Ordered Refurbished Vostro 1700

Hello!

I was trying to find some good laptop reviews and found these forums very helpful. This is my first post and I hope I started the thread in the right discussion

Earlier this month I purchased a Gateway NX860XL with Geforce Go 7900 GS but returned it due to blue screen problems even after receiving some replacement parts. I then ordered HP dv9500t but cancelled it because I found out that there is a major difference in speed between 8600 GS and GT. My budget is only around $1700 so I tried to stay away from Dell because I have not seen them offer any discounts but I found out that they are selling refurbished items for a lot lower price.

Checking out Dell's refurbished inventory for less than a week, I found and purchased immediately this Vostro 1700 for $1705 including tax with these specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 (2.4GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
320 GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive (160 GB x2)
Dell 1505 Wireless-N
Genuine Windows Vista Business
MEDIADIRECT 3.3 Software
4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)
Bluetooth Wireless Card 355
17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife
6 Cell Primary Battery
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

I am not very sure if I got a good deal ordering this and was wondering if I should have just bought a brand new one because I have never bought a refurbished item before. One of my options is to buy an Asus gaming laptop that I heard goes for around the same price but I prefer one with numeric pad.

 

Hmph. You have the highest processor offered by Dell, 4 gigs of ram, and a good video card. I say that's pretty good.

Well, I just checked out the dell outlet, and saw a system with similar specs, though it has a 1.6ghz processor for $1,079.00.

 

That $1079 one was probably XGA+ resolution. Jumping up to the WUXGA+ costs quite a bit, even on the outlet.

I would probably have opted for something more in the middle. The price penalty for the top end processor and memory is too steep for the return on performance. Probably would be hard pressed to tell a difference sitting in front of a 2.4GHz vs a 2.0GHz with both being 4MB cache.

There's one up right now that I'd go for:

$1209

I haven't bought one yet because I have a hard time spending $1200+ on a notebook with an 8600M GT. While it performs well, it's already seeing it's limits in games like Bioshock or Crysis, let alone games 6 months or a year from now. I tend to wait, save up a little more and get the fastest available now (in this case, the 7950GTX) and be at least comfortable with performance in games a year from now. That being said, I'm currently waiting beyond that for the 8800M for DX10 and 256bit. Seems like a good time to wait to me, since I don't have to have a new notebook right now.

 

At the same price, you could also get a Toshiba X205-S9349. If you can deal with the 1440x900 resolution screen, the 8700MGT 256MB and HD-DVD player are pretty sweet:

$1700 with 5 free HD-DVDs by mail in rebate
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

 

^^^ wow great price on that

 

Thanks for the responses

Wow, that Toshiba X205-S9349 indeed has great price for its components, but I completely stretched out my budget purchasing the Vostro 1700. Picking the Toshiba might cost me 100 bucks or more with tax and shipping.

I previously had an Asus with Radeon x1700, my very first laptop which I used for 5~ months, but I gave it to my brother because he wanted one and I am not very comfortable not having a numeric pad. I also mostly play Final Fantasy XI and Counterstrike: Source which I do not find very demanding in terms of computer performance.

 

the x205 has a number pad just fyi.. but congrads on the 1700.. i wish i went with a 17" instead