Buy now or wait? Need advices

Hello!

I'm planning to buy a laptop for Uni and have choosed the Inspiron 630m. I have been looking at Dell prices and promos every week for the last 2 months waiting to have the money and see a good deal.

Now I have the money and can't wait to buy my first laptop

(Note: I'm from Canada and will buy from Dell.ca)

This week, with the coupons I could have the 630m with Pentium M 740, 1 go DDR2, TrueLife, 100gb, DVD-RW, 3 yrs Warranty, Carrying Case and Extra power Adapter for 1350$ CAD.

It seems like a pretty decent deal... BUT I was waiting for a deal on Pentium M 750 or preferably Pentium M 760. In the last weeks, I've seen the P4m 750 @ 1500$CAD and the P4M 760 @ 1600$CAD and was willing to spend up to 1600$CAD...

My question: is the difference between P4M 740 and P4M 760 is worth the extra 250$, worth the wait and worth the risk of not seeing a deal like that in the future?

How's speedy a P4M 740? How does this CPU compare to AMD 64?

I'll use this laptop for taking notes (law school student), making some research and watching some DVDs... nothing that eats a lot of power but I have a AMD 64 3500+ in my desktop PC @ Home and I'm used to this kind of speed (former computer sciences student)...

Note: I know all about new 14'' Duo-Core laptops coming in a near future but I don't think I need duo-core laptop and one of the most important thing for me is battery life and I'm affraid a 640m Duo-core laptop won't be able to have the same battery life that 630m has...

So.. what do you think?

Edit: Would like to keep it for 3 years before buying a new one...

 

Well, the duo-cores are all pretty much out by now. It's basically a dilemna on whether you prefer the computer for its raw processing ability, or if 64 capability is more important for ya. Myself, i'm going to be an undergraduate next year (freshman), and I'm thinking of getting a dual-platform as opposed to 64 bit, considering three things: 1) If I'm gonna spend my money now, I'd rather spend it on something that is QUICK at the very moment, considering that if you were to go 64 bit, that laptop would probably be 'slow' for vista, considering the nature of the rapid advancement of computers by the time then. (besides, they'll have vista in 32 bit as well), 2) I'm not sure how well turion 64 or athlon 64 laptops are, but it appears that their battery life is a little on the shaddy side, and there aren't tooo many portable options. (I've been looking for a portable one for college, and i still can't find a decent one) and lastly 3) From what it seems, you probably are gonna need productivity with mobility, considering you're a law student, so i don't see why not going for the dual. Granted, for your situation, you still have a "vista-capable" rig at your house, so it's not liek you'll be missing out on the vista-frenzy when it comes out. that's my advice.

 

you should yake a look at the XPS M140, it's the same machine as the 630m but it's marketed differently. This week Dell is offering 10% off all XPS models on the US site, it's worth checking out at the very least.

 

Dell Canada don't have XPS m140... only the Inspiron 630m but thanks anyway

 

And what about battery life for Duo-Core? Do you think 640m will be able to provide 4-5h with a 6 cell battery like the 630m?

 

Well, battery life from what i've heard, seems to be akin to the previous P-M's...so my guess would be that as long as the circuitry and whatnot is engineered decent, any duo laptop should give you better battery life and perhaps less heat-age than the 64 bit alternatives. I think that's where centrino wins the battle, in terms of battery usage.

 

Any other advice ?

 

Supposedly the Dell Inspiron E1405 will be coming out soon enough. It's basically the 630M with a Core Duo CPU, you might want to check that out.

You could also fill out the FAQ and we could see if there'd be anything better for you.

 

I already filled out the FAQ a few weeks ago

 

I even commented on that thread and forgot about it... e.e

Well, I've posted like 3 times in every single What SHould I buy thread in the first 10 pages of that forum...

 

No problem Thanks for your advices...

I think I'll wait and see what's coming in the next few weeks...

 

It's always best to wait if you don't need it immediately.

 

Not immediately but by the end of may yeah..