Buy e1705?

As a student heading into college, I've been researching laptops to replace my current one (see sig - explains pretty well why I need a new one), and am thinking a Dell is currently my best option. The FAQ is in the next post.

Summary: I want something that can play Civilization III and IV and Age of Empires III and Battlefield 2 well, and still be able to play games in a few years. I'd consider myself a gamer, but not a graphics junkie. I'm used to big screens, and portability isn't hugely important. I'm used to computers lasting a really long time (current computers are 4, 8, 10, and 11 years old), and have come to expect that.

Right now, what I'm thinking is my best deal is a Dell Inspion e1705 (hence why I'm posting in the Dell forum). I've configured it as following:

Core2Duo T7200 - 2 GHz, 4 MB L2, 667 FSB
Windows Vista Home Premium
2 GB RAM @ 667 MHz FSB
17 inch glossy or matte screen
100 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
CD/DVD Burner
256 MB GeForce Go 7900 GS
80 WHr 9 cell battery
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945a/g Wireless Card
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal Bluetooth Card
15 months anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall (Norton or McAffee)
2 year warranty
1 year LoJack theft protection

The total cost is $1644. When I apply a student discount, it comes down to $1546. I'm thinking this is pretty good.

Edit: Changed the warranty to 3 years and my student discount doubled. Without the discount, it's now $1724, but with it it comes to $1518!

But I have a few questions:

1. How long will this computer last, assuming it is treated well but used heavily? I've heard conflicting reports of Dell's quality, but can't afford to upgrade to the XPS line.

2. Recommendations on Hard Drive? I can save $25 by going 160 GB @ 5400 RPM and am tempted to do so. 60 GB is a lot.

3. I can upgrade the wireless card from 3945a/g to the new " N" variation for $30. The "g" seems to have adequate transfer (19 Mbps is a lot more than my DSL's 1.5 Mbps). Is the upgrade worth it?

4. Anything else I ought to get (accessories, protection, etc.)? Other than the T7400 processor (which seems unreasonably expensive) I think I'm pretty well maxed out on the basic hardware.

5. Should I buy this? You're the Dell experts, so I figured I might as well ask.

I'm also really liking this more-for-less thing. When I first configured it I got $1717 with a one year warranty, no DVD burning, no LoJack, and no antivirus. Then I got all that for $1644 by starting with the Gaming Enthusiast setup. Then I found the student discount and got another year of warranty for $1546, and now an additional year for $1518, $1496 with the 160 GB HD. Kind of hard to believe.

 

Here's the FAQ if you want to read through them.

1) What is your budget?
$2000 or so, but cheaper is (usually) better

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

15 in. +

3) Please select your country's flag as a post icon and tell us what country are you buying this in.

United States

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

Has to be mainstream; in the "Which Notebook" forum I always got Asus and Compal, and I'd rather have Dell or HP or IBM or Sony...something common.

5) What tasks will you be performing with the notebook?
Regular college stuff + games such as CivilizationIII and IV, a bit of AoE and Battlefield

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places or leaving it on your desk?
Mostly on desk - never been to university before so I'm not entirely sure.

7) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
See #5.

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?
Not many, 2 should be adequate

9) Do you mind buying online without seeing the notebook in person?
Not really, so long as it is a common brand.

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Windows 32-bit.

Screen Specifics

11) Would you prefer standard or widescreen?
Standard, but that's almost impossible outside of IBM, so anything goes.

12) From the choices below, what screen resolutions would you prefer?
1024x768 or higher.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?
Will decide before ordering

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
Anything works.

15) When are you buying this laptop and how long do you want this laptop to last?
Buying sometime soon; want it to last 4 years.

Notebook Components

16) How much hard drive space do you want; 40GB to 200GB?
100GB+.

17) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD-ROM, DVD-CD/RW or DVD-RW drive?
CD writer

 

The E1705 is a great option. Especially for gaming. I've had mine for about one year and it has never let me down. I currently have XP/Vista Ultimate (32-bit) dual boot.

However, I have noticed that I don't use it as much as I wanted to. I took it college only a few times but it got enormously heavy to carry around and I just didn't have time to work on it in class.

I'm probably gonna sell it and wait for Intel's newer CPU lineup.

Mike.

 

Cool. The one thing that concerns me is how long DirectX 9 will be enough to use new software. Right now hardly anything has even an option to use DirectX 10, but I'm still not sure how long DX 9 will be an option. Is it reasonably safe to assume most games will at least have a DX 9 option for another 3 years due to the prevalence of Windows XP?

To counterbalance that issue though, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get nearly as good a deal on an e1720...would a guess of at least $300 more ($1800 total) for a Santa Rosa processor and 8600M be reasonable?