Dell E1505 or E1705

[Babbles]

I've been in the market for a laptop and Dell seems to have a pretty good deal going on right now so I decided to take the plunge.

I originally wanted the E1705 because I intend this to be a desktop replacement laptop and I thought I should splurge and go with the 17" one. However I can afford a few more upgrades (i.e. 2gigs of RAM) by going with the E1505 and still save some cash. Additionally when I do lug it around I imagine it would be easier to do so than the E1705. So I suppose my question is for a desktop replacement notebook would 17" really be the better option or do people think that 15.4" works out well enough?

Edit:
By the way this would be for surfing the net, word processing, and watching movies. I no longer do the gaming thing. I was intending on getting a TV tuner to go with it so I can record various things, so it will be a 'multimedia' computer if that would make a difference.

 

[Scouzer]

If you don't game, then E1505. But if you don't need to lug it, there's no downside to the bigger one. Particularly if you're going to watch movies on it.

 

[bcterps]

The main reason to buy a 17" is so you can get a better video card, which would mainly be for gaming. Watching DVDs and TV on a 15.4" is just fine, plus your back will thank you when you try to lug it around.

 

[alimoalem]

as others have said, no advantage to the 17" except for gaming. the screen is better but you're going to need to drop another $100 or so (iirc) to get a better 17" screen than 15.4" screen

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: benchiu
The main reason to buy a 17" is so you can get a better video card, which would mainly be for gaming. Watching DVDs and TV on a 15.4" is just fine, plus your back will thank you when you try to lug it around.

Agreed.

I would buy the Dell Inspiron 6400 with a configuration similiar to this:

PROCESSOR Intel® Core? 2 Duo T5200 (1.66GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Home edit
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch UltraSharp? Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife? edit
MEMORY 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM edit
HARD DRIVE 80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI MOBILITY? RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory? edit
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless edit
BLUETOOTH WIRELESS Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) edit
SOUND OPTION Integrated Audio edit
MEDIA DIRECT Media Direct 3.0 edit
Accessories
BATTERIES 6-cell Primary Battery and 9-cell additional Lithium Ion Battery edit
Software
PRODUCTIVITY No Productivity software pre-installed edit
SECURITY No security subscription (McAfee 30-day trial) edit
Service
WARRANTY & SERVICE Get $70 Dell Dollars with 3 Yr Ltd Warranty, On-site Service, Tech Support edit
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP Requested edit
PURCHASE INTENT Purchase is not intended for resale. edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Miscellaneous 6400 dual
Processor Branding Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor
Labels Windows XP?
A/C ADAPTER Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Digital Imaging Corel Snapfire Basic - Organize and Edit your photos

$1,172 - $50 coupon - free shipping = $1,122