Just got a Dell D630 - good deal?

Found it at a pawn shop for $140, tax included (price was $129.99).

Specs:
CPU: T9500
GPU: Intel GMA X3100
HD: 120 GB
RAM: 2GB
Display: 1280 x 800

Overall, it was in great shape. It had Windows XP Professional, but I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit, and now it's running great.

For the price, I thought it would make an excellent web-surfing, word processing, and occasional movie-watching laptop. It's missing the PCMCIA slot cover which I will get from Ebay for $3. Oh, and the battery is no good, but I will buy a 9-cell non-OEM battery off Ebay for $24.

I read that the Intel GMA X3100 version of this laptop is preferred over the Nvidia-powered one. Can anyone help me out as to why? Also, I think having the Intel T9500 CPU is a bonus.

What do you think - would you have bought this if you found it at a pawn shop for the price stated?

 

I think you got a good deal , especially with a T9500 in it. The Nividia one has a high failure rate up until Aug or Sept 08 I believe. Also the X3100 sgould run a little cooler as well.

 

You can read a lot on this model here http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/139422-d630-owners-thread.html

 

Ya good deal. No Nvidia GPU and T9500 worth $100 on its own. Too bad only WXGA.

 

Well, the WXGA is actually not bad at all. I think the contrast ratio and overall appearance are much better than the LED ones on the newer generation Dell Latitudes. I had a D6410 with 1440 x 900 on the same size screen, and I just couldn't stand it. Low contrast ratio so blacks were actually gray.

 

I hadn't heard the 900 screens were worse than the standard. Perhaps you were unlucky.

Anyway seems a good deal as long as the condition is OK.

BTW you might get lucky and find a reasonably priced OEM battery if you look hard enough.

 

I'll post some pics of my D630's screen soon.

 

Sounds like a good deal to me.

I've been looking at picking up a D630 myself. I have a specific application requires a true hardware-based serial port (not a USB to serial adapter). For the price on D630s now, I can afford to buy one and dedicate it to that application.

Of the E series, only the E5500 seems to have the hardware serial port (not using a USB adapter of some kind). And they're still kind of pricey used and not as plentiful as the D630.

After reading on here, a D630 with the Intel graphics, like the one you have, would seem to be the right pick. Maybe I need to start checking out the pawn shops around here.

 

You can regularly get mid-spec units on eBay for $150 to $200. You'll have to dig around to find one with Intel graphics, though; I think the majority are going to be Nvidia.

 

So, I happened to find the best configuration on the D630 at the pawn shop (well except for the 1440 x 900 screen).