Hi Guys
Carrying on from a previous post asking what laptop i should get ive now taken the plunge and ordered a Alienware Area 51 m15x laptop.
the spec is:
Display: 15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD (720p) with Clearview Technology
Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 8800M GTX The World's Most Powerful Mobile Gaming GPU!
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz
Turbo Cache Memory: Intel Turbo Cache Memory 1GB – Accelerate Data Transfer Speed
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 200GB 7200 RPM SATA
Sound Hardware: External Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Card
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card

my questions are which would you choose between the hard disc and soundcard.
ive chosen for the hard drive Single Drive Configuration - 200GB 7200 RPM SATA
but have the option to change to Single Drive Configuration - 320GB 5400 RPM SATA for £25 extra.
would the 7200rpm be much faster load up speed than the 5400rpm or would it be better for me to get the 120gb extra space

and secondly the soundcard.
ive chosen External Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Card
the other option would be Intel® High-Definition Audio (24-bit, 192Khz) with surround sound which is £50 cheaper.
would the external soundcard make that much difference using it through my fbt speakers for gigs.

the system has been in the prelim stages and has not hit the production line yet so ive got chance to change.

your advice would be greatly appreciated.
cheers
jim

It all looks good to me for Vista.
Maybe a 250GB hard disc ?

Are you running Vista 64 bit ? as it will only recognise 3Mb of memory if you use the 32 bit version.

Vista home premium needs at least 1GB memory but I find 2GB is well within my needs.

Hi Nigel
im still waiting. its been in production since the 25th march and was pulled on friday by the quality control finding a problem with the screen. hopefully delivered next week.

in the end i went for this spec:
Display: 15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD (720p) with Clearview Technology
Operating System: Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium - English
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 8800M GTX The World's Most Powerful Mobile Gaming GPU!
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz
Turbo Cache Memory: Intel Turbo Cache Memory 1GB – Accelerate Data Transfer Speed
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 200GB 7200 RPM SATA
Sound Hardware: External Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Card
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card


i understand that i will only get just over 3gb of ram as im using 32bit vista premium as a lot of software and hardware wont work with 64bit.
after spending over £2000 on this laptop the main reason for going with 4gb of ram is to make it future proof.

thanks for your advice.
jim