Is this E1705 worth the price?

I'm asking for a friend who was going to order an M1710 but has changed his mind due to the cost. He e-mailed me this E1705 config this morning with all of the discounts he is entitled to including a 1/3 off EPP coupon. It's a pretty loaded lappy (which is what he wants), I tried to save him some money by looking for the ram at Crucial but believe it or not Crucial is no cheaper for the same ram. Anyway here it is, what do you think of the price for what he would get?:

System Details:
Intel Core Duo Processor T2600 (2.16Ghz)
Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005 Edition
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
100GB 7200RPM 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)
Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth Internal(2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 7800
80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Microsoft Works Suite 2006- Includes MICROSOFT WORD plus much more!
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy® ADVANCED HD Audio
3Yr Ltd Warr, At-Home Service, 30Day DOC, PC Training, 2Yr Antivirus Suite
McAfee Antivirus with 2yr subscription
Musicmatch Plus by Yahoo! Music- Music Player.
6 Months of EarthLink or AOL Internet Access

Price before discounts: $2,998
Price after discounts and after $100 mail in rebate: $2,096

 

After much reading of these forums and lots of comparing, I found that you can save ALOT by going aftermarket RAM and HDD. Both of these can be bought at newegg.com.

I am getting the same laptop, except that I chose the 60GB 5400 HD and the 512 mb of RAM.. I am getting the 80GB 7200 HD and 2 GB of RAM for about $340. This saved me OVER $700 had I gotten it from Dell!!

Tell your friend not to pull the trigger just yet!

 

If he wants to save some money, it really is cheaper to go elsewhere for the RAM. Also, the T2600 may not be necessary. I have the T2500 and it runs like a beast. lightning quick, im glad i didnt spend the extra dough

 

I agree with KManZ - you'll save a lot of money by aftermarketing the RAM (especially since if its @ 667MHz) as well as the HardDrive. I'd also evaluate whether or not he needs the extra power from the T2600 - stepping down to a T2500 would save a lot of money as well.

 

when the special at dell is 34-40% off the system...doesnt that make the ram 34-40% off? if that is the current special then is there really that much of a savings?

of course if the special is a set $ amount then this wouldnt apply ie. $750 off of system.