Almost wish I had waited for the new Studio 16

Also it has one vs three years warranty and a cheaper OS. Adding those two will make the price above 2k$.
Not to mention the kind of discounts you can get on E6500.

 

Good point re: screen, John. I am a documents person as well, and will appreciate the 1440 x 900 screen of the E6500 over the XPS16's screen...

From where I stand, the XPS16 has the advantages of: (1) newer technology in some aspect, such as DDR3 RAM; and (2) better pricing, at least from the online site. Still, I am probably leaning towards the E6500 because: (1) screen resolution; (2) docking; (3) built quality; (4) availability of the P9500 processor; and (5) as I'm not a gamer or videophile, the availability of the intergrated video card for the E6500 is a good option for me too.

When I'm ready to make the plunge, I'll probably call up a rep. to see if a deal can be made. Sadly, being from Canada, there is no Dell Outlet as an alternative. Thanks for your responses!

You are right, sir. Also, as noted above, I'm also eyeing the P9500 processor, which is not available on the XPS16 (though strangely enough, it IS an upgrade option for the XPS13). Thanks for your observations also!

 

I can't live without the docks - I end up plugging/unplugging my E6400 four five times a day when I get bored at the desk to relax at the couch.

Why the E6500 rather then E6400? If you don't need a discrete GPU then the difference is only expresscard / pc card slots. I've switched from 15,4" (D830) to 14,1" (E6400) and I'm pretty happy - just miss my WUXGA working space, but the desktop monitor comes along to help.

 

More specifically, they are displays with a true 16:9 ratio instead of the more common 16:10. For example, WUXGA 1920x1200 is 16:10, the Studio XPS 16's 1920x1080 screen is 16:9.

 

Good question; I've always looked only at the E6500 b/c 15" seems to be the "normal" size [i.e. unless one were to look for an ultra-portable]. You are right, I'm not interested in or need a discrete GPU, so maybe E6400 is the better option. As for expresscard/pc card slots, is the difference in the number of slots available? I would probably want an expresscard slot, to future-proof the machine; I'm pretty sure I don't have an PC card peripherals since I'm currently on a desktop anyway, so shouldn't have any issues re: lack of compatability of expresscard vis a vis pc card slot items....

p.s. On the first Dell Business Days of Deals, nothing of interest and certainly no deals on the Latitudes!