Dell e1505 purchased- how good of a deal??

So I finally ordered a laptop after being patient and waiting for Dell to ship with Vista, I placed my order Saturday afternoon for a Dell e1505 with home premium...

I "think" I got a pretty good deal from looking at other companies, and the specs I got- but would like to know what you guys think.

I used the 20% off coupon, and the 5% off coupon- and did a little talking with the rep to get the price.

Price was $1336 before tax...here are the main components.
Windows Vista Home Premium
Inspiron E1505, Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 (4MB/2.00GHz/667MHz)
15.4 Inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WSXGA+
2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm for Inspiron 6400/E1505
256MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1400 HyperMemory
8X DVD+/-RW Drive for Inspiron 6400/E1505
100GB 7200RPM SATA Hard
Intel PRO/Wireless
Bluetooth
9 cell battery
Charcoal Leather Snap On
no-pre installed software.
1yr warranty


I'm a little upset that HP seems to have lowered their prices a little now since I like the look better on those machines- but the deciding factor for me was that the e1505 can be bought with a Glossy Wsxga screen with 1680x1050( I really like having the extra space to keep multiple windows open with space.)....

Anybody who use the Wsxga screen here have any inputs on it?? Is it worth it??

Let me know what you guys think of the laptop I ordered ,thanks.

 

All in all its not a bad deal, you could have done better in the outlet, but that mean a longer wait if being shipped with vista is a must. You could also save a good bit of money by getting the cheapest ram and hard drive option, then upgrading them yourself, as long as your happy with it in the end is all that matters, there will always be a better deal, bottom line, the best deal is when you find what you want/need, at a price you can afford.

Yes, the wsxga+ is worth every penny in my opinion, I was pleased with mine, and now with my m1210, I couldnt possibly be happy with a 15.4" screen at 1280x800, it would be like looking at a childrens book.

Enjoy your new system, just try not to go too nuts during the wait, thats always the hardest part.

 

I would have gone with more HD and 1gb of ram then bought the ram elsewhere. But the price and system is decent

 

I have also been looking at a similar system, as my Pentium M isn't powerful enough for me anymore.

Question: the DDR2-667 RAM Dell sells with the e1505, does it run in Dual-Channel Mode? I know your order said "2 DIMMS" --but that doesn't necessarily mean they will run in dual channel, if I understand correctly. The reason I ask, is that if you go to customize an E1505, you have 3 memory choices, 1 GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2-533, 2 GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2-533, and 2 GB DDR2-667 2 Dimm. I am bothered that they explicitly say "Dual Channel" for the 533 choices, but not for the 667.

John

 

If both slots are filled, its in dual channel, thats simply the way the beast works. The intel 945 will run any combination of supported ram capacities in dual channel, 2x1gb for 2gb, or 1gb+512mb for 1.5gb etc.

For all practical purposes, there is no difference in performance between 533 and 667, the higher latency from 667 voids any real world gains, some benchmarks will look a little prettier, but thats it. If you mix 533 and 667, both modules will run at 533.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going with 667 because I plan to do some highly computationally intensive electromagnetics simulations on this laptop. I figure that justifies the higher memory bandwidth.

John