Thinking about getting a Dell 5150. Your input please

[HiTek21]

I'm looking for a fairly inexpensive yet fast notebook. At first I was thinking of getting a Dell 600m because I was intrigued with the Centrino but its out of my price range. I won't be taking the notebook on the go a whole lot just when I go on a trip or maybe a friends house so the weight and size doesn't really matter to me. I'm also not a hard core gamer just the occasional game of counter strike.

P4m 3.06GHz w/ HT
15" SXGA
512mb DDR (2 Dimm)
40gb HDD
24x CDRW/DVD-ROM
64mb GeForce FX Go5200
1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-In Service

It all comes out to around $1679 before the $150 rebate.

This will be the first time buying a dell PC, i've heard some horror stories about dell sending out non functional computers and the tech support is not much help. So do you think this is a decent setup or should I look at a different model? Also is UXGA worth the extra $150?

 

[dnuggett]

If you wait I think you will be able to get that same setup ofr less $$ when Dell puts a sale on. Othwerwise not a bad choice, and the battery life is great on this machine.

 

[arsbanned]

I'm looking into the same thing execept I'll order the absolute cheapest one ($999. right now) with 384 MB RAM, CD-RW/DVD. Cheaper is good. THis machine is a great value. It even includes Firewire at that price.
For the occasional game, the lower end video card would be fine.
The machine you priced costs more than the basic 600m. ?
The way I look at laptops (now) get the cheapest one possible and upgrade every 2 years. Nothin but a commodity.
Actually, if you look at their refurbs right now...they're offering $150 rebate on all inspiron laptops PLUS free shipping. Shhhh, keep it quiet.

 

[Chrono]

i say go for it. man that machine pwns.

 

[LouPoir]

I have the 5100 - nice laptop. But I agree. If you can, wait for a better deal. Sign up for their newsletter in Small Business. Their always sending me 10 and 15% off coupons.

Lou

 

[cbrsurfr]

I got the same thing except the 3.06 Non HT and SXGA+ for like $1,280 or so after $200 in rebates. This was probably about 3 months or so ago.

Pulled up my invoice:

Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 processor,3.06GHz,15in SXGA+ Qty: 1 Unit Price: 1,528.00
Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices No Floppy Drive
Multi Media Players RealOne? Player, with 14 day SuperPass trial
Security Software Dell SecurityCenter by McAfee, 90-day introductory offer
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-In Service
Productivity Software WordPerfect® Productivity Pack with Quicken New User Edition
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
Memory 256MB,333MHz,2 DIMMs
Wireless Networking Cards No Wireless Option
Primary Battery 96 WHr Lithium-Ion Primary Battery
Hard Drive Free Upgrade to a 40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Network Adapters Integrated Network Card
Optical Free Upgrade 24X CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
Modem Internal 56K Modem
Mail-In Rebate Offer $200 Mail in Rebate
Video Card 64MB DDR NVIDIA® GeForce? FX Go5200 AGP 4x Graphics


Sub-Total $1,528.00

Discount -$152.80

Shipping $19.00

Shipping Discount -$19.00

Tax $85.95

Total Price $1,461.15

-$200 in rebates and I bought a 512 stick of ram for around $100 so final price was about $1,361

 

[DivideBYZero]

Grade A stamp guaranteed!

 

[bunnyfubbles]

http://pctorque.com/5680.php

UXGA is definately worth it. More workspace and wider viewing angles, UXGA is beautiful.

 

[HiTek21]

Thanks for your input, I think I will wait but I will purchase this same model maybe with the UXGA (if theres a deal). I'm hoping I can find some kind of stackable coupon that will bring the cost down another $50 - $100 bucks.