Upgraded my Dell after four years :-D

Former Dell Laptop (shipped July 17, 2003)

Latitude D600
14.1" LCD, 1024 X 768
1.6 GHz Pentium M (1 MB L2 Cache)
512 MB DDR RAM
Windows XP Professional
Dell TrueMobile 1300
CD-R/DVD High-Speed Combo Drive
32 MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9000
3 years on-site service + accidental damage protection
Logitech Wireless Optical Mouse
Nylon Dell Laptop Bag
~$1,600 (Penn State discount)

Just ordered:
Ruby Red Inspiron 1420
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7100 (1.8GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 14.1 inch display (1440x900)
128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8400M GS
160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Genuine Windows® Vista Home Premium Edition
CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini-Card
Camera Integrated 2.0 Megapixel Webcam
DellCare Plus Warranty Bundle
6-cell Primary Battery and 9-cell additional Lithium Ion Battery
Bluetooth Options Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)
Dell Bluetooth Travel Mouse
Laptop Sleeve

$1,429 shipped

Crazy how much has changed in a few years... Think I'll notice the difference?

Sort of worried about the glossy display in class... think it will be a huge problem?

 

For that much, you should've went with the T7300, it's faster and has twice the cache for not much more.

 

Wanted to keep the cost under 1500.. i get 1k from my school loans for a laptop and I figured I could add in another 400-450 from taking 150 out of my upcoming 3 paychecks...

I was also concerned about heat... I was under the impression that slower processors produce less heat.

Use of the laptop will primarily be for entertainment (movies, music, etc) and word processing as well as surfing the net, of course. I don't forsee gaming, although an occasional one might occur. This is going to med school not undergrad I will also need to multitask between open PDFs, powerpoints, and internet apps while studying.

Is this a huge issue... should I call and change my order? I went with the 1.8 bc it is the base Santa Rosa, correct? I have been out of this tech stuff for years.

 

Nice rig but like Frost said I would go with the T7300 because you get 4mb of L2 cache. Heat in the C2D CPU's run very cool unless they are being hammered for hours at full load like a very intense gaming session or CPU intensive programs.

I have a T7200 in my T60 which is basically a T7300 and it runs very cool 85% of the time.

 

They are both Santa Rosa but the T7300 is a better value and a faster CPU. I'd say go for the upgrade as I would imagine, the heat output would be similar.

 

Just checked the prices... it's an additional 70 dollars. I cannot justify the cost :-/ for my usage. I appreciate the heads-up on the cache though. I might not have noticed that unless I had posted here thanks

Any other comments or criticisms? I was hoping someone would address the glossy screen in class situation that might have some experience... it's a large lecture-hall type room...

How about the price... anyone get a similar setup for cheaper?

 

Well, considering you got ripped off - reordering (although it might be shipped later) would get you a better price and a processor upgrade

Look around for the coupon codes and other promotional materials, and idk if you called or ordered online - but call them, they often have better prices.

 

In a class room environment I would go with a matte (anti-glare) finish instead of glossy. You'll pickup lot's of reflections with a glossy screen.

p.s. Yeah the price on your lappy is a little high. I configured one this morning and it came out to $1200 with a T7300 CPU. Check the codes on the home page.

 

I called and the dell rep quoted me a higher price.

I used the 350 dollar coupon code earlier in the day but by the time I went to use it when I was ordering, it was expired. Even so, it was only a 10 dollar price differential over using the student EPP discount + 200 dollar coupon (which is now a better deal than the original percentage... last week the percentage was better.) I tried to get two reps to stack it on top of my student discount, but they said it wasn't possible.

 

Was that with the 3-year warranty?? F---.

I'm a clutz I def. need the warranties, but if your quotes included the warranties then I did get ripped by a lot! I left a message with one of the reps that I spoke to earlier... hopefully I get drop this price a li'l bit.

 

I highly doubt it was with the 3 year warranty.
The deal you got is quite nice with the Dell Care Plus plan.

If you didn't get the 2.0ghz processor, no biggie. It's still a fast and powerful notebook nevertheless.

 

No, 1 year

 

I'm excited to have a bluetooth capability and a bluetooth mouse so that I don't have to have the USB antennae sticking out of the back for the mouse...

Anyone have any experience with the bluetooth mouse dell sells?

 

Well let's put it this way...I got:

T7300
2GB RAM
High Contrast TrueLife Screen
8400GS
160GB 7200RPM Drive
6-Cell AND 9-Cell
Dell Bluetooth 355
1 Year AT-HOME Warranty with CompleteCare + LoJack

$1100 shipped (after taxes, etc.)

 

wow which clinton do I have to blow to get that deal?

 

None, I just ordered it last night...and I didn't even have to pay for it, because I used Dell Preferred Account - so I pay zero down, and I get sent a bill about a month after receiving it

 

I used that too Gave me 4 percent off additionally too.. pretty awesome. I used it because I get my financial aid disbursed in late August and if I had put it on my credit card I would have been charged over 20 bucks in interest by then... With the new promotion, I don't have to pay interest until February, and by then I will have used my first two disbursements to pay off the balance