Dell e1405 or e1505? HELP!

I have been searching for a notebook under $900 and have narrowed it down to these two. Basically my main issue is portability vs. power. The e1505 can pack a lot of power for only $852, while the e1405 is configured at $688 with a lower resolution screen, video card, processor, and hard drive.

I plan to use this for airplane travel a few times per month (weight isnt an issue to me, only the size of the notebook for use on the plane) as well as for occassional stationary gaming.
(I plan to add ram to both later and dont care about a DVD burner)

I am also not sure about the screen on the e1505 if I go that route. Is the WXGA+ worth the extra $50? Would a WXGA truelife be sufficient if I'm not too concerned with resolution? I already know I don't want the WSGXA+ since I use only 1280x1024 desktop resolution and am comfortable with it.

Also, what would the battery life difference be for these two models for viewing DVDs (I understand both can play DVDs without actually being "turned on") if both are using the 9 cell battery?

Does the 9 cell battery "stick out" on either the e1405 or e1505 model?

The two builds that I am deciding over are:

DELL E1505
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium
LCD Panel 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WXGA+ Display with TrueLife™
Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
Video Card 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™
Hard Drive Size: 120GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Combo or DVD+RW Drive 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Sound Options Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1390b/g (54Mbps)
Primary Battery 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Warranty and Service 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
Bluetooth Options Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)

TOTAL : $852.00


DELL E1405
Intel Core DUO T2350 (1.86GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium
LCD Panel 14.1 inch Wide Screen XGA TFT Display with TrueLife™(glossy)
Memory 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
Video Card Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Hard Drive 80GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Sound Options Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1390b/g (54Mbps)
Primary Battery 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Warranty and Service 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
Bluetooth Options Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)

TOTAL: $688.00

I figured I could configure the e1405 to be faster, but if I'm not going to use it for gaming anyway then it seemed like a waste to me, but it does have a worse processor, video card, hard drive, and screen for a $164savings.

So should I pick the e1405 or 1505?

PLEASE HELP!

Thanks!

 

If you can wait a couple months, the Dell Inspiron E1520 might be available.

 

You can wait for the renewed santa-rosa models of E1505 and E1405, but I don’t think you can buy one of those for under $900 anytime soon. Therefore, if your budget is at $900 then better get one now while the price is good.

9 Cell battery of E1405 sticks out, but not in E1505.

The integrated GMA950 graphics card of E1405 is very weak, therefore you wont be able to play most new games on it.

Your E1405 spec has the first generation Core Duo, if you are going to use this for business work (word processing, internet etc..) with a bit of multimedia then even Core Duo is sufficient. But I recommend at least a Core 2 (has 64bit support).

Go to one of those computer shops and compare an actual 15.4 and a 14.1 in person to get a feel for the size. For me 15.4 is way too big (especially if you are planning to carry it on a daily basis), but then again that’s my personal view.

 

The 14.1" should be better for airplane use.
Regarding resolution, you sort of answered your own question. The higher-resolution screen is worth $50 if you're concerned about resolution, and if you're not then it's not.
Battery life should be a bit better on the e1405 due to the smaller screen and integrated graphics.
I'm not sure that the better CPU will affect gaming very much, so you can downspec it on the e1505 if you want to save money... up to you though.
So it's pretty much better portability vs. gaming capabilities. And only you can decide which is more important for you.

Edit: You know what, another option might be the Dell Latitude D630 with NVidia Quadro NVS 135M. It's a 14-inch with dedicated graphics... not as good as the card in the e1505, but I don't really know what's good enough for you. The Latitude has lots of other advantages too. Add RAM from newegg to save money. You should be able to get this for under $1000... probably not under $900 though.

 

Question.. If the 9 cell battery sticks out on the e1405 and doesnt on the e1505, wouldn't that elmininate a lot of the portability that the e1405 offers over the e1505 anyway?

Also for windows vista 64 bit, isn't this only available with windows vista ultimate, and not very compatible with older software? (i.e. starcraft 1, etc)

Oh and I tricked out the e1505 more because of the 500 dollar coupon and 50 dollar off on video card, so essentially a 1400 dollar build for 850.

 

64-bit doesn't matter now unless you're running Linux. You really don't want to run 64-bit Windows at the moment. However, 64-bit might be a requirement if you want to upgrade to the next Windows, due to come out probably sometime in 2009. They'll still support Vista 32-bit for long after that, though.

As for the battery, someone who has this setup could probably answer better, but I think it would impact portability slightly but not as much as having the larger machine.

 

Yeah I think I dont really care about the 64 bit support then. By 2009 I will be purchasing the XPS 1310 model or something similar since I will have more money

One other question I had was if I purchase the 14.1 with the 9 cell battery, would a 15.4 case logic bag work fine?

Bag:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834990016

Thanks!

 

I'd think you'd want a 14" bag, although of course you could put it in a bigger bag if you wanted. Personally I'd look at 14" bags I think. You can check the dimensions of the machine on the dell site. If they don't list the dimensions w/ battery then add an inch or two to the depth. Even easier is wait till you get your laptop and then go to Office Depot or something to find a bag the right size.

 

Not really; sure it sticks out and ads some weight, but still no where close to that of E1505. Here are some photos which I found under this review. As you can see, it is not much.