Vostro 1500 or 1700 - can't decide!

Hi all.

Looking for a good but cheap laptop, primarily for use at home, but occasionally lugged elsewhere. My desktop PC is now over 6 years old, and my monitor is playing up - after pricing up good-spec monitors, and breaking my comfy chair, I've warmed to the idea of a laptop.

Now, I've had a lovely 20" monitor since 2002, and am accustomed to 1600x1200. I love the real estate it affords, and find it an ideal resolution for the size of the screen.

This is my dilemma. I can order a basic Vostro 1700, but with the 17" WUXGA 1920x1200 screen, for £375 inc VAT. Or, I could get the slightly smaller Vostro 1500, with the 15.4" WSXGA+ 1680x1050 screen, for £354 inc VAT.

Both are el-cheapo models. I used to work primarily in laptop repair back in 1997-2000, and I don't do anything terribly demanding these days, so I'll upgrade from the Celeron processor in a year or two when replacement C2D chips are cheap. I'm still using an XP1700+, and have no issues with how much 'grunt' it's got . I'm not a demanding user... The most intensive thing the CPU does is encode music(I have a lot, and rip from CD on a regular basis), and occasionally rip/transcode a DVD to store on the hard drives.

I've ran Linux for years now, so I'll be trying(!!) to claim back the unused copy of Windows.

So, whaddya reckon? The bigger 1700 or the more compact 1500? The 1500 is slightly better equipped, with 2gb of RAM, a 1.86ghz Celeron, 160gb HDD and bluetooth. The 1700 has a 2ghz CPU, 120gb HDD, 1gb RAM and no bluetooth. Bluetooth is nice, but rarely needed. RAM is cheap, and my main storage will be via the desktop/media centre, so the laptop HDD size doesn't matter much.

I can upgrade everything at a later date if needed, apart from the screen. is 1920x1200 too much for a 17" screen? Would the 15.4" be better to use? Which would give the nearest size(fonts, icons, etc) to the 20" 1600x1200 on my desktop?

Thanks for reading, sorry for all the questions. Just want to make sure I know what I'm doing before committing to a purchase!

 

Get the Vostro 1700

Dell has a deal going on right now on all Vostro's. Price any Vostro laptop at $1,299 or more and get $500 off the purchase price.

I'm trying to wait on the new E Latitudes the middle of this year but this sounds awfully tempting. If you are going to use the laptop for home use buy the bigger screen.

 

The WUXGA in the 1700 would basically give you a widescreen version of the resolution you've been accustomed to, so I'd recommend the 1700 too

You mentioned screen size, hard drive space, and price. Of course obviously the 1700 has the bigger screen [and resolution]. Hard drive space, well the 1700 has room for two hard disks, while the 1500 only has one. Price, wow. That difference between the 1500 and 1700 just makes the latter an extremely better buy. Wish that was the price difference when I bought my 1500, would've definitely gone for 17".

 

I'm in the UK, so that deal doesn't apply over here. Which is a shame, because it works out to be just over £400 for a far better equipped machine.

You guys don't know how good you've got it when it comes to IT! ;-)

I think I've answered my own question. A guy on here did a review with pictures - the 1700 is 2 DVD cases wide, and 2 width DVD cases high. If anyone can decipher that!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9780&d=1188018401
http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9781&d=1188018524

Those two pictures should help potential buyers who aren't familiar with widescreen sizes. My 20" 4:3 monitor is around the same width, and I'd guess 1.5" to 2" taller.

So there we go. I think I'll go for the 1700, with the WUXGA (1920x1200) screen. It'll be more comparable to 1600x1200 on my desktop than the 1500, or the standard (1440x900) 17". Actually... both will be broadly comparable, but I think the 1920x1200 will be better suited to me.

After all, if I could do over 1600x1200 on my CRT, with a refresh rate of 85hz or more, then I would.

It always amazes me how many people buy a laptop based on the CPU and RAM. Hardly anyone ever bothers researching the heat generated by the machine, how nice the screen is to use(regardless of its size), etc, etc.

I learnt a long time ago that there are three important things with a laptop - how the mouse and touchpad feel in use, whether the fan noise will drive you up the wall, and how nice the screen is to use. Everything else can be upgraded a year or two down the line by anyone with a semi-competent friend for the price of a few cans of beer and s/h components.

And lets face it... who actually needs a 2ghz Celeron for web browsing and playing music? I'd notice little difference if I swapped over to a 800mhz P3 95% of the time. It makes a real difference if one routinely transcodes DVDs and the like, but how many typical users ever get their hands so dirty?

I reckon a clean install of XP, with 1gb and 800mhz, and most typical users would consider it an noticeable upgrade over their standard installation machine, with bloatware and other such nonsense, but with more powerful hardware.

I'll fetch me coat. Have a habit of wandering off-topic.

Actually, whilst I'm going O/T, does anyone remember the ThinkPad 760ED? Lovely, bright and crisp 12" 1024x768, tilting keyboard, P133, 2.1gb... $4k retail a decade ago!

 

Silly money, aren't they? Under £400 for an ample machine with that screen... my order will be placed tomorrow, whilst they're still doing the free shipping!

It's a good deal compared to other standard UK models, but I don't half wish I could order an American spec, with that $500 discount on anything over $1299. It'd mean the machine cost ~£50 more than the one I've listed, but had a T7250, more memory, 250gb drive, bigger battery... for just £50 more...

 

Trust we are spoiled living in the States. And yes I do remember the 760ED because the very first laptop I ever owned was a lovely and very stout 380ED.

That's when IBM made there own laptops and quality was first and price was second.

 

Well, that's really rather disappointing. Came online ~7.15pm to place my order. Tried logging in to the chat option to enquire as to how long it would take to build and ship - spent over 40 minutes trying to log in to chat.

Gave up, and just placed the order.

That's 20 days from now. Spent another hour trying to get in to the chat with a representative option - they close their doors at 9pm. Finally get in, type my query, and sit here waiting. Question is asked at 20:59:35, am told that I'm 2nd in the queue. It's now 21.33, and I'm still waiting for an answer...

I wouldn't mind, but there was no mention of such a long wait when I was ordering. 20 days is a long time, had I known I'd have had a look locally to see what I could have actually bought and owned(!!) the same day.

The only information I could fine on their web site was "Dell systems typically take approximately 3 - 6 business days to build".

Hmmm...

Is this typical? Do they, by some miracle, routinely remove 14 days from the delivery schedule?

 

They usually deliver faster than their promised date.

 

Dell always over estimate delivery by at least a week in my experience. I've ordered 3 machines in the last 6 months and all were delivered way ahead of schedule.

Couldn't agree more with you 4th post in the thread by the way.

I've lost count of the number of threads that feature questions like "should I spend the extra £xx on a faster processor? I'm mainly going to use my machine to listen to mp3s and browse the web..."

I also remember the 760ED and it's couterparts. We used to fix them at the last company I worked for. Hated them! They truly were one of the worst machines I've ever worked on. Still makes me shudder now just thinking about them! :lol:

 

LOL! We used to buy in the dealer returns direct from Greenock. 760 was my favourite of that era(365, 560 and 760) because it was possible to repair/replace individual boards rather than just have to swap the mainboard out.

Tilting keyboard and good screens made them a joy to use compared to other brands at the time.

 

Ahhh.... that's made me feel a little better about having to wait for my new purchase.

Dell have just raised the base price by £50, plus VAT. And in exchange, they upgrade the graphics card. I didn't want, or need, the upgraded card, so declined the upgrade when it was a £30 option.

And now, had I waited a couple of days, I'd have had to have the upgraded card, and had to pay an additional £20 on top of the original upgrade price.

I'm still annoyed that they didn't publicise that the build will be significantly more than the 3-6 business days they list in their online help. But I'm glad the overall cost is £59 lower than had I ordered today.

And.... the WUXGA screen is 'incompatible' with the GF8400M, so it'd be another £40 to upgrade to the 8600, or I'd have had to downgrade the screen.

So, now I know I've saved a total of £105.75, I feel a little happier about the wait. Just thought I'd share that with you all .

ETA - Plus I've earned £15.95 on my Quidco cashback account for buying through them. If I successfully surrender the copy of Windows which I couldn't deselect, this'll turn out to be a cracking value laptop.

 

Sounds like you got a good deal then. Timing is everything with Dell it seems. Got my Vostro for a shade under £400 just as they'd put a deal on the upgraded graphics cards.
Not seen it since, cheapest it comes to for my spec is around £430 now. And Quidco is a nice bonus as well, although I lost mine as my browsers cookie settings didn't pass the cashback to Quidco.

 

Their pricing and options do seem to change like the wind. I suppose it's a bit naff really, as one cannot be assured that a potential purchase is going to still be available tomorrow.

I'd have been gutted to price up a system 2 days ago, only to find that the base price had gone up, and the default video card had been withdrawn, and the new 'standard' one wouldn't be compatible with my chosen screen. In fact, I'd be in here slating them. I'm surprised more people don't come on here moaning about it .