know I would have. Before purchasing, I used a classmate's 700m. I'm a guy with large hands so I needed a full-size keyboard. I opted for the 8600. Also, I found myself squinting at the screen.

Now, I would probably go for the 6000. It's integrated SONOMA graphics are probably superior to both the Geforce FX 5200 that I have and certainly are better than ATI's Radeon 9000.

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I Chose The 700M, but Which One?
Mar 7, 2005 11:30AM PST

Thank You For your advice! You were so quick *tickles*.. From what you said, if its only going to be a tiny bit more ill go with the 700M it will be my first laptop, and i think the display wont matter too much to me since im not spoiled on any other! *smiles*... I was just wondering about what you said about the RAM, they have one for 1299 with 256 RAM and 40gb harddrive, while another is 1529 with 512 RAM and 60gb harddrive... think the more expensive one will be what i need?
Thanks Again!
-Tam

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512 MB is the standard
Mar 7, 2005 9:33PM PST

Whatever you do, just make sure you get enough RAM. 512 is the standard nowadays and it should suit you fine.

Try and get a processor that's above 1.6 GHz.

Basically, look at what will fit in your budget that's above 1.6 GHz, and has at least 512 MB Ram. Don't be too concerned about HDD size, you'll be okay with anything at or above 40GB.