My Motherboard, Processor & Bus

What options do you have? List the core, clock speed, cache, front side bus and price of each option.

On the Studio 16 XPS, I have two processor choices:

• Intel Core i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache) [included in price]
• Intel Core i7-820QM Quad Core Processor 1.73GHz (3.06GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache) [Add 350]

I had a hard time finding the Front Side Bus on the Dell.com website, so I googled "Front Side Bus Studio 16 XPS Quad Core" and found this page which indicates the FSB on this machine is 1333MHz.

What are the difference between the two options?
The upgrade processor is a little faster 1.73GHz versus 1.6Ghz.
It's also faster on the Turbo Mode that Dell.com promotes. 
The upgrade has 8MB cache on the processor instead of 6MB.
Both apparently have the same front side bus.

Go back and look at the system requirements for the software you need to be able to run? What's the highest recommended processor speed?
The greatest requirements among the software I typically use and need is that of the Adobe eLearning Suite which indicates: 2GHz or faster Intel® Pentium® 4, Intel Centrino®, Intel Xeon®, or Intel Core™ Duo (or compatible) processor.  Both machines exceed that by a considerable amount, so either option will be fine for the software I use.

Which option are you going to select? Why do you only need the included processor option and not need one of the upgrade options? or vice versa, why do you need to upgrade? 
One of the main things I watch for is the FSB to Processor.  Some machines will have an impressive processor in appearance - to help sell it - but it's paired with a motherboard with a limited FSB.  That ends up being like hooking a garden hose to a fire hydrant : the processor is powerful and can run software quickly, but it feeds the output to the motherboard back out through a tiny pipe.  The processor's both seem appropriate and the FSB is high enough to support both.

The other thing I consider is a "price break" - if I have several upgrade options, how much does the price increase each time?  If there's four options, and they increase in the amount added to my purchase by +$50, +$100, +$300, +$350 - I'm really only deciding between two options.  If I'm going to spend any money to upgrade, it makes since to go ahead and spend the $100 rather than the $50, that's a small difference.  And, if I can afford $300, I might as well add another $50 to get that last option.  Of course, that all depends on the difference in the two options.  Price is an issue of course.

In this instance, I have two options.  The upgrade option is $350 more and the only difference is 0.13GHz on the clockspeed and 2MB of L2 cache.  I don't believe that difference in speed is significant enough for me to justify the $350 upgrade price tag.  So I'm going with the first option.

My Form Factor & Base Configuration

This is a sample answer.  But, it assumes a different situation than yours; first of all, you need to be making decisions based on your computing needs.  My computing needs are likely unique within the class; I doubt there's too many students that will use a computer the way I use a computer - primarily because of my career and experience.  Second, I'm not going to include price as much of a deciding factor as you should.  I will mention it in some cases, where relevant, but if I were truly buying a computer, I'd have to make a different selection than what I'm describing here simply based on price.  

What general solution or form factor do you need?  What size and shape of a computer do you need?  Which best meets your computing needs and why?  

This is a difficult decision, sort of.  I absolutely require mobility; a desktop is of zero interest to me or my family.  It's not even so much as being able to go out of the house with the computer; often, I just want to be able to sit wherever I want at home and get work done: my chair, the driveway while the kids play, the back porch or laying in the hammock.  So, I'll either choose a laptop or a netbook; I'm a bit concerned about selecting an ultramobile machine because I will give it frequent to extremely heavy use, and I need it to have more power than likely what can be crammed into an ultra mobile form factor.

Between a laptop and a netbook may be a bit more difficult for me.  The problem is that I either need rather robust computing power to support the applications I often run (audio/video/graphic editing, video rendering) and quantity of graphics/audio I need to store.  Or, I need a more mobile machine because I do like to have the computer with me when I can - and the smaller the better.  Basically, I either need a mobile replacement for a desktop (a laptop) or a truly mobile machine (netbook).  I think I'd rather have the power available and have to simply carry around a larger machine than to have a smaller, more mobile machine that can do less.  Plus, some of the advanced features I may want, media-wise, likely may require a laptop. At least for me.  My wife or kids?  Netbook definitely because they don't do the heavier duty computing that I do.  

Once you've decided on the form factor, the question focuses on what class of machine.  What sort of laptop? Dell has Inspiron, Studio, Studio XPS, Alienware, Adamo.  HP has Everyday Computing, High Performance and Envy.  Similarly, the netbooks and desktops have different classes of machines as well.  Explore into each and get a feel for which class meets your needs.  Once you have an idea, explain why you selected the class of machine that meets your needs?  How and why does it do so? 

For the class of laptop offered by Dell, I noticed the tabs across the top of the page and focused on "speed and design" - thinking that they're more capable and robust than the tabs to the left (the tabs seem to move from mobility and lower price toward power and capabilities).  The Gamers type machine (Alienware) is going to have things I don't need (advanced video card, higher quality sound); I'm not a gamer for the most part, and the games I do play, I play on a game console.  Gaming on a laptop "aint my thing."  I looked at the media enthusiast machines but they seem to focus more on the ability to play back media, not necessarily create it.  So, I most likely need something in between that and the Gamer type machine which will have greater computing power.  So I have two classes to choose from: Studio XPS 16 or the Adamo.  Looking briefly at the two; the Studio XPS 16 group has more options and choices and seems to focus on speed rather than design ;-)  The Adamo looks to be a powerful machine sandwiched into a more mobile form; though that might seem to fit my needs, the Adamo doesn't allow me as much choices for power later on, so I'm going with Studio XPS 16.   

Looking within the class of machine, you'll find several base models from which you can choose.  For example, on Dell.com, within the Studio and Studio XPS class of laptops, Dell offers the Studio 14, Studio 15, Studio 17, and Studio XPS 16.  Which of the base models in the class you chose best meets your computing needs?  Why?

Looking at the options within the Studio XPS 16; there's four choices.  But, the primary difference between them is the price, and I cant' specify which I'm going to choose or why without delving into motherboards, processors and other specs.  At the moment, we do know that I'm choosing Studio XPS 16, and I'm going to choose the $1549 model at the moment (because I'm not considering price as much of a factor as you might); the reasons for that will become clear as we move through the different options.