E6500 initial impressions

My E6500 was delivered mid-afternoon yesterday. We had Christmas activities at church and then family Christmas activities at home last night, so I wasn't able to open the package and check it out until this morning. In a previous message I wrote how I ordered the machine (certified refurbished) from the Dell outlet on Monday afternoon, so it was pretty good service to get it delivered within 48 hours.

Here is the configuration:
Regal Red case
P9500 processor
4Gb RAM
15.4" WXGA+ LED screen
Intel 5300 wifi card
DVD +/-RW
250Gb HD w/ free fall sensor
Dell 410 bluetooth module
webcam
fingerprint reader
backlit keyboard
9-cell battery
Vista Business
3 year mail-in warranty

$1104 after coupon, with shipping and tax included


I picked the refurb E6500 because I needed a 15" quality machine, with enough CPU power to run CAD, I didn't really need a powerful GPU, and I had a tight budget. After a little reading I decided I wanted the P series processor, the 5300 wifi card, backlit keyboard and LED backlit screen. I searched through the inventory in the outlet and found this one that came pretty close. (I didn't want the webcam and fingerprint reader, but with a
preconfigured machine it is take it or leave it.)

I opened the box, and got directly to it. Not much in the box, just the computer, power brick, and a stack of disks. No manuals, extra cables, advertisements, whatever. This is a certified refurb computer, but I could not find any cosmetic issues with it, it looks new to me.

Appearance:
The red cover is a little bid subdued, not bright, which I suppose is what you would expect from a business machine. The black ones seem to have a brushed metal appearance on the cover, but the red painted one is smooth. The keyboard and inside surfaces are black, again the understated elegance of pure business. The backlit keyboard is pretty neat, but I'll have to check it out at night in a dimmed room. The screen looks great as is, I haven't played with the brightness settings yet. I have mixed feelings about the battery- on the one hand I didn't like the "thing" sticking out almost an inch in the back, but OTOH I will use it away from AC power enough that the extra
battery life is important to me.

Using it:
I cranked it up and it took a long time before it loads Windows. I have not installed Vista before but it looked like it was going through some portion of the installation process. I didn't know what to expect with a refurb, whether it would already have the OS loaded and ready to go, or if part of the refurb process is to reload the OS.

After using the machine for an hour or so, no problems, but the touchpad is a little sluggish sometimes. The machine runs SuperPi1.5 1M in about 19 sec. so it's faster than average. NO bloatware on the machine, and not much of anything else really, which I don't mind because I'll install everything I need anyway.