Inspiron 8200: Should I get UXGA+ and 5400 and GeForce 64?

[Broohaha]

I got an Inspiron 8200 and it sucked at first but then I got my 256 mb ram upgrade (now at 384) and reformatted and now it's working pretty durn well. Btw, thanks to those on this board for explaining to me how to get the RAM upgrade.

So anyway, these are its present specs:

Mobile Pentium® 4 Processor, 1.6 GHz-M, 15.0 SXGA+-->only 1400x1050
Memory 384MB,DDR,266M,1DIMM
Video Card 32MB DDR 4X AGP NVIDIA® GeForce2 Go? 3D Video
Hard Drives 20GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Floppy Drive No Modular Floppy Drive
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Network Adapters Integrated Network Card
Modem Internal 56K Modem
Fixed CD/DVD Drives 8X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive with Roxio's Easy CD Creator®
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-In Service

And the comp is pretty darn nice but I'm suddenly thinking maybe I should give it back and just go all out to get all those little extras I passed up on. Specifically, I'm thinking about the following.

-get the uxga+ 1600x1200
-get 40 gb 5400 rpm ram
-get the 64mb geforce

My big question is about the screen. This screen is decent but I really dont like that unless I'm looking at it straight-on and with the screen perfectly perpendicular to the notebook does the picture look perfect. If I move my head around a bit portions of the screen grow dark and stuff. Does anybody have the UXGA+? Can you comment on how good it is? Is it worth the upgrade?

As for the other hardware upgrades, I'm leaning more towards the 5400 rpm. Can anybody comment on how much it increases system performance. Like I was saying this comp is pretty darn good for a laptop but it's molasses compared to my old desktop.

 

[John]

The HDD is the bottleneck in most systems. You should get the 5400rpm drive since it is a noticable improvement. If you want the best screen, go for the ultrasharp which has better contrast, brightness, viewing angle, and pixel response. As far as the video goes, the GF4 440Go if one of the best, if not the best, graphics card options available on any notebook. If you have the cash available for the upgrades mentioned, then by all mean do it now while you can. You will be thankful in the long run IMHO.

 

[Compuguru]

Ive got the UltraSharp, and it kicks much booty. You still see the brightness change when you move your head, but its hardly noticeable, and thats when im in my room with no lights but the LCD.