Dell Inspiron 6400 for $643 shipped

Hey guys I have been lurking for a few days, thought I would post this deal up. I have been in the market for a laptop for some time now, however most laptops with Intel Processors are stuck with the integrated Intel 950 graphics chipset which I have read isn't the best for gaming. I found this deal on a site I frequent, it is the business version of the 1505 Inspiron from the home side:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?cs=04&kc=65014&oc=BNPCBC4&x=6&y=12

You can configure it as low as $643 with a gig of ram, Core Duo, 120 gig hard drive and a 128 meg X1300 video card. For right around $800 I configured it as follows:

Core 2 Duo 1.66 (T5500)
1 gig 533mhz ram
120 gig hard drive
8x DVD burner
256 Meg ATI X1400 video card
Ultra Sharp Screen
Integrated Bluetooth

I should get mine tomorrow, I plan on benchmarking it as shipped from Dell in 3dMark as well as several games, then formatting and installing XP from scratch, latest drivers, etc.

 

yes that should run games good, but to be sure, get 2 gb of ram if its not too expensive, as well as the x1400 vid card. if you would like you can also get a higher powered processor but that is not that necessary

 

How do you like your 6400? Are you running it how it was shipped or did you format? I might buy 2 gigs of ram later, I didn't think Dell had the best price for the upgrade though ($185 upgrade, I should be able to sell the ram that came in the laptop and buy aftermarket for cheaper).

 

$185 is too much to upgrade to 2GB. Check www.newegg.com and www.zipzoomfly.com for notebook RAM. The E1505 takes 200-pin, DDR2-533 (PC4200) and DDR2-667 (PC5300).

The way you have that notebook configured, it is an excellent value. There's really no need to go for a faster processor.

 

Thanks! Yeah that is what I was thinking, I looked on Newegg and I can definitely save some money going that route. The only option I didn't upgrade that I am not sure if I will regret is a 7200 rpm hard drive. You guys have any thoughts on that? I originally had the Core Duo in the laptop thinking it was a 1.6 Core 2 Duo, I called Dell up and had them upgrade for $75. $75 seems like it would be worth the money to go to a 1.66 Core 2 to me .

 

That was a good upgrade; more speed, and the 64-bit capabilities of the Core 2 Duo.

If you went with a 7200RPM hard drive, you would have had to sacrifice capacity. I use a 100GB 7200RPM drive in my notebook; some of the laptops I have reviewed had 5400RPM models. There's not a huge difference between them, I wouldn't worry yourself over that upgrade. 120GB 5400RPM is a great value.

 

I think you did well with your buying purchase. I agree that the faster HD would be nice, but it's not a necessary upgrade. Extra RAM is always good though--but Dell's RAM prices are rather steep.

 

Ya, that's how they always get ya.

The pc is cheap, then the addons are horrid.

Your best bet is third party for most of it.

 

i rly like my dell 6400, and the reason i got 2 gigs of ram was cause it was a free upgrade that i took advantage of. but i play css on my computer and it runs fine, i think that the dell 6400 can run the majority of games

 

Definitely.. mine runs everything fine.