First Laptop Purchase

[Oakenfold]

My wife wants a laptop for school, it gives me a reason to pay a little extra for a portable gaming rig.

Debating on this 9300 with the 500 off:
Pentium M 740 1.73
Win MCE
17" Ultrasharp UXGA w/Truelife
512DDR2
256mb 6800 Nvidia GO
60GB 5400
24xcd burner/dvd combo.
1 yr ltd warranty, 1yr mail in service, 1 yr h/w warranty.
MCE Backup. (hope it would be the original cd)
Base config price 1633
-500 coupon off 1499
-100 off systems over 1499 Holiday gift game coupon
Total Price 1033.00
+24.00 handling
Final Price 1057 before tax

For another 200.00 I should be able to buy an external dvd burner and 1gb of 4200-ddr2 from newegg

Just looking for your thoughts on this, I'm trying to keep my price under 1300.00, the laptop must have a decent videocard. Do you guys have any other suggestions, this deal doesn't seem that hot to me but I think it's the best option at the moment.

Forgot to say I'm not interested in anything less than a 17" display.

 

[TheCanuck]

Not to be an ass but didn't you say your wife wants it for school? I doubt she'll be happy lugging around a 10lb notebook day in / day out when she could've gotten a 5lb one that does the same thing!

By week two she'll probably be fed up having to drag it around campus and want you to take it back!

Here's a review over at CNET on it: http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_Inspiron_9300/4505-3121_7-31351063-2.html?tag=sub

Looks like it performs the best compared to the other desktop replacements but at 8.2lbs (9.4lbs w/the power brick) "it's far too heavy for regular travel".

 

[TheCanuck]

 

[mparr1708]

I agree with Canuck. Handing your wife a 17" notebook for school is probably not the best idea. If you like dell look at the latitude D610s. Very reliable and strong yet still small and light weight. The 600m or 700m are nto bad choices either.

 

[Oakenfold]

Sorry guys, I should have stated that she's not actually going to be taking this thing to class, as it is a desktop replacement.
😉 I'm not a sadist I promise!

Thanks for the review, yeah I've checked that one out as well as the laptoplogic review.

 

[Traire]

I just got my 9300, so far its been wonderfull. Once you go widescreen LCD, whether its a laptop or a seperate lcd monitor, youll never go back to standard aspect CRT's. I would reccomend getting a better warranty than one year. Carrying it arround is not that bad either. My briefcase is alread full enough, that adding the 9300 doesnt seem to make it that much heavier than my old compaq, which was 3.5 pounds lighter.

 

[LinuxIdiot]

I ordered the 9300 <3 1GB of RAM, however my 80 gig 7200 RPM HD died the day after I received it 🙁

I am awaiting the replacement drive so I can go back to my laptoppy goodness

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: Oakenfold
Sorry guys, I should have stated that she's not actually going to be taking this thing to class, as it is a desktop replacement.
😉 I'm not a sadist I promise!

Good thing, I could see a divorce on the horizon 😛

Anyway, the laptop looks good. The 9300 is a nice value for gaming. I'd love to pick one up but I need a laptop that is lightweight.

 

[Oakenfold]

Thanks for your input guys, I also ordered one stick of transcend from newegg, samsung 1gb sodimm, i probably should have ordered another for a matching set as I'm not certain how well the samsung 1gb and dell 256 will do running together in tandem..
It turns out Dell ran an even better deal last night through EPP.

I ended up going with this config:
9300 inspiron
PM740 1.73ghz
17" UXGA w/Truelife
512mb ddr2 (got the one gig sodimm on the way from newegg)
256mb 6800 nvidia go
60GB 5400rpm
XP MCE w/backup cd
intel 2200 wireless nic
dvd8x/cd burner
4yr limited warranty, at home service, hw warranty support.


My total price is 1067.94 after tax and a $70 MIR. not including newegg costs

 

[cheesehead]

Dang, nice.
Is that a 9300?

 

[Oakenfold]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
Dang, nice.
Is that a 9300?

Indeed.😉