Ive just tried to order a Vostro 3700 from dells site but it refuses to let me have win7 64 unless i spec 6Gb of Ram because apparently 'Windows 7 64bit requires a minimun of 6144Mb of Ram' Really? Ive got 4 other computers in my house running Win7 64 and none of them have anymore than 4Gb!! and they run fine Where have dell got this from? Seems like a massive oversight imo and im slightly annoyed because the 6gb Ram option is obviously more costly, not by a great deal but enough to annoy me seeing as i dont need it!
Thats what annoys me i know doesnt need that ammount but there isnt anyway of getting around it, you cant physically place the order until 6gb is specced. Has anybody ever rung dell to order anything? is it easy and whats the chances of not having to spec the 6gb? or can anybody recommend a 17''/ i5/gt330m/4gb ram/500gb? it never leaves the house and is only ever used on the side table in the lounge, hence wanting a bigger lappy. A full desktop ISNT an option.
Have you considered the new dell studios? 17" i5 520m 4gb DDR3 500GB 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Graphics Card Win 7 64 bit All for a reasonable (I think) £779 Link
Call to order your laptop! They can force a specs like that into the system. Not only that, but you get free shipping and you negotiate a price or/and free upgrade. There is no reason not to call. And if they say no when you try negotiating, then try again with someone else.. someone who knows how the system works. Dell is more pre-ocoupied with user amount of Dell system than making money.
Ditto this ^. My wife, the director of a small art gallery, calls in her computer orders every time. Not only can she get configurations different than those offered by the website, but she also does haggle prices, lease lengths, etc. To be fair, she's doing it through the "Small Business" side of the monstrous hydra that is Dell, but it should still hold true for the "Home" side too. Bamboozle the person on the phone with your vast knowledge of all things PC (chances are they know little - it's just a paycheck for them), and you can get however much RAM you want. Good luck! -Tuthmose
It's because it's Vostro. That's Dell cheapo range. That said, they're not keen on 64bit at all. I've just bought a couple of Optiplex desktops for work and they're 32bit 7 Pro. They both have E8500 and 4gig. If you can't get what you want from Dell (as is so often the case) consider something else. Don't get me wrong, both of my machines are extremely well built, reasonably quiet and the keyboards and monitors are a delight to work with. But 64bit wasn't a sticking point for me. Incidentally, my home machine runs 7 Pro x64 with 2gig and a 5yr old Athlon X2 quite happily
I think im going to go with the 17" studio like what m7ck posted its got a better screen res, better gpu, and i can get the came cpu for less money than the vostro win win
The Vostro range is the business class version of the Inspiron. It's not necessarily any cheaper, either! My Vostro 1500 is a damn site more solid than the equivalent Inspiron as the lid is made of less flexible material, as are parts of the chassis. O/T, but I've given up waiting for the Acer Aspire 5740g to land here in the UK, it's been scheduled to arrive from early February but has been delayed week after week. For a little under £600 you can have an i3 tied with an ATi HD5650. Not too shabby for a laptop. If it were ever available.
When purchasing Dell laptops (for work, not gaming mind you), I actually prefer the Vostro line. Not only are they solidly built, but it's a lot easier to get them without the bloatware and extra nonsense you don't need or want, being as they are marketed as business machines. Just one example: purchasing a Vostro without anti-virus, because I wouldn't be caught dead using the McAfee that Dell partners with, but would rather put in my own. Not that you can't remove that junk yourself of course, but I find it's a whole lot easier to set up a machine if that crap isn't there in the first place. -Tuthmose
