BoughtInspiron 9300 - need notebook now, but should I wait a little longer for Yonah?

Recently my father was diagnosed with cancer, and because of complications he has been living in the hospital. This has made it difficult to get work done, because of all the time I spend away from my computer and having no laptop.

I ordered a Inspiron 9300 a few days ago - it's supposed to be delivered by January 9th. After I ordered it, I heard about Yonah, but it's not too late to cancel. I mostly do graphics design work in photoshop, some light video work, and use dreamweaver - so the benefits of the FP improvements that Yonah has to offer are very tempting to me.

I read somewhere in another thread that the 9300 was going to be updated in January, but at the same time, I read that theinquirer article that talked about only three dell models being updated (810,610,m90 or something, but didnt mention the 9300).

My question is if I should cancel my order and wait for the 9300 to be updated? I like the 9300 because of the 17 inch screen, which is nice for graphics work. I also am worried that the 9300 wont be updated until after march or april, and my work is piling up - so it would be very difficult for me if I waited that long. If the 9300 was going to be updated in January or February, I think I could hang in there long enough to wait for it.

I'm also a little concerned about price, as i was able to get the 2ghz Pentium M, Geforce 6800, 1 gb ram, 100gb hd, for about
US $1700 (with a couple other little options), but I'm afraid that the new updated 9300 will start out around $2800 or something much more expensive than my current configuration.

I would be most grateful to anyone who had insight or experience, and could give me advice on whether I should keep the 9300 I ordered, or cancel it and wait for the updated one (unless it takes too long).

Thank you so much in advance.

 

I'm not sure if you are into buying things on ebay, especially things of such high value, but you should check ebay for a good deal on a 9300. I just bought mine this past Friday and paid 1400.00 for it. It has a 2.0ghz pentium M, 1gb of ram, 100gb hard drive, geforce 6800, etc. This is the exact configuration you said you were getting for around 1700 on dell.com. There are plenty of these configured laptops for around 1500.00. I wouldn't think Yonah would have a drastic effect on performance as opposed to the current processor. I do the same kind of work and the WUXGA screen is simply amazing with photoshop. I can't believe how much landscape I have, and the size is not a problem at all. You will love the 9300.

 

Yonah is due next month, but I wouldn't expect to see a wide selection of models until the Spring. The big benefit for Yonah is if you are a heavy multi-tasker like doing Photoshop while coding video in the background. If you are just doing office or burning discs, the performance gap won't seem as large. Good Luck.

 

Thank you for the replies. I am pretty sure I much prefer Yonah instead of the Dothan, but my primary concern is how quickly the 9300 will be updated to the new version.

If it was January or February, that wouldnt be so bad and I could wait - but if it was much longer then that would be really dinky.

So I'm mainly concerned as to whether I should 'gamble' and not have a laptop now, in the chance that I can order the updated 9300 version within a month or two.

 

If you are in Sydney, you might as well get the 9300. Many predict the new 9300 becomes widely available by March in the US. We can expect May or June internationally... Those are the estimates, so, are you going to be able to wait until then? Can your work wait that long?

 

Sydney is my name but i'm in the United States. Yes, waiting till March 2006 or so would be difficult for me and I had guessed that it might be released in march or so - but then i read in another post by someone that it was going to be released in January, so I am a bit unsure of what to do now. ;\

 

Dothan will be released by intel in January, or maybe February. Take into consideration of shipping the thing to DELL and then standarizing the process of putting it in their laptops, you're easily talking Febraury/March

 

Okay, the rumor is that when Intel announced the Yonah processors in January 6th, Dell will be announcing the replacement for the 9300. However, it is not expected to "hit the shelves" until around march. Basically, announcement = January; availability = March. These are just rumors though.

 

Ardor is right on the announcement for 9300 refresh (not Latitude stuff that was leaked, that announcement is for Feb.). So Jan announce then Feb. in your hands.

Jan 5th is when everybody and their brother will be announcing new products. It'll be insane.

 

I would love that the 9300 replacement had a MXM graphics card. I dont really care how good is it if i can update it later. A 7800 non gtx or 7600 would be perfect.

However, there are several benchmarks in which an actual Pentium M isn't so far away from Yonah. But nothing real, just benchmarks.

You should also think about expand it. A Dothan won't be updated as long as the Yonah will be.

 

Thank you for all of the replies, they've helped me a lot. I think I'll wait for Yonah since it's almost here, especially since the improvements will benefit the specific work that I do.

Hopefully the rumours are correct and I'll be able to order an updated 9300 in the next couple of months.

 

Hi Sidney ,

They are other notebook brand with this cpu in the jan.

(asus, acer, fujitsu siemens)

Dell are available in the early Feb.

but the actually the dell 9300 are a perfect machine

Good luck for you father and best regards from Italy,
Austin