Just ordered ... how did I do on the price ?

XPS M1530, T8300 (2.4GHZ)
3GB, DDR2, 667 MHZ,2 DIMM
9-CELL,LION,PRIM BATT
2X BLURAY DRIVE 1
TUXEDO BLACK
256MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 8600M GT
15.4 BLACK WXGA, 1200x800
320GB HARD DRIVE, 5400
WIRELESS-N MINI-CARD
LOJACK THEFT RECOVERY
BLUETOOTH
2 YEAR Warranty with Complete Care

Total price including shipping before taxes $1,992.00

.... it was a tough choice between this and the 13.3" Sony SZ ... I have a friend who bought an XPS 1530 at Best Buy so I got to try it out a little ... I still think the Sony screen is better - less reflection and better outside ... the Dell keyboard is far better ... so we'll see how it goes ... this is the very best price they'd give me ...

 

also, I keep re-thinking about the hard drive ... should I have went with a 200GB 7200 rpm drive, but I heard they run hotter and the larger 320GB hard drives run quite fast anyway.

Also the processor speed, I couldn't decide what to choose, from 2.0 to 2.5ghz I went to 2.4 ...

my reasoning for not getting the fastest hard drive and the fastest processor is I don't want it to run hot ... I max'd out a Latitude with spec's before and it was the hottest running machine I ever owned ....

I hope I did okay, I'm still on the quest for the 'best' laptop like many others ... I didn't have the guts to buy Asus before seeing it or trying it and our local shop won't take them out of the box unless you buy, lol ...

 

the hard drive is fine and it does run faster and it probably won't run hot if you did get the fastest processor. another alternative since your looking at asus's is the asus g50v -a2 at xoticpc.com but you can go to your local best buy when it's out and look at it

 

That's a pretty good configuration. The 320GB at 5400 should perform at the same speed as the 200GB at 7200 RPM. Enjoy your machine.

 

Hey, nice! and congrat's on your 1530 purchase...Your part of the 1530 family now!

Cin'

 

A 320GB will do just fine. True, you will see an increase in system performance had you gone with the 7,200, but the increase is negligible and storage prices are always on the fall -- especially considering that SSD's are trickling down into the mainstream... that should make for some good competition. I personally bought the cheaper 160GB HD in hopes of purchasing a cheaper SSD in the future.

2.4GHz is the sweet spot when you're balancing performance and budget. The 3MB cache is big enough for most people.

You did fine. Did you use the 25% coupon? Or did you order from Dell EPP/University?

 

Thanks for all the comments.

How do you deal with the sceen outside? I've heard of anti glare covers, not sure if they work.

I'm a little worried about the size/wieght for lugging around and using on my lap ....but 13" seemed just a little too small so hopefully I did okay.

I had them match Best Buy's price and then added my own upgrades and the warranty.

 

Hi!
I'm assuming you mean screen perhaps when outdoors? I sit outdoors with mine alot..but am careful to make sure I'm not in the direct sunlight And, laptops are meant to be portable....you just take care with them

Personally, I would not invest in an anti-glare cover..unless..I had specific needs for it

I sit with my 1530 on my lap all the time..and have no issues, and I *lug* it around when out-and-about..and also have no prob's


Cin

 

went to BestBuy to see a 1440 x 900 screen but they only have models 1200 x 800 ...

a lot of people suggest the 1440 x 900 screen for the 1530 ... i can't find any examples online comparing two ...

a larger font is important to me, that's why i went with the 1200 x 800 ...

my question is just how much smaller is the 1440 x 900?

one thing that's making me wonder about it is the LED backlight screen, i've never seen one in real life but it must be very clear and much better outside

... what to do .... ??

 

If you have a chance, go with LED.... it's beautiful. As for the resolution, you can always just make the fonts bigger in the browser. It will produce a clearer image since you won't be able to see the individual pixels as much.

 

think i'm going to stick with 1200 x 800 and not worry about the font size ... to use outside i'm going to have to find an 'anti-glare' cover i think

 

believe me the 1440x900 is a lot better, especially if you opt for the LED version, it is absolutely gorgeous

i wouldn't worry about font size, that can be very easily adjusted in vista...

 

yoo...pretty good actually since you got blu-ray and that massive hard drive

Well I'm in college so i ordered through delluniversity.com, + i bought a dell EPP 5% coupon off ebay which actually worked, so I got 8% off + 5 % off.

For $1266 before tax (free shipping), i got:

Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.5 GHZ)
4 GB RAM
250 @ 5400 RPM (purchased upgrade off buy.com...160GB @7200RPM..i don't need that much space)
1440x900 LED LCD screen
256MB Nvidiea 8600m GT
Intel Wireless-N
Bluetooth 2.0

problem is...I HATE WAITING FOREVER!! ordered 7/24 ESD 8/12...