Does This Sound Good For Me?

Alright, I've looked around and the Dell Inspiron 9300 seems to be the best for me...but before I make such a big investment, I want to see what others have to say. Also, please forgive me, I'm not incredibly computer savvy when it comes to technical terms, etc. so this is all a little overwhelming to me heheh

==========

General Questions

1) Are you looking for an Ultraportable (12" screen or less), Thin-and-Light (13" - 14" screen), Mainstream (15" - 16" screen) or Desktop Replacement (17"+ screen) style notebook? Desktop Replacement

2) Where are you going to be using this notebook (home, office, campus, library, outside etc.)? home, campus, library, outside

3) Will you be playing games on it (yes, no)? If yes, which ones? Yes, the Sims2, with all its expansion packs, and I love to download a ton of custom content. I might also play Rollercoaster Tycoon or other similar games.

4) How many applications will you be running at one time (1-4, 5-10, 10+)? most likely 1-4

5) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like? I'm looking at the Dell right now

6) How much battery life do you need (in hours)? around 2 would be nice, but I will usually have it plugged in

7) How much are you willing to pay for this laptop and do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person? I'm looking around $1500, but I have a feeling I will have to go a bit higher...I can buy online (that's the only way to get the Dell)

Screen Specifics

8) What resolution screen do you like -- XGA, SXGA or UXGA (XGA is standard, SXGA gives smaller text and icons, UXGA is very small text and icons)? Ummm... I really don't know...I don't the best of the best, but I would like decent graphics...

9) Do you prefer widescreen format or standard screen format display? Again, not sure...I like widescreen with movies, I don't know if that is similar?

10) Do you want a glossy (reflective and bright) type screen or regular matte (no reflection and anti-glare) type screen finish? Again, I don't know...I will be working with photoshop and the games as I mentioned...perhaps anti-glare?

Build Quality and Design

11) Do you need the notebook to be extra durable (good idea for carrying about) or just regular strength (fine for a fairly stationary notebook)? durable would be nice

12) Do you want the notebook to look nice or do looks not matter? its not the top of my list, I'd like it to look ok, the looks of the i9300 are ok, not a big fan of the white bumper things, but it's fine

13) How long do you want this laptop to last you? several years at least

Notebook Components

14) How much hard drive (disk) space do you need (in MB) and do you care about hard drive speed (yes, no)? If you care about speed, what do you want (4200 RPM / 5400 RPM / 7200 RPM)? a lot, I guess, I really don't know a whole lot about this, I'd like my game to run super well and fast...

15) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, what do you want (DVD, DVD-CDRW, DVD Burner)? not quite too sure what all these are...it would be nice to be able to burn CD's...

16) State if you prefer a processor brand (Intel or AMD) and the speed you want (don't care / mid-range / fast / fastest possible)? Umm, the one the Dell comes with is fine, is the speed refering to how well applications run? If so, I'd of course like fastest possbile but its probably too expensive, so fast

Other

17) Do you plan to upgrade this laptop at some point (typically people might want to upgrade memory, hard drive or the optical drive)? perhaps, maybe more RAM at some point in time, it really depends

Sorry I'm so stupid with all this, as you can tell I don't know a whole lot about technical specifications...all these words can make my head spin It's rather confusing to me...
Thank you for your help and patience!

==========

 

do you have a budget? Sorry, I'm not trying to be nosey, but with laptops, there is a wide range of prices, and this can be a factor in laptops for some people.

SG

 

Well, ideally, I'd like to spend $1500 or less, but that may not be possible with what I'm looking for. Definitely no more than $2000 though.

 

You can get a nice Inspiron 9300 for that price. And then use a coupon and you got your self a deal.

 

The i9300 sounds like a good buy for you. You want a desktop replacement that can play those games flawlessly. I'm not sure how many options there are with the graphics card but you will be getting adequate graphics.

Regarding the processor, just take what comes standard.
Regarding Hardrive, upgrade to however much space you find adequate and the speed at 5400rpm will be fine.

The LCD screen is a widescreen on the i9300 so it is better for watching movies and spreadsheets ect. The more costly the LCD upgrade, the higher the resolution will be. (To save you the technicals). If you don't like skwinting your eyes at all, and want large enough text and graphics, take the standard. If you want more desktop "real estate" upgrade to the next LCD option. Example) From standard WSXGA to WUSXGA.

Ram, atleast standard 512 MB but if you can afford to upgrade to 1 GB it would be a lot better.

If you are in the U.S., you can find coupon deals for like $500 off online purchases or 30% off. Your total will be bordering around $1500 once you have applied the coupon.

Goodluck and my recommendation is you read each and every one of these reviews:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2550
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2369
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2256&review=Inspiron+9300
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2256&review=Inspiron+9300

 

Sorry I'm getting back to you so late, I was rather busy over the holiday! Anyways, thanks so much for all your help, I went ahead and ordered in i9300.
Here's the basic specs:

Inspiron 9300,Pentium M 740 (1.73GHz/533MHz FSB)
-17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display for Inspiron 9300
-1GB, DDR2, 533MHz 2 Dimm, for Inspiron 9300
-256MB NVIDIA 6800,for Inspiron
-100GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive forInspiron 9300
-Image Restore
-Dell Media Experience,v2.1
-Microsoft Windows XP Home Service Pack 2, English, for Inspiron
-Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
-8X DVD+/-RW Drive for Inspiron9300
-CyberLink PowerDVD v5.5 Decoding Sofware for DVD Drives
-Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g,54Mbps) for Inspiron 9300
-53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery,for Inspiron 9200
This was all for $1519 so I did pretty good!

 

Yeah that is a very nice spec computer. Good luck with it and let us know when you get it. You should get it by Friday. Or if not, Monday.

 

Nice setup, make sure your taking advantage of the Dell coupon codes, they can be found in the "Dell Coupons" tab at the top of this page, good luck and welcome to the 9300 crew

 

Thanks, yup I took advantage of the coupons, my mom (who was paying for it heheh) configured it through home and small business to see what was cheaper, then we took the highest coupon, $400 off, and my mom is a realtor so she also got a small discount through the small business section. I forgot to put before, with tax it's like $1,619 (and with delivery) but there's supposed to be a mail-in rebate when it arrives. There was also some deal with lots of free upgrades, so I got some nice extras for free. It comes tomorrow, I am so excited! I love this site, everyone is really helpful and knowledgeable.

 

No problem. Good to hear about your final decision. Give us some feedback once you recieve and play around with the machine.