E1505, Please help me finalize my decision.

Ok, this will be my first laptop and I want to know if I did well in customizing the specs. (I don't know much about laptops) The reason I want to get this is because I'll be going to college this fall. I want a laptop that'll last me a long time, with good speed and productivity, and at least decent gaming capabilities. Here are the specs. I'm leaning towards. Any comments/suggestions would be very appreciated. Thanks in advance!

E1505 Dual Core:
-Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2400 (2MB Cache/1.83GHz/667MHz FSB)
-Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
-15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife
-1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
-100GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
-8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
-Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
-256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory
-Integrated Audio
-53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
-Comes out to be around $1,400 (Is this fairly cheap for this kind of laptop?)

 

yep that's a good price...

go with the larger capacity battery.

i bet others will also recommend asus models... they have those with x1600 256MB dedicated cards

 

Not too bad. 1400 is usually about the norm for those specs in dell. Is that with a coupon or without a coupon?

As for durablity and how long it will last, that depends on your uses. If you are planning on leaving it at home most of the time or traveling with it every now and then, it should last you for at least 2 years (assuming no accidents or anything happens). If you plan on traveling with it everyday, then you might want to look at another laptop. The Inspirons are not made to be in a day to day travel environment (such as a working/school environment), but they should be fine for vacations or a weekend getaway.

Get the lowest amount of ram possible. Then order an upgrade from newegg.com You can get 1 stick of 1gb for about 80 bucks right now.

 

This is without a coupon.
So I can upgrade the ram, but I can't upgrade the graphics card later though right?

Do you know how much time I could get unplugged with the 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery as opposed to the 53 WHr 6-cell?

Thanks for the replies.

 

I'm not sure about the battery question, so I'll let someone else get that question. Depending on the specs, for the larger laptops, I estimated that you get about an addition 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours. Again it depends on your video card, cpu, etc..

As for the ram, yes you can upgrade the ram at any point. It is very easy to do (the ram is located on the bottom side of your laptop, easy access), and it does not void your warranty. The new sticks that you put in will not be covered in your warranty either, but bascially all that means is if one of the sticks should stop working - dell won't replace it. They will still work on your laptop if other problems should occur, but you'll be responsible for the RAM.

As for the video card, yes you can upgrade the card under 2 conditions.
1.) your current card as well as the card you are going to upgrade is a dedicated card
2.) you can only upgrade to cards that are specifically offerred for the E1505. This includes any current or future cards that might be offered for your laptop.

As with the RAM, your new upgraded parts will not be covered under warranty, but this does not void your warranty either.

 

Thanks for the info SouthernGirl.

I just used a coupon, and the final price comes out to be $1,295. The only difference I see after using the coupon is that there's only 1yr warranty instead of 2, is this good price?

 

Sounds really good to me. As for the warranty, you can always extend it later on as long as you do it before your warranty is up. There have been some users who receive special offers in the mail to upgrade their warranty after they purchased their laptop, so you might also get one of those.

 

SouthGirl - Can we still get the 'special' offer from Dell even after the send it through the mail?

 

Dell has the E1505 on sale today as part of the "10 Days of Deals":
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/sna.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~topic=dod

 

the special offer is usually sent to users that choose the 1 year warranty (at least that is what I've heard - it didn't happen to me). It is basically a discounted amount off on extending your warranty.

 

Sweet! Thanks alot Chaz, now the price drops to $1,040!

 

add a 7200 RPM HD and a better screen and use a 450 dollor of copon

 

I'll probably upgrade the screen to 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife. If I change those two things the price goes to $1,211, which still seems like a good deal.

 

The screen upgrade is a good idea. There are four major parts that should be upgraded when you buy it, becuase it is cheaper to get it from Dell than do it yourself (if possible):
-Processor
-Screen
-Optical Drive/Wireless/Bluetooth
-Video Card

That $699 deal won't last.

 

Yeah, that 699 is only for today only, so you need to make your selection by 11:59pm (central time). After that, the price will go back up.