Looks like a fabulous deal on a Dell Notebook...

[Sonnie Parker]

I've been looking for a notebook and this one seems like too good a deal to pass up...

Anything out there that will compare in price range?

Unfortunately I don't have much time to decide...

For basically just under $1100 shipped (after $150 mail-in rebate)...

This is with all the lowest choices selected...

[Sonnie Parker]

Hmmm... for $275 more (no mail-in rebate) shipped...

Better hard drive, better warranty, the extra software I need, 56k modem I need, and a wireless mouse...

[Andrew Pratt]

Hands down the second one walks all over the first one. The second one has the newer Sonomo chipset, a much faster hard drive, faster memory and warrenty. I'd still like to see a 3 year warrenty but the important hardware specs are much improved over your first choice.

[Sonnie Parker]

I can step down to the 15.4 WXGA with the Pentium M 1.5 and get a 2yr warranty for $936 total shipped. The only problem is the hard drive is 4200rpm, which may be okay for me since mostly I'm building my webpages.

Doesn't look like any of the 6000's come with the 7200rpm option.

I don't play games and such, if that matters.

[Andrew Pratt]

My 6000 is coming with the 7200 drive but you're right I don't see it on their site as an option at the moment. Its one item that's easy to upgrade later so given the choice I'd say get the 1.6GHz Sonomo (the one's with the 533 MHz bus speed) and up the warrenty. If games aren't an option (aren't for me either) the integrated video is fine and saves you $200 or so. You can also save by selecting the lowest ram they offer and use 3rd party ram as its much cheaper (even if you get crucial which is Dell approved its still cheaper) and again Ram's very easy to upgrade unlike the processor.

It seems you guys have a different layout on the Dell site then the Canadian counterpart...weird considering they're all built in Texas. Anyway there's a few coupons here that might be of some help. I was able to apply the $500 off one on a few config's to get the price down around the $1K mark on a nicely configured 6000 with the newer chip and a 3 year warranty etc.

[Sonnie Parker]

Yeah... I've got the coupons working for me... $750 discount and free shipping.

Actually Crucial is $90 for 256k while Dell is only $50.

I reconfigured it a little to get it at $2005 then applied the coupon for a final price of $1255 shipped... this gives me the 2yr warranty and I'll put one of my older versions of office on there that will do for now.



Now I'll go back and reconsider the 6000 once more and see if the savings will be worth the cuts... I may call Dell and see if they can put the 7200 HD in there too.

[Andrew Pratt]

That's a nicely configured notebook Sonnie :yesnod:

There's some interesting deals to be had here as well

http://www.alliedtek.com/ProductSearch.cfm?ProductType=ob

Also this is the Ram that I'm buying for my 6000 when it gets here as its the faster memory that the sonomo supports but Dell isn't shipping ...at least not on the 6000 for some odd reason since the 9200 does come with that fast ram

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1169998&sku=C13-6048

[Azeke]

I choose option #2, (+$275.00). Also to note, Dell negotiates if you call them with counter offers.

Hope this helps,

Azeke

[Andrew Pratt]

So did you pull the trigger on a notebook Sonnie?

[Sonnie Parker]

Yep... I did! Ordered it late yesterday.

I may have bought an HP had it not been for you Andrew... thanks!

This is what I ended up with at $1330 taxed and shipped ($750 coupon applied)...

Pentium M 730 1.6GHz/533MHz FSB
XP Home Edition (I may replace with 2000 Pro)
17" WXGA+
512MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz
64MB ATIs Radeon X300
60GB 7200rpm HD
Integrated 10/100 NIC and Modem
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 (802.11 b/g, 54Mbps)
6-cell Lithium Ion Battery
MS Office Basic (Outlook, Word, Excel)
Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0
Charcoal Leather QuickSnap Cover
2Yr Ltd Warranty, 2Yr At-Home Service, and 2Yr Technical Support

I changed it up a liittle and opted for the MS Office Basic instead of the NAV because I ordered NAV 2005 for $28 vs. Dell's price of $69 (which included firewall and spamblock that I don't need). I need Word, Excel and Outlook and don't have anymore activations left on my current copy.

All in all it was a few hundred more than I wanted to spend but I'll try it out and if it's too big then I'll swap it for a 6000 or something else. The good thing about Dell is they want you to be satisfied and give you the 30 day trial period.

[Andrew Pratt]

Great choices Sonnie...that'll make for a really nice laptop :T