Braeden101 Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 I currently have an Acer Veriton 7800 running kalyway 10.5.2 and I am looking for a laptop in the $1200(AU) range. I have my eye on the Dell Studio 15 and would like some advice on its suitability. No entry in the wiki, and most of the posts I have found in this forum relate to lower cost laptops. Specs as follows: (there are some gaps in my knowledge, eg. model of onboard NIC, audio device, etc. If you can point me to where to get that info from dell / other source I would appreciate it). Processor Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5850(2.16 GHz, 2MB Cache, 667 MHz FSB) Display 15.4 " Widescreen WXGA CCFL (1280X800) TFT Display with TrueLife™ w/ Camera Memory 3GB (1X1GB+1X2GB) 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM Hard Drive 320GB SATA Hard Drive Optical Drive Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Combination Drive with dual layer write capabilities Video Card 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 Audio Solution Integrated Stereo Sound Wireless Network Card Dell Wireless 1510 802.11n Half Mini-Card Bluetooth ModuleDell™ Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module If anyone can offer any advice of the functionality of this laptop under Kalyway 10.5.2, or recommend an alternative of similar specs which is fully functional I would appreciate it. (I have no problem with some devices not working out of the box, as long as a workaround exists) Thanks for any help you can give, Braeden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drvr8 Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 most people usually buy a macbook in the $1200 range. Why wouldn't you want something legit for a laptop if you have that kind of budget? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braeden101 Posted August 31, 2008 Author Share Posted August 31, 2008 Sorry if I was not clear above, but the prices I quoted are Australian dollars. Not sure what the exchange rate is, but apple.com.au lists the lowest spec'd macbook as $1499. Even with student discount of 10% it is a bit out of my range. Also it has to be a new laptop and not second hand / refurbished. Thanks for the advice tho. ( It was the very first thing I looked at ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drvr8 Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 i see. What's wrong with refurbished? They don't ship those to Aus? Personally if you can get refurbished, I highly recommend them. I've bought several items from apple.com refurbished and haven't had any problems with them so far. The dual G5 desktop tower I bought *BRAND NEW* from apple failed right after the apple care expired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braeden101 Posted August 31, 2008 Author Share Posted August 31, 2008 Whilst I am sure they do ship refurbished to Aus, the computer is being bought by my mother. She has graciously allowed me to use it for my remaining time in college before she reclaims it. She is dead set against second hand / refurbished and as she is paying, I am not complaining you raise a very valid point, but unfortunately not an option in this case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickhe Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Dell vosto 1510 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braeden101 Posted August 31, 2008 Author Share Posted August 31, 2008 Thanks for the reply nickhe, I have since posting been looking at that very model. I do have a few questions about its suitability though. No entry on the compatibility list exists for the 1510, is it close enough to the 1500 for it to work as the 1500 does? (chipset, NIC, audio) Will taking out the included (and as yet unsupported by OSX) Intel® 4965AGN Wireless-N Mini-Card and replacing it with the Dell 1390 b/g 54g WiFi MiniPCI Card void my warranty? I have been scouring Dell's site, but they include instructions on how to remove and replace minipci cards, RAM, CPU's and I am unsure if this correlates to these actions not voiding the warrenty when carried out by the user. Thanks again for the reply, any info anyone can provide on either the Dell Vostro 1510 or the Dell Studio 15 will be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 The Dell XPS M1530 is also recommended. Yes you want to replace the minipci card. There is a guide somewhere. Or order it with a 1390 or similar built in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickhe Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 I bought on for my brother recently and installed os X 10.5.4 and it worked perfectly i call and asked for smaller HDD then you could choose and no os and i saved $320 = 1920kr x 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braeden101 Posted September 1, 2008 Author Share Posted September 1, 2008 Thanks for the replies, although the XPS range is out of my budget I would love one. It looks like I will go with the 1510 and although the 1390 WiFi is not available in the configuration options for it, I will call and ask for it and no OS as suggested. (thanks ) Once I get it I will go ahead with installing Kalyway 10.5.2, if you are in the same boat as me and or looking to iron out kinks in your own 1510, given a few weeks I will try and post a guide / add to macgirl's compilation (http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=83039) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cremestar Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 there's some info on the dell studio 15 here: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=114235 by the way, i actually just bought one of the studio 15s. they're pretty good, but i haven't tried kalyway on it yet. apparently you should buy the x3100 option though, i made the mistake of buying discrete ati 3400 graphics instead anyways, the studio 15s are VERY good in vista, and run pretty darn fast, but as i said, haven't tried kalyway or any osx86 on it yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braeden101 Posted September 1, 2008 Author Share Posted September 1, 2008 Hi, Thanks for the tips cremestar. Might I ask why you say getting the ati 3400 was a mistake? Also, I plan on dual booting XP and OSX if anything. I'm not a big fan of Vista. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoelessone Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 I know this is totally unhelpful, and you seem like a super nice dude, so I'm sorry ahead of time because again I know this has already been mentioned and you already gave a good reason not to consider this option, but if there is anyway you can get together another 2 or 3 hundred bucks to get the MacBook, it seems like a great choice for you. You are so close, budget wise, and while I totally see the merits of building a hackintosh desktop, and I totally see the merits of installing OSX on a pre-purchased or for-some-other-reason-much-more-preferred-laptop, it just seems like the the MacBook is a really good choice for you and I'd recommend it over any other option if you really are hoping to run OSX as your main OS. Have you tried discussing refurbed laptops with your mom a bit more, you might be able to convince her if you showed her the reviews of refurbed Apple products. They seem basically 100% new, and come with the exact same warranty (at least in the USA) for 1 year. There are lots of threads out there with tons of info on the Apple refurbed products that might put her mind to rest, and let you purchased a refurbed machine. Anyway, I don't have much knowledge about current gen notebooks, so I can't be much help, but best of luck to you, and sorry again for the redundant (unhelpful ) recommendation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braeden101 Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 Hi all, I have gone ahead and got the Vostro 1510. I will start a new thread in the appropriate forum once I have written and finalized my guide. nickhe, I do have a question for you though. I am using the method from here: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=32859 / http://wiki.taruga.net For the Realtek ALC268 audio device in my 1510. The best I have been able to get is full volume audio all the time, no output from headphone jack, and I cannot turn down the volume or mute it. What did you use to get it working perfectly? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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