M1330, good buy?

on 4/18/08, Dell's 10 Days of Deals has M1330 on $1299, i believe i can use my EPP discount+ 10% off coupon to get somewhere like $1150, but i'll know tmr what the specs are....

how's this for $1230
M1330
T7250(2MB Cache, 2.0ghz, 800mhz fsb)
3GB DDR2 667MHZ
LED Display w/ vga webcam
128 MB 8400M GS
320GB HDD
4 year warranty + accidental damage + lojack
Wireless-N mini Card

take off about $60 for a lower speed processor(667mhz) and 802.11g instead of wireless-N

i have about 4 more months to decide when to buy, but is the above good? i dont' expect more than a $100 difference b/w buying now and 4 months from now.....

 

better components will be in it in 4 months for roughly same price.. If you can wait. then wait

 

I agree with Durious - in 4 months you will get better components for a slight premium over your current deal. If you can wait, I would - but if you can't, you are getting a phenomenal deal as is.

Good Luck!

 

yep I third the motion. That's a good deal... but if you can wait for centrino 2 /biggerfastercheaperHDDs/wimax/ddr3/etc.... do so.

 

Isn't that always the case though? There's *ALWAYS* something bigger, faster, better, and cheaper coming down the pike... at some point you just need to grit your teeth and jump.

 

Yup - I do agree with heavyharmonies, but I think in this case, the difference is more pronounced. You are at the end of the current platform line; so buying it in a few months would actually be ideal because you will be purchasing at the beginning of the new platform line. Yes new processors, etc. will be continuously coming out, but until then, you can have the feeling of having the "lastest and greatest".

 

Whatever you do, don't get 3GB of RAM from Dell - it's a ripoff. Go with stock configurations, except for the highly recommended LED screen, upgrade teh processor to like a T8300 or something, and get a better GPU and battery. Aftermarket upgrades for RAM and hard drive is always cheaper.

 

the cheapest way i could get m1330 + graphics card + 4 yr warranty/accidental damage was to get their "best" package.... which only had 3GB ram or 4GB ram(only useful in64 bit)..... if i choose a lower package, any upgrade would be more expensive than their "best" package.

their 10 days of deal wasn't cheaper than my $1230 config... guess i'm goign to wait some more time before deciding

 

I'd also suggest looking at Dell Outlet - they have some neat deals there.

 

My only hesitation for using the outlet vs these deals they keep running is I can have 4yr completecare included with the new system but to get that with one of the nice outlet deals its like an addition $340 so they really arent much different if you want the big warrantys.

Anything I'm missing there?

 

In that case, then I think you're better off by getting 'em from the regular place. .

 

Yup, and they will say it over and over wait wait wait..

 

Typically I'd say buy it when you need it, but there are two additional factors here.

1. You have 4 months to decide when to buy.
2. Montevina will be here at the beginning of June, and unlike a simple CPU update, this will involve the entire platform. Definitely worth waiting for, especially since you can.

 

I went through the same thing with penryn (montevina is a bigger jump though), waiting 4 months was difficult, however I have a feeling they wont be on sale like this until the end of the year.

 

The only problem when you want to buy something new, especially when it's a whole new platform, is the price. Early adopters pay more than usual, mainly because you have to pay a premium for the latest technology. So if you can afford it, go for it.

 

Other than having WiMax is montevina going to be significantly better than Penryn. Also how long is it going to take for Dell to get then in XPS.

 

Montevina brings a faster FSB, DDR3 support, as well as Turbo Memory v2. Furthermore, there will be some power management enhancements and 25W Penryn CPUs (down from 34W currently).

It's due in early June, but it's anyone's guess as to when Dell and other manufacturers will actually start to ship systems based on the new platform.

 

i remember that the Dell XPS m1330 was delayed-shipping for a month or so when it came out, b/c of shortage of parts and other reasons(spraying the custom paint required multiple passes which increased the time)...

so about 2 weeks manufacture time, 2 weeks shipping time.... i guess i have now til june/july to find a laptop, dont think Dell would have the new XPS out by then.... so M1330 it is...

 

Hey I waited for long time for Penryn and when I am ready to buy XPS1330 with Penryn processor I heard about Intel’s Montevina don’t know what to do waiting is so hard !!!

 

BTW, it is important to note that the lower TDP (25W) is only applicable for the T8xxx series CPUs, the moment you jump over 2.5GHz, your TDP is back to the higher number. So for performance enthusiasts it won't do much although of course a cooler CPU is always preferred and we will get that with Montevina+Penryn. I think this is an incremental upgrade, at best, the real change will come with Nehalem I was on the fence when I got my M1330, but rather than wait for the T9300 to come out which was costing me $300 extra, I opted for the Merom and 64GB SSD. Got it for a good price and don't regret it at all.

 

Better deal here:
http://www.techbargains.com/jump.cfm?id=511&afsrc=1&u=119183-n-1&arg=DYDWTH5

*edit* never mind, didn't see the extra warranty you added. Yea, that's a great deal.

 

not a big deal but after i bought mine, i noticed that they started shipping with Penryn and the price was pretty good. now i see this on techbargains:
4.0lbs; 12.1"; Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 @ 2.4GHz; 4GB RAM; 250GB HDD; DVD Burner; 802.11n; Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB; Vista Home Premium; Fingerprint reader; Trend Micro Anti-Virus 2yrs; Audigy HD Software; built-in webcam/mic; 3GB 1yr Datasafe; 2yr Warranty

$1898.00 - $799 off = $1099 Free Shipping (Exp 4/22)

i'd say that's a damn good bargain. i can't fault dell for making new offers and for selling better units but it does make me sigh when i see what i could have had....

 

Now what what the hell is "Nehalem" and when is this comming out!!!

 

yay, my student discount gives me the same system and specs, with a TV Tuner but only integrated audio(instead of the Audigy HD SOftware) for $975 plus tax plus free shipping

still haven't decided whether warranty+accidental damage+LED screen is worth an extra $275 and no TV tuner and lower processor

 

The Audigy software is just software, not a separate audio card.
If you didn't get it, you're not missing much.

 

i guess i'd go for the $975 model....and buy the warranty later if needed

anyone know whether the warranty price is cheaper up front(when buying the laptop) or when the original warranty is about to expire and you extend?

and is the accidental coverage any good? i'm usually very careful with my electronics(my dell axim x51v is still working after 3 years w/o any problems)

 

Nehalem is the codename of the micro-architecture that is launching later this year after Centrino 2 this summer. For notebooks, the platform is Caleplla, and that is launching by summer of next year. It will feature 45nm processors codenamed "Gilo". Two laptop version, dual core "Auburndale" and quad core "Clarksdale". Both feature intergrated GPU's and Hyper-Threading. In presentations by Intel, they said it should get 30 minutes better battery life than current Penryns. The platform will have support for SSD's, DDR3 ram only (no DDR2), wimax, and a bunch of other good stuff. It will be great!