One of the greatest thing with buying from Dell is that you are given the opportunity to customize your system configuration before buying. You can upgrade any components you like, add more components to your system, or on some cases downgrade your component. These upgrades do not come free, they will add up to your final price that you have to pay for your laptop.
If you’re like me, you probably have the “I want a future proof system” mindset, when configuring your Dell laptop. The only way to have a future proof system is to have a powerful system configuration that can withstand the trial of time. This does mean that you might be required to upgrade the base configuration offered by Dell.
When I was configuring my XPS 16 laptop, the biggest question that comes to my mind was “Is it worth it to upgrade these components now?”. Now that I have bought my laptop, I wandered if I made the right decision by not upgrading some components early. These are the component upgrades that I decided to leave out:
- Upgrading the 500GB 7200RPM hard drive to a 128GB SSD.
- Upgrading the DVD drive with a Blu-Ray Drive.
- Adding an integrated TV tuner.
- Upgrading the battery to 9 cells.
Lets take the first case, upgrading the 500Gb 7200RPM hard-drive to a 128Gb SSD. The reason for me not upgrading early is because the upgrade is too expensive. It would cost me $267 (AUD) to upgrade, and I would lose 372GB. Now how much does it cost for me to upgrade this on my own? If I take the price of a 7200RPM hard drive ($168) plus the upgrade, this means you actually paid $435 for the SSD upgrade by Dell. According to StaticIce (computer hardware price comparison search engine), you can get a 128Gb SSD as low as $322. That’s a $100 different, which is not bad.
The second case is to upgrade the DVD drive to a Blu-Ray Drive, which costs $266.60. This is quite a tricky one, because it is not easy to find a slot loaded internal Blu-Ray Drive. In fact I was not able to find any on the market, except for second hand ones which cost around $80 on Ebay. Another option is to get an external Blu-Ray drive, which costs around $170. Again another $100 different, and it’s external too! This means you can add blu-ray capability to every PCs that you’ve got. I think that is a BIG plus.
The third case is to add an integrated TV tuner. The TV tuner that Dell provides is an integrated DVB-T digital TV Tuner, which costs $79.20 to upgrade. Another tricky one to compare, because all the internal tv tuner that I could find will take up an express card expansion slot. The cheapest that I could find is AVerMedia Hybrid + FM Express TV tunner, and it costs $95. Yes it is more expensive, but it’s also an analog TV Tuner, Digital Radio tuner, and it comes with a remote control. With all those additional functionalities I think its worth the $15 difference. Another option is to get an external USB Digital TV Tuner. I’m able to find AVerTV Volar X USB Digital TV Tuner for $50. Very good price, and it comes with a remote control too.
The last case is probably where it makes sense to upgrade early. A 9 cell Dell battery is definitely something that you will not be able to find retail. Even if you can find retail, are you really going to trust those aftermarket batteries? Battery is a very crucial component of a laptop. I may be a little bit paranoid here, but I think there might be a chance in a case of mismatch, you might end up burning your system internal circuit. That is definitely something you want to avoid at all cost.
When it comes to upgrading your component early, whether it’s worth upgrading, it all depends on the nature of the component. Is it something that can be bought on retail market? If It is not, by all means upgrade it. If it is, then you better off upgrading later and save yourself some money.
RWendi