New Dell Laptop on the way, tell me what you all think

[liquidblue69mce]

Here are the details on the Dell I'm getting, I think it's sweet, also found some online coupons that saved me 200 dollars off the price, I love the internet!!!

Inspiron E1705
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2300 (1.66GHz/667MHz FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 Qty: 1
Unit Price: $1,736.00
Inspiron E1705 Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2300 (1.66GHz/667MHz FSB)
LCD Panel 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
Memory 512MB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Video Card Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Hard Drive 60GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No productivity suite- Corel WordPerfect word processor only
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
Primary Battery 80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support
Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Additional Battery 80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Additional Battery
Mail-in Rebate SAVE $300 with mail-in rebate! System price shown before rebate
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Operating System Re-Installation CD PC Restore recovery system by Symantec
Dell Digital Entertainment Starter Entertainment Pack - Basic digital Music, Photo and Game experience

Dell Home Customers: Select Inspiron affiliate offer save $200 off $1499 or more (before tax and shipping)! (affiliate only online offer)
Expires on 2006-03-30 11:59:59 - $200.00 just gooled “dell coupons”


ADDITIONAL DISCOUNTS AND COUPONS

Dell Home Customers: Free Ground Shipping on Dell Inspiron
Expires on 2006-03-30 12:59:59 - $49.00

Sub-Total $1,536.00
Shipping Discount -$49.00

Shipping $ 0.00

Tax $126.71
Total $1,662.7

with the mail in rebate take off another $300

The only thing that I'm mad at is I had to pay taxes on the $1,662.7 price tag, not the $1,362.7

[flanzig1]

Looks pretty nice. A thought, use the rebate money to get another 512mg of ram(the video is using some of the ram.)

[Joeberg]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 Looks pretty nice. A thought, use the rebate money to get another 512mg of ram(the video is using some of the ram.)

Agreed.

Nice system overall,

-Joe

[liquidblue69mce]

Good point, but Dell's ram was too expensive, going to get it off newegg.

[rspassey]

Looks nice - Good job with the rebates. I have gotten some pretty sweet deals from Deal before too. Agreed - a RAM increase from the get-go will yield a noticeable performance boost.

[Stuey]

Not bad! I was *going* to get that model, but I ordered the E1505 instead (last night). Good luck and have fun!

[liquidblue69mce]

Looking at the other graphics card (GC) Dell offers, there isn't a large set up in performance and you have to pay an extra $180 for it... I've read that HyperMemory means that you paid a higher price for a GC that still robs your main system's RAM. Don't know if this is interpretation is substantial, but that my story and I'm sticking to it....

Standard:
17 inch Wide Screen XGA+
Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950


Optional:
17 inch UltraSharpTM Wide Screen UXGA with TrueLifeTM
256MB ATI MOBILITYTM RADEON® x1400 HyperMemoryTM

Oh, here another question...Does "Integrated" means hard wired to the MB, so future upgrade of GC (being able to remove the old one) is not optional?

Thanks for you kind appraisals, it’s a good feeling to a "sweet" comment for you all after I put some major cash for this Laptop... Enjoy your E1505 Stuey83, I was going to get that but I needed the 17 inch display.

[glc]

Integrated is not removable. The only way to do a future upgrade is if it has a socket for a video chip, and I don't know what the compatibility would be or what the parts cost would be - and it can be tricky getting at it, the laptop has to come apart, it's not under its own door like the ram slots. The GMA 950 is plenty good for light gaming and anything else you would want to throw at it, but if you plan on doing a lot of FPS gaming, you should order it with the ATI adapter. Even though it's Hypermemory, it's a lot more gaming capable than the GMA.

I'd suggest Crucial or one of the other major ram vendor's configurators for a ram upgrade - using generic ram in a laptop can have issues. If Newegg or another general vendor lists the exact part number from someone's configurator, then it's fine. Also check the price in Dell's parts store - very often it will be very competitive and a lot cheaper than the factory option.

[polkcountyguy24]

the dell E1705 can be upgraded long as the VC is not Integrated to the MB i called dell spare parts and i ordered the 256MB nvidia geforce Go 7900 GS for my dell E1705 i took the ati 256mb go 1400 out of the laptop to add the go 7900 gs and it works fine and the new card from dell cost $362.95 but if you plan to do this make sure you know how to do it or you will mess the laptop up

you can order the part by calling dell at this number

1-800-449-3355 Ext 7269937