Questions about Dell Latitudes- thinking about buying

Hey, I started a thread in the "What Notebook Should I Buy?" section, and soon I narrowed it down to a Dell Latitude D830. However, I know the E6500 is supposedly coming out in August...anyways, I figured this is now the best place for answers.

-Important thing to mention: I plan on recording music with Pro Tools (using an MBox) on this computer. Would this machine make sense for this?

1) Do you think Dell will allow me to choose to order the E6500 with XP Pro installed, plus the disc of Vista? This is a great option currently on the E830, and I think I want to stick with XP for now at least.

2) I already have MS Office installed on my current machine...do I have to buy it again to use it on my next computer, or is there any way to transfer it over?

Bottom line is, I like all of the options I've chosen on the D830, but I obviously want to buy the best computer for the price. However, I would hate to wait on the E6500, then find out it is too expensive or doesn't have the options I like...does Dell usually discontinue models as soon as the new ones are released? Even better, do they cut the prices?

Thanks for any help!

 

The audio encoding is CPU dependent, so any fast CPU is good.
1. Probably, probably not. Nobody knows so far if they will do offer XP (as far as I have read), but they will probably keep doing so, as there are many people willing to use XP.
2. No, you can uninstall it on your previous machine and use it on your next one (if it requires activation you will have to do it again). Not sure how it works for an OEM version of MS Office (if you have one).
I don't think they will discontinue the D830 right away, but it's a risk you'll take by waiting. From my point of view the price shouldn't change much, as they're in direct competition with Lenovo (ThinkPad T61) and Lenovo prices are very good at the moment.

 

Cool, thanks for replying. I'll consider moving MS Office to my new machine. I've read about something called OpenOffice.org, can anyone here recommend that?

I think what I'm going to do is call Digidesign tomorrow (the company that makes the MBox and Pro Tools software) and go over the specs for my possible new Dell to make sure it will be compatible. I just may go for the D830...

 

Openoffice.org is a great free office program, though microsoft word is simply better. If you have microsoft office, i would recommend just sending it over. I tried Openoffice for a while and found that though it was great for a free program, it had its flaws.

 

Cool, thanks for the heads up. I'll plan on transferring Office to my new computer and will probably install OpenOffice on my old machine just to have something on there in case it's needed.

 

^thats exactly what i did. I put OpenOffice on my old desktop. It ran slower than Microsoft Office, and i thought it would just be better to keep microsoft. OpenOffice.org 3 is coming out soon, so maybe try the beta version to get the feel of it. Its supposedly pretty good.

 

Cool, sounds good. I ordered the laptop last night, so I'm pretty excited to try all of this out in the next few weeks. Now I gotta buy a FireWire hard drive to record to...

 

I see you just ordered the D830 which is a great system. On the e series, you will still get the option to have the vista business license with downgrade rights to XP Pro. Dell has plans to keep doing that through the middle of next year.

 

Cool, thanks for the heads up- I suppose I felt more comfortable getting the D830 since I know exactly what it is and it seems to get pretty solid reviews from its users, but I think the E series looks much cooler (not a huge concern of mine though- which is why I'm getting a big, loaded 15.4" laptop...)
The good thing is that Dell has a 30 day return policy for the D830, so I'll have plenty of time to make sure I get Pro Tools up and running, along with making sure I like the machine. From what I can tell, it's going to make me very happy.

 

I just purchased a Latitude D830 about two weeks ago and have been using it for the past week. So far, it seems to be an excellent machine with supurb build quality. I do have to admit that it isn't quite as sleek as a Thinkpad or Mac, but its features definantely make up for it. I would recommend purchasing the D830 rather than the E6500. Most newer notebook soundcards don't support external recording, so if Dell changes parts you could be left in a hole. The D830 supports line-in recording through a firmware upgrade.

Oh also, if you do buy the D830, uninstall Dell Quickset. It slows down the system and does not disable any features aside from some visual effects and the wifi finder.