HELP: Buying an E1705

I'm a college student and I've finally decided to buy a Dell E1705. Can you guys tell me if this is a good deal or not?

Inspiron E1705 Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2500 (2GHz/667MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache)

Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005

LCD Panel 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz

Video Card 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory
Hard Drive 100GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem

Combo/DVD+RW Drives 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive

Sound Options Integrated Audio

Wireless Networking Cards Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless

Office Software (not included in Windows XP) Microsoft Office Basic - Includes Word, Excel, and Outlook email
A
nti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription

Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support

TOTAL:$1,459.25 (with the 35% off coupon)

Am I overdoing it? I don't want to game too much so I decided not to go for the Nvidia card, but is there anything you suggest that I upgrade/downgrade? I really don't want to spend above $1,500.

 

My take is as following -

1. If you do not need 17" screen, do not go for it. It will be quite heavy and un-portable

2. If you are going for 17" screen, then you HAVE TO go for a 9 cell battery and not the 6 cell that you are going for currently.

3. Instead of DVD combo/CD-RW go for a DVD-RW drive. It will come handy believe me.

Everything else is just fine. But my first two points are very vital. Especially the second.

 

downgrade the processor, hard drive, and ram. You can get RAM much cheaper from newegg. Since you are going to college I suggest you to upgrade your warranty to complete care. You will not see a big difference in performance for the processor. The 7200 rpm hard drives run extremely hot.

 

Those are really great points. Thanks a lot. Anybody else have any reccomendations before I order?

 

7200RPM drives do run a bit warmer, but I would not define it as extreme. If you need any portability a 17" notebook is not your friend. If you have a problem with your notebook it is most likely will happen in the first year, not to say something can't happen after. Complete care seems like overkill unless you are accident prone.

 

Change your selection from E1705 to E1505, better for portability.

 

Hi, with my idea I will make like this :

Inspiron E1705 Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2400 (1.83GHz/667MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache)

Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005

LCD Panel 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™

Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz

Video Card 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory
Hard Drive 100GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem

DVD+RW Drive

Sound Options Integrated Audio ( I will choose Creative Blaster Audigy )

Wireless Networking Cards Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Internal Wireless

Office Software (not included in Windows XP) Microsoft Office Basic - Includes Word, Excel, and Outlook email

Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription

Primary Battery 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Hardware Warranty 2Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support

So I downgrade the Cpu to 1.83 ( no diffirent at all because your laptop automaticly control the volte and speed of your Cpu when you need it full speed or not ), down to 1Gig ram but run at 667Mhz, use Creative Blaster Audigy ( Im sure you cant live without music ) and upgrade to 2 year warranty !!! With this system you can do everything you want even play Wow or Battlefield ( at high solution ) or you can search web while you edit your Video Music, waste this system if you only do homework on Office and listen music !!!

 

I agree with billionaiire, battery life is probably thee most crucial factor and a CD/DVD-RW combo drive is almost always a good thing.

 

ya know, i love my e1705, but if the e1505 offered a 7900gs as a vid card, i probably would've gotten that instead. so if you're going with the x1400, i'd say go with the e1505. you'll get better battery life (although still not totally stellar), the screen size is still great, and it's much easier to carry around, especially for college.

 

excellent points, go with a gig for now, and you might even find that's all you really need (unless you're gaming). definitely go with a 5400 rpm drive and there is very little difference between the T2400 (1.83 ghz) and T2500 (2.00 ghz), so use that price difference on your complete care warranty.

 

I am having doubts about *my* order now. Crap

 

Wait so with integreated audio chip I won't be able to listen to high quality music???

 

It is interesting to me to see that some people can love a 17" notebook - whereas for me it would be a burden, and I would question why I did not save myself five or six hundred dollars and get a desktop.

 

Notice you got this in your config as well:

Office Software (not included in Windows XP) Microsoft Office Basic - Includes Word, Excel, and Outlook email

Since you're attending college, do check with your school bookstore or department/course program, you may be able to get Office Pro 2003 for very cheap...

 

I'm in pretty much the same predicament. I love the 7900 gs for the E1705, but love the portablity of the E1505. But, I love the price on both!

 

it's an integrated HD audio chip, and it sounds just fantastic.

if you're really, REALLY, super picky though, you'll hafta wait for an expresscard sound card.

honestly though, the sound on my e1705 is just beautiful, even with my crappy old, half broken iPod headphones.

invest in some good Sennheiser or Shure head/earphones and you'll have pure gold playing in your ears.

 

Im going to college, and I bought an e1705. However, I am an engineering student so power was much more important to me than portability. You need to weigh your options and look at what you will be doing with the laptop, especially the portability issue.

 

I think its not a question of power - you can configure the m1210 or the e1705 with the same exact specs, and the power will be the exact same for all ENGINEERING uses.

The screen size is why anyone would go with the e1705.

 

Thanks for all the great feedback. I'm never going to take my laptop out of the dorm, except when I go home for holidays, so portability is not really a big issue.