Official Vostro Owner's Lounge

1500's have XP in the US. I tried to get XP on a 1400 on the phone.. but no dice. The REP couldn't give me any insite on the logic of that... such a random choice on their part. Maybe they dont have enough XP disks to go around... Great looking system Cat! Glad to see others are opting up to the 7300, makes me feel good that I did too! Hope the 4mb cache is worth it.

 

Thanks Hyper, always nice to get the endorsement of someone who's been around here a while - as I am a newbie to this forum.

Logic for me on 3yrs was as follows:

1) it's a new build and a new line, so with no track record- better safe then sorry.

2) I already know I am going to want some new stuff to go with the new lappy... external monitor, maybe speakers, keyboard, maybe a 6 cell bat. etc. I might not have bought any of that from Dell, except that you get 70 dell bucks going from 2yrs to 3yrs. SOO, getting one of those things from dell with the coupon makes the real dollar upgrade from 2yr to 3yr a net of 20 bucks!

Pretty good deal, since the third year is always the most expensive jump with all the major companies. My thinking - there must be a reason, meaning more failures, more claims in Year 3.

I dont know if it is true. It's just the thought process I had while I was shopping. and the 70 dollar coupon seemed like a great reason to go on up.

 

Thanks hlcc - I am probably not powerful enough to play any DX10 games either!

Will XP migration result in the loss of media direct features? I think the answer may be yes....


Vostro 1400 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300
Wide Screen XGA LCD Display (matte)
Memory 1GB
Hard Drive 120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic
8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability
Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Wi-Fi Mini Card / bluetooth
Integrated 2.0 mega pixel Web Camera
3Yr Ltd Warranty and Next Business Day On-Site Svc[/SIZE]

 

How do I get the best deal on a Vostro 1400. Can anyone tell me the best way to go about this? Want to make sure I get the best deal possible!

The best deal I found was from the first page of this thread:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...=bqdwj2j&s=bsd

Is this the best deal possible or can you get another $50 off that? What is the coupon code for the coupon used in that link?


Thanks!!!

 

actually i just noticed even less difference between home premium and home basic. aero glass(the thing that turns taskbar semi-transparent) automatically turns of whenever you full screen anything(IE, firefox, explorer, Word, excel etc). so 90% of the time aero glass is off even on my Vista Premium and Ultimate

 

I wonder when dell will offer $400 to $450 off for the Vostros like they do with the Latitudes? I am looking at the 1500 or the T61. The $400 off could make me pull the trigger. Otherwise there is just about a $50 difference between the the 1500 or T61 with most of the same specs. Plus Dell taxes are double what Lenovo charges for the same state. I wonder if Dell is pocketing some of the money.

 

Hey all,

So after much debate, I finally decided on picking up a Vostro 1500. Originally, I was considering buying an Inspiron 1520 but after what I modified for it, I would have spent over $1000 . After finding the Vostro release and finding that it's base price was lower than its Inspiron counterparts, I couldn't resist. Then I struggled with choosing Vostro 1400 and I really liked it's mobility and size but I HATED the fact that Dell put the headphone/microphone jack in the front. Anyways, here are my system specs for the Vostro 1500:

Vostro 1500, Intel Core 2 Duo T5470, 1.6GHz, 800Mhz FSB, 2M L2 Cache
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD for Vostro 1500 (Matte Screen)
1GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 DIMM
128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Intel PRO 3945 WLAN (802.11a/g) Mini Card
Integrated 2.0 mega pixel webcam 1500
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Dell Wirless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR)
Warranty Support,Initial Year

Price after tax/shipping: $742

Everything else was standard. So I decided on the Matte screen since I stare at my computer for most of the day doing work, research, data analysis etc and I absolutely hate glare. Now, I was thinking about upgrading the video card to the 8600M GT but I decided that I don't game very much and the next game I see myself playing (possibly the only one) will be Fallout 3. Anyways, I am upgrading the memory to 2GB, reinstalling XP once I get it, and most likely buying a 7200RPM laptop hdd once the 5400 starts to slow down.

So does anyone know what RAM the Vostro 1500 takes exactly? I am considering buying this one and I think it's correct. Please let me know. The model is this:

200-Pin DDR2 SODIMM DDR2 667 Mhz (PC2 5300)

Also, I called the Dell Rep and he said the 1500 has an extra slot for video cards although the actual card the laptop comes with is soldered in. Anyone consider upgrading this way if needed? Please let me know about the RAM as I will buy it fairly soon.

 

did i miss something?
when i configure this vostro 1500 to your specs i got 648+tax
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=bqdwk2j&s=bsd

you can choose XP with Vostro 1500, and fallout 3 should be a fairly demanding game maybe 8600M GT is a good idea after all

 

using the smart value deal gets you a better price

 

it actually doesnt sound too far off. tax is about $50 and he could have chosen 2nd day shipping, bringing him to about the price he got. but i could also be wrong