Vostro 1700 vs other Vostro's

I'm new to the forum, so forgive any rookie mistakes...I have been pushed into purchase of a new laptop, as my previous Inspiron 8200 HD is now making some new and exciting noises shortly after startup.. after 5 years I guess I'm cutting losses, so to speak. I have been reading for the last 2 days on Vostro models from Dell, and I think I have settled on a Vostro 1700... I have noticed a lot of Posts here on 1400 and 1500's so I am a bit curious if there are significant concerns with 1700's. I mostly am looking at it for the 10 key numeric pad, as I work with spreadsheets a lot. So if there are any other models that offer this, I'd be interested in looking at those as well for a comparison. At work from time to time I work on an XPS M170(?I think that is the model anyway) of similar physical size as the 1700 I think. As I price them out today there is a $563 instant savings from dell taking my spec of $1955 to under 1400. Below are the specs that I have looked at. Let me know if there is anything that you would change

1) What is your budget ~$2000

2) What size notebook would you prefer? 15" or larger

3) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in. Not sure where these are at.... United States

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
Familiar with dell... also can get additional discount thru work

5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
MS office stuff... some database, and some Memory intensive mapping applications (sometimes as demanding as some games).. Possibly Virtual PC.... spec'ed out 2.0 GHz, 3GB RAM DDR2 667 MHz 2DIMM

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk? needs to be Portable... will opt for backpack style carrying case


7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
very few..low demand if any; Video Card spec: 128MB Nvidia 8400M GS

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?
1/2 hour at the most... mostly plugged in

9) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
no preferance

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Familiar with XP... open to vista

Screen Specifics

11) Would you prefer standard or widescreen? either; probably wide

12) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?


e. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050; Wider viewing version of SXGA, good for movie viewing or spreadsheets.


13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
either, both have advantages

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
no

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
hopefully 5+ years

Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 200GB?
240 - 2x 120 5400 RPM 40GB primary drive partition

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD, Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive?
CD/DVD-R is plenty

 

If you want something portable, I'd go with the 1500 as the 1700 is a behemoth.

 

Yes , Get a Vostro 1500 and use it with an external USB number pad instead.

 

same here i would say get the smaller one