Just got a refurbished M1530, my thoughts...

First off, I am no stranger to buying refurbished. I have bought a Macbook Pro and a Macbook refurbished with no problems at all. I decided I would probably be safe buying a Dell. Next I had the issue of wanting something semi-portable and yet could play games (im a college student). After looking around it was clear that it was going to be the M1530 or the Vostro as I needed at the very least a 8600 GT. So I checked the Dell outlet and found this:

2 GB RAM
120 GB HD
Core2Duo @ 1.66 GHz
Standard screen
8600M GT
Vista Premium
All for $815 shipped

Ordered it on a Thursday and woke up on Saturday with a knock on my door from the DHL guy, so I was happy with the shipping time. First thing I realized when I opened the box was the fact it came with everything except the carrying case, which is not a big deal. Second, the computer looked new, not a flaw on it. I noticed all the programs that were loaded were probably not going to be used (MS Works,Media Direct). So I proceeded to format, I got rid of the backup partition and Media Direct. I had Media Direct on my E1705 and in my opinion it was not useful to me. With a fresh install of Vista now on my computer, I loaded games. At first I thought I would be limited so I played Day of Defeat, and it played great with settings near full. With the encouragement I got from how well it performed, I loaded COD:4. All I can say is wow, the CPU is not the bottleneck I thought it would be. The game plays wonderfully with high settings. Windows runs great on the system, and all the programs associated with it.

Overall, I would highly recommend buying refurbished if you want to save some money. They have 10% off coupons right now that only make the deal better. As for the computer, don't let the 1.66 GHz scare you. The computer will run great without the latest and greatest. Gaming was surprising to me... I had low expectations initially, but now I am happy with it in gaming.

 

Agreed. I was impressed with the Dell outlet. Aside from school machines, I will not be buying any more new computers.

 

Yeah, the Dell Outlet is awesome for bargain hunters. I picked up a refurb XPS M1730 with an Intel X9000 CPU and 8800M-GTX SLI for about $2500 before taxes (roughly 50% its normal price).

 

Congrats on your purchase. I recently bought a Vostro 1500 for $479 with 2GB of ram, 160GB HDD and a 128MB 8400m video card.

While it wasn't flawless like yours. Mine needed some cleaning and it has a couple of very minor cosmetic flaws. I just couldn't pass on the deal.

 

I got my 1720 with the same specs as your xps from the outlet.

And they're having to ship me a new system now because of multiple hardware failures on it that are absolutely no fault of my own...screen went, then mobo.

Oh well..win some lose some. At least they're replacing it for free. Hopefully with a newer, better condition refurb.

 

Awesome...a good thing to hear!!! Glad all is working out, and congrats on that 1530 of yours!~

 

i think you could have bought a new m1530 for about that price with similar specs maybe even better specs for a hundred or hundred fifty more. but hey if it works perfectly and looks great then i say you got a great deal. i also bought a refurb macbook and it's great, no probs. glad to hear you didn't have a horror story.

 

Any Core 2 Duo is more than enough for Vista and *most* games.

The reason DOD didn't play at max everything was probably the fault of the CPU. The HL2 engine is extremely dependant on the CPU.

 

I just got a new 1530 and it is super fast.

Imagine yours being fast with 2 gb of ram and 1.6ghz

I got 2.4 GHZ and 4 gb of ram (3.5 cause of 32 bit vista)

 

I just bought an Inspiron 1525 laptop for my mom from DFS Direct (Dell Outlet in Canada) and it was flawless as well. She saved at least $300 from retail for a new one, really good deal.