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Opinions on Dell Latitude D500

E

endscape

Golden Member
So I've been presented with the oppurtunity to trade my desktop for the following laptop, and, since I need to stop pouring money into my desktop and need something portable for school, I'm seriously considering it.

The specs as reported to me:
1.3ghz P-M
512 DDR ram
30 gb hd
dvd/cdrw
wifi (B/G)
14.1 xga

All I do that is semi intensive is using Visual Studio .NET 2003, but other then that I am pretty much a casual web surfer/ word processor. I would probably up the RAM to 768MB for now and just to 1gb later down the road, maybe put in an 100gb HD or a DVD Burner (around the same price on ebay).


So I guess my question is 3 fold.
1. Anyone have or have used a D500 and would like to comment on it?
2. What do you think this D500 is worth? (The seller is estimating $850 and I think that is pretty fair)
3. Do you think that it'll do what I need (i.e. coding, light photoshop/ fireworks, word processing, lots of web surfing and movie watching) ?

My desktop just FYI I guess

Athlon 64 3000+ socket 939 90nm cooled by an XP-90 w/ 92mm fan
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum Motherboad
BBATI Radeon 9600XT
1024MB PC3500 Kingmax RAM
120GB Western Digital Special Edition
80 GB Western Digital Special Edition
160GB Samsung 7200RPM (I get to keep this)
Sony CD-RW (52xsomethingxsomething)
Lian Li PC65B w/ 4 white coolermaster neon fans
Vantec Nexus connected to 3 case fans and the CPU fan
Ultra X-Connect 500watt PSU
 
It will do what you need(though I've not used one enough to comment on build quality); but it will be a serious step down from your current box. P-Ms are nice, and great mobile chips; but even the newer Dothans are only about even performance wise with a same clocked A64. Given that your needs aren't terribly heavy, you'll be fine; but that isn't because the laptop will be nearly as fast.

As for the value; I'm not quite convinced. Depending on the phase of the moon, you may well be able to get a new Dell for that kind of money. Of course, Dell isn't going to take your old box in exchange, so you might be getting a pretty good deal if this fellow is valuing your box fairly highly. I'd recommend looking around to see what systems like yours are going for and, if you can spare the time, seeing if you can score a nice Dell coupon code deal(the $750 off $1500 is probably too much to hope for; but you might get lucky). If you need the system now, though, you could certainly survive this deal.
 
Yeah, I wish I had that funds on hand to pick up a new 600m for a touch under $900, but I dont see that happening.


Thanks,

Endscape

 
the build quality on a lattitude is a step up from the inspiron series, since its dell business segment it has to be.

given that, my sister owns a 600m that i use occasionally, and she bought hers5 months after mine...i use my laptop more than she does, but the condition of the 600m is crap right now...the lcd screen isn't firm...it likes to wiggle back and forth.

it flexes when you pick it up from a corner and the sort. the only thing the 600m has on the d500 is the removable face plate, which you could get a new one and put on for "personality"

other than that d500 is a step above in build quality.

link to a review
another link
 
I have a d500. It'll definitely be fast enough for your needs. Personally, I think a couple of things I do are slow because of the hard drive. But practically all laptop hdd are slow unless if you invest like 200 more $$ into a 7200rpm one.
THe main thing i dislike about my d500 is the palm rest gets quite warm after use.
 
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