D630 how is this deal?

Any advice on this? I wanted a M1330 because of it's weight/size but the prices seem to be moving in the wrong direction and maybe the D630 is more suited to my needs which are running photoshop and downloading large amounts of hugh photo files while working (pro photographer) outside of the USA in tough environmental conditions. At $1359 is this system a good option for me? Thanks.

Latitude D630
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.00GHz) 4M L2 Cache, 800MHz Dual Core, Genuine Windows Vista® Business, with media

Unit Price: $1,927.00 - $568.00 = $1359.00

SYSTEM
Latitude D630 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7300 (2.00GHz) 4M L2 Cache, 800MHz Dual Core
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Business, with media
LCDs 14.1 inch Wide Screen WXGA LCD Panel
Memory 2.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS
Internal Keyboard Internal English Keyboard
Graphics 128MB NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 135M™
Hard Drives 120GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM
Touchpad Options Touchpad with UPEK® Fingerprint Reader
Media Bay Devices 8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD™
Wireless LAN (802.11) Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Dual-Band Mini Card
Floppy Drive No Floppy Drive
Batteries 9 Cell Primary Battery
AC Adapter 90W A/C Adapter
System Documentation Resource DVD - Contains Diagnostics and Drivers for Vista
Hardware Support Services 3 Year Limited Warranty plus 3 Year NBD On-site Service and CompleteCare

 

thats really good

 

Already looking good. A few thoughts :

160GB (max option right now) for additional storage since you mentioned "downloading large amounts". 250GB (soon 320GB) also available if you're willing to do a reinstall of the OS. Pretty simple.

WXGA+ for screen real estate since you mentioned "huge photo files" for viewing in the field, although a "real" monitor would probably be best at the office/home.

Since you mentioned Vista, 4GB of memory (3GB+ actual if running a 32-bit system) would help if running in tandem with Photoshop, but the 2GB will get by.

and maybe look at the D630 ATG since you mentioned "tough environmental conditions", although with reasonable use the D630 will certainly be enough.

Everything else looks good, the price is decent, and the T7300 will probably be fine, unless you want ever last bit of oomph when working with Photoshop and moving those files.

Regards,
Paolo

 

Paolo thanks for looking at this so carefully and all your good advice. This is mostly being used to transfer photos until I get home to my XPS desktop where all the serious work is done. The deal is through my old university site and is a "recommended bundle" so I can not change much with it. I can change the screen to the WXGA+ for $40 but thought with my aging eyes the lower res. would be better for me. I currently have a high res. screen on my old 600m and I find the text hard to read sometimes.

 

If only for transferring files, I would keep everything as is, although the $40 for the screen is not a bad deal. Don't worry about the "aging eyes". I don't like tiny fonts/text as well, but on Vista adjusting DPI and icons make the OS resolution independent, while getting the extra screen space for your photos.

You'll enjoy that D630.

Regards,
Paolo

 

I think you've got a good system there. It's pretty similar to what I've got--with some upgrades. I really do like my D630, and it's built very sturdily--at least compared to my old HP Pavilion Laptop! I also have the WXGA screen and find it very suitable for my needs--including some minor photo editing. Although, I think if I were doing a lot of photo editing on the system, I'd rather have the WXGA+ system.

All in all, I say go for it--looks like a good deal to me!

dordale

 

That system will perform very well!

Just another thought, and since you will be moving things from your camera (it seems), you may want to get a Universal Card Reader (for CF card, SD card, or the usual 10 in 1...or 11 in 1 readers...etc)..

That is..if you don't have one yet.

The D630's build quality is very, very good. I second all of Paolo's advice.

Best,
Ilham