Need some solid advice

[jbaggins]

Guys, please don't mind the long post, but here's the deal: I have just purchased 2 (actually 4 but will cancel 2 right now) laptops from Dell. This is my first laptop purchase, i have used them, but only friends. I dont' know the nuances of day to day things regarding laptops. I have two choice: the highly rated Inspiron 6000, with wide screen, a cooler look, slimmer profile, and a bit less weight, or the Inspiron 1150. The specs follow below. The prices are relatively the same, but the Inspiron packs a mean punch with 2.8 ghz, and a dual layer dvd burner. People seem to be going nuts for the 6000 series and very little in the news regarding the 1150. Why not? its 2.8 ghz vs. 1.6. Thats a huge difference. yeah i know its not twice as fast, but still. also, it has a 12 cell battery, prolly cuz it uses more power as it is.

I am, traditionally a desktop user. so here is where i need the input and opinions of y'all.

Which should i keep, and which should i return?
Inspiron 6000
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB), Microsoft®
Inspiron 6000 Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)


Display 15.4 inch WXGA LCD Panel


Memory 512MB Shared DDR2 SDRAM 2 Dimms


Video Card Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics


Hard Drive 60GB Hard Drive


Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem

Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0


Combo/DVD+RW Drives 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive


Wireless Networking Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)

Battery 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (53 WHr)


Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr Technical Support


Estimated Tax $61.43
Total $806.23


**************************NOW FOR THE 1150******************************


Inspiron 1150
Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.80GHz, 15-in XGA, Microsoft® Windows® Home
Inspiron 1150 Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.80GHz, 15-in XGA


Memory 512MB Shared DDR SDRAM, 2 Dimms
512MB2D


Hard Drive 40GB Hard Drive
40GB



Network Card Integrated Network Card


Modem Internal 56K Modem


CD/DVD Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability
8XDVDRW


Wireless Networking Cards Dell® Wireless 1350 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps)


Primary Battery 96 WHr 12-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 2 Year On-site Business Mobility Plan ($95 Mail-in Rebate)


Estimated Tax $0.00
Total $1,183.00-$150MIR-$95MIR=

TOTAL: $938 no tax on this one cuz i bought it thru a non profit.

 

[imported_Kensai]

I would personally keep the 6000.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Kensai
I would personally keep the 6000.

6000 hands down, fvk the P4

 

[ColKurtz]

I concur. The 6000 is the very obvious winner here IMO. Don't be spooked by the 1.6Ghz speed. Pentium M speeds vs. P4 are apples and oranges. Pentium M's cram more into each clock cycle, and a basic rule of thumb is to mutiply a P-M's speed by 1.5 to get the equivelant P4 speed. Thus, your 1.6 is more like a 2.4 P4 (and probably better).

And, Pentium M's are designed for laptops. They'll throttle back energy usage and greatly extend battery life (P4s burn through batteries like butter). Plus, you get a larger hard drive and you can take the savings from the 6000 and upgrade your optical drive.

Just my opinion, but if it were my money it would be a no-brainer... the 6000.

 

[comrade]

I'm enjoying my 6000

 

[phisrow]

Get the 6000, hands down, mobile P4s really, really suck compared to the PM.

 

[Ethan2099]

I would change your video to the x300 instead of the intel, you should still get great battery life out of the 6000. Hands down go with the 6000. I would also see if you could change the warranty to next business day tech. it's preferable to sending your laptop away to a depot for repair work.

 

[uOpt]

Unless you have very specific needs, the Pentium-M is utterly superior in a notebook.

 

[jbaggins]

Thank you for your repies. I guess it was unanimous. I have cancelled the 1150, and gone with the 6000. I am glad I asked before I finalized my purchase because I really did not know the differences between a Pentium-M and Pentium. At first glance, reading the higher ghz made the 1150 sound more impressive.

ColKurtz: Thanks for the technical explanation. I didn't know the difference.

Ethan2099: I am on a tight budget, and for some reason if I configured the 6000 with the x300 video card, it shot up the price by about $120 dollars. As I do not intend to use the laptop for anything video intensive, and I was on a budget, I stuck with the onboard 128mb video.

 

[Connoisseur]

The intel graphics are integrated so the vid memory is shared with your ram. Basically you only have 512-128 = 384 mb of useable system ram. The x300 dedicated graphics will solve this problem, but if you can't afford it, consider going into the BIOS of the laptop and changing the shared vid mem to 64megs or even 32. This will recover a lot of memory that will otherwise be unused since you're not using this for anything video intensive.