Vista Release Impact/First Laptop Advice

Ok so I'm in the market for my first ever laptop, cool. So I'd basically just like some opinions before I make this purchase.

The current model I'm admiring is the E1505, Heres the Specs:

PROCESSOR - Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5500 (1.66GHz, 2MB L2 Cache,667MHzFSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM - Genuine Windows® XP Media Center
FREE UPGRADE TO WINDOWS VISTA PREMIUM
LCD PANEL - 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife™
MEMORY - 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
HARD DRIVE - 80GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
OPTICAL DRIVE - 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
VIDEO CARD - 128MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1300 HyperMemory™
SOUND OPTIONS - Integrated Audio
BATTERY OPTIONS - 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
WIRELESS CARDS - Intel PRO/Wireless 3945a/g

Priced at $857.70 with 20% off and free shipping (includes tax).

Basically I'd like to know any opinions before I buy mostly about Vista. I would like this laptop to last about the next 4 years for everyday use and occasional gaming (I have moved to game consoles from pc games, its just cheaper). This is the absolute cheapest I could find a general use laptop, but I can't help but wonder, should I wait?

Vista is less than a week away, when will it come preloaded? Will the prices go up? Is there any future discounts I should wait for? (I am kicking myself, they had an AMD Turon, 1 gig ram, dvd burner, 80 gig HD for 599.99 in December! I should have ordered!) but I missed out and am now perplexed at how my $650 budget has gained $200. Its very hard to let go of that kind of money when in college, I know I should probably skimp but I don't want to regret such a large purchase. I need advice, should I wait? School is all ready in session so how long should I wait? Any advice/ help/ info would be appreciated, the 20% expires feb 7th, will new offers come out this sunday? or when vista comes out? or will no new offers come out?

Thank you for spending time reading this, any help?

 

I don't know when Vista is going to come preloaded, but I'm hearing that it will come preloaded almost as soon as it is release. I could be wrong though. Regardless, with Vista so close to release, I would say to wait it out if you can. That 20% off deal is really good though, so it really is hard to decide. But I mean, Vista will cost you like $24 to ship and stuff, and the 20% off deal is definitely worth more than $24.

 

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3476

Dell should have Windows Vista preloaded on laptops by this Sunday at the latest. Wait it out, unless the coupon will expire.

 

dell has updated their site and now has vista preloaded on their notebooks

 

Thank you to everybody thus far, I see vista now is pre installed, although it is now cheaper to get the business version (only $99 vs $149) the 128MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1300 HyperMemory™ has been removed from option so if I decide a graphics card now I have to side with the 256mb X1400 err. I'm still however undecided to wait for this deal or hope down the road there is a better. Does anyone know if the current (I assume DX9) cards in laptops can even do aero properly in vista?

 

yes the x1400 will run aero

 

I would consider more RAM. Most everything that I have read so far discusses what a RAM hog Vista is. You'll want as much as you can reasonably afford above and beyound what Vista steals, and if it truly uses a half gig, then the remaining half gig is OK but in my opinion a bit low. I'm not really recommending more RAM really, just saying - you should take a look.

In my experience, go for the 7200RPM drive and skip the 5400. If you want a large drive for storage, get an external one later on if you truly do end up even needing it at all. To me the speed difference is really worth the upgrade.

Dell always has things on sale. Deals shift around between hardware, software, shipping, etc. The only sure-fire way to get a better deal is to what for things to get older and the newer stuff to come out. But that basically means never ever buying any technology... what you've got looks like a good price, I wouldn't hesitate.

 

Haha exactly as I feel. My desktop Pc is now getting on in years with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ and an X1600 graphics card but with my pc if something get too old you can upgrade with a laptop not so much. My Pc graphics car will eventually be upgraded to a DX10, as far as the ram in the laptop is concerned, I'd pay extra if it was possible to get the 1 gig all in 1 Dimm but since its not an option I cant justify spending $200 more on 1 more gig of ram, outrageous! (not when you can get ram cheaper elsewhere) Ram can all ways be upgraded so not too much worry there. Thank you for your advice I greatly appreciate.

 

This link might help, just scroll down and look for Good Better and Best.
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/solutions/en/winvista?c=us&cs=&l=en&s=dhs

 

For those telling my to go for 2 gigs of ram over 1 I'll have to ask if you feel downgrading the processor is worth the extra ram? I don't think so at this point and my budget won't allow much to anything more. So lesser processor or lesser ram? (Either way I'm placing my order tonight!)

Doug

 

go for better processor.
Ram is easily upgradable.In the future, sell one of your 512 and get higher ram.This will be cheaper than to sell the processor and get a new one.

 

Thank you to everyone for all the help!
My first laptop, I'm very excited, so ok it all came up to about $875, not what I wanted to spend but it will get me through at least the next few years of my life. The last time I played with vista was beta 1 I'll be interested to see what improvements have come. once again thanks!

Doug