Laptop for College (help)

Hey, I need a laptop for college that meets certain requirements. Right now I'm looking at the Dell Vostro 1500.

Requirements:
1) Pentium M, 2 GHz or greater (notebook) w/ 802.11g wireless connectivity
2) 1 GB RAM with slots to expand (533Mhz or faster RAM) (notebook)
3) 128 MB video graphics card (non-shared RAM)
4) 80 GB Hard drive (SATA preferred)
5) DVD -/+ RW drive (data backup and transfer)
6) 10/100 network card (3Com or Intel recommended)
7) Windows XP

What I'm looking at:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Home
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA LCD Display with TrueLife™
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
80G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/ Roxio Creator
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Wi-Fi Mini Card
No Webcam Option
High Definition Audio 2.0
My Accessories
56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
My Software
MS Works 8.5-Eng: Basic Spreadsheet, Word Processing & Calendar Program
Norton Internet Security 2006 90-day Subscription
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.08
My Services & Warranties
1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Mail-in Service
10GB for 1yr Online Backup by Dell Datasafe
1 Year Dell Automated PC Tuneup
Dell Network Assistant
No Onsite System Setup
Purchase is not intended for resale.
Also Included
Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Windows XP™
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Vostro1500
Cost: $1,243

I'm pretty sure it all meets requirements, and I hope it will last me 4 years. the only thing I aint too sure about is the optical drive...is that DVD -/+ RW. Any info is appriciated. Also, am I over paying for what I'm getting?

 

Also look into the 1520 but thats pretty good setup and price you got there

 

It will burn and read both CD's and DVD's, if that's what you're asking.
The alternative is "24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive" which only burns CD's, though it can read both CD's and DVD's.

 

I did look into the 1520 but I cant get it with windows XP, and if I get vista it would be a waste cause my college won't support it until the end of the year (if that soon)

 

Windows xp fan huh?

You got to get a webcam if you're going to college. Never know when you might meet a girl in some webcam chat room. LOL JJ


Anyways, in all seriousness... You could probably get the same specs in a Inspiron, or probably even better for a lot cheaper. With the $325 off coupon, you could get a killer laptop for $1250.

 

What I'm asking is if those two thigns mean the same. For example, the college requires I have a "DVD -/+ RW drive" and when I customize the Vostro I only see "8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability." So I need to know if that means its -/+RW. (I aint that good with these things and I really want to avoid any trouble with the laptop)

 

looks good... like everyone else has already said, you should look at the 1520 as well to see if you can get the same specs for cheaper (since it really depends on the coupons)

 

1520 is better because the coupon can saves you some

try to configure the vostro and Inspiron at the same specs and see which one is cheaper. IMO E1520 is cheaper.

 

As far as I know, any burner with double-layer DVD+R write capability would be able to burn to DVD-R's as well as DVD+R's.

 

what exactly are you using this laptop for, i'm guessing some gaming since you picked the 8600. if you game than no, its not going to last you 4 years. To get some perspective, today's 4 year old mid-range GPU from Nvidia is the Geforce FX 5600.

 

Well my college requires a 128mb graphics card, I figure I'll get a 256mb one and insure it lasts me 4 years. I do very MINOR gaming on the pc, only play WoW casually and if I need to play a graphic heavy game, or just play pc games in general then it'll be on my desktop.