Dell 6000, Christmas for wife

This is what I purchased my wife for a Christmas present as she travels periodically and she has been bugging me for a laptop. I think I got a pretty good deal with all the discounts, but you never know. I was also looking at IBM Thinkpad T43 and Dell 9300. The IBM was nice but I could not get all the ammenities for close to the same price. The 9300 is something I thought she might like, but she was adament about not wanting a 17 inch screen.

I opted to not get the faster processor and 1gig Ram as she will only be using this machine for Excel and the web. I can upgrade Ram easily enough on my own. I opted to upgrade the video card as it was only $55. I got the 2 year accidental warranty as extra insurance.

Did I get a good Deal? Well, who knows what coupons will be next week. As long as she likes it, I will be happy with the purchase. I would like to hear your opinions


Order Details
Order detail - order placed 2005-11-18 21:58:32

Inspiron 6000D
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (1.73 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB),
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 Qty: 1
Display 15.4 inch WXGA LCD Panel 15XGA
Memory 512MB DDR2 SDRAM 1 Dimm 512MB1D
Video Card 128MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY™ RADEON X300 PCI Express x16 Graphics 128ATI
Hard Drive 80GB 5400rpmHard Drive 80GB
Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Combo/DVD+RW Drives FREE! 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+RW/+R)
8XDVDRP
Wireless Networking Cards Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g, 54Mbps)
Office Productivity Software Microsoft Office Basic - Includes Word, Excel, and Outlook email
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) I chose McAfee included with the Starter, Silver, Gold or Platinum Package.
Digital Music Musicmatch by Yahoo!™ Music- Entry level with 90 days of On Demand
Battery 6-cell Lithium Ion Battery (53 WHr)
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 2 Yr Ltd Warr,At-Home,HW Warr Sprt, 30 Day HelpDesk,PC training,15mo McAfee
CompleteCare Accidental Damage Add CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service to 2Yr Lim Warranty
Digital Imaging Corel Photo Album™ 6 Starter Edition
Operating System Backup & Recovery PC Restore recovery system by Symantec

$130 ( $50 Instant Off + $80 Mail-in rebate) W STARTER PLUS BUNDLE which includes 2 Yr At-Home Service, 2 Yr Hardware

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Save 20% off select Inspiron 6000 systems! - $363.60

ADDITIONAL DISCOUNTS AND COUPONS

Dell EPP and FSS Customers: Free ground shipping and Handling on select Inspiron systems over $849. - $25.00

Dell EPP/FSS customers: $150 off Dimension and Inspiron systems priced $1600 or more! - $150.00

Dell EPP/FSS customers receive 6% off systems priced $1600 and up with 1/2 yr At-Home service. - $87.26

Sub-Total $1,217.14

 

the only thing i'm not sure about in your config is the media center edition, it's the same as windows xp pro with a few media enhancements, but without a tv tuner the added media enhancements (such as easy tv tuning and scheduling) really are lost. the specs look great though, did you pay extra for the media center os upgrade?

 

Dell overcharges for CPUs and memory, you were right to get what you got. It is a nice machine. If she travels a lot, you might want to consider the nine cell battery.

 

The media center came with the bundle I purchased at no extra charge.

Regarding the processor and memory, thanks for the input on the price of the upgrades. The CPU was $80 and the memory was $132 to upgrade. I just thought it was overpriced as well, glad you had the same thought.

I tried to order from Dell in the past and they continued to push out ship dates so many times I cancelled my order and bought locally. I hope they come through this time since it is a Christmas present. I think 4 weeks is adequate time, This will be the opportunity for Dell to earn me back for my future purchases.

Thanks for the inputs!

 

Sounds like a decent deal. Great components for that machine. Your wife should be very pleased with it .