Got this in the outlet... thoughts?

I just purchased this system for $605 (ex tax) in the outlet for my aunt, who is barely computer literate. She'll use it for email and skype. She needs Ultimate for foreign language support.

• Latitude E6500 Laptop
• Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.40GHz, 3M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
• Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate
• 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
• 160 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160MWeb Camera
• Integrated Webcam with digital microphone
• Certified Refurbished
• 24X CD RW/DVD Combo Drive
• Dell 1397 802.11B/G Wireless Mini Card
• 6 Cell Primary Battery
• 125V Power Cord
• 90W AC Adapter
• Back-lit Keyboard
• Brushed Metal Black
• 15.4 inch WXGA+ LED Laptop Screen

Thoughts?

 

That is a very good price for the machine. I think it's definitely overkill for someone who is not doing anything intensive, but since it is at such a good price, why not? I got my mother a brand new, fully loaded, and ordered new Dell Inspiron 1525 for about $450, and she is more than happy using it. She is also not all that literate in English, but she just uses it for internet and nothing else really.

 

Yeah, nothing wrong with it. Fairly good specs for the money. I'd even have scrapped the Nvidia GPU if possible; in the words of John Ratsey, it's more of a liability than an asset if you don't have any use for it. Otherwise, nice job finding a backlist keyboard and a WXGA+; I feel like these two were impossible to get together on my refurbished E6400...

 

Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, it's surely overkill for my aunt, but hopefully it will take her years into the future.

 

I personally would have gotten something slightly smaller, cheaper, and with integrated graphics. But man, what a machine for the price!

 

:yes: But maybe she'll get Flight Simulator and learn to fly a plane.

Yes, it's physically likely to last and i doubt if the hardware will become obsolete for some years.

She probably doesn't need it smaller and 15.4" WXGA+ is a good compromise.

John

 

Smaller laptops have smaller displays, and that could be a problem for the older users. If there is one thing people complain about my WXGA+ display on the E6400, it's the fonts being too small. Yes, I know that could be made larger, but the small size may not be important when one gets older.

 

True. I was thinking along the lines of a 14 inch laptop with a wxga screen. I personally think that a 14 inch would be the perfect compromise between portability and usability. But, to each his/her own. :]

 

Would you believe that the E6500 arrived today (excitement woo-hoo). But when I took the notebook out of the box, I noticed a plastic piece the size of a quarter and a metal clip in the bottom of the box. Ut-oh. (See blurry photo, attached below.)

The broken piece seems to be the button to release the DVD drive from the media bay, though I'm not sure (see photo).

My guess is that there is no way that this piece broke off in transit. The system was probably returned new, and Dell just boxed it up again and sold it in the outlet (much like the horror stories I've read at ihatedell.net).

I'm going to try to get Dell to fix it, rather than send the entire system back. I like the price I got and the system specs...

 

Maybe for your trouble, they'll upgrade you to a DVD-RW drive .