Dell E1705 for college?

Hi again guys.

I was talking about laptops again (E1505, S96J) with my parents and they said why not get the E1705 since it has everything I want. It does have everything I want (the power and the gaming machine) but, the weight and size. Not many backpacks or messenger bags have a slot big enough for the 17 inch.

Here it is..the specs:
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz/667MHz FSB)
Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD Panel 17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
Memory 512MB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
Hard Drive 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Sound Options Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards FREE! Intel® PRO 3945 and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No productivity suite- Corel WordPerfect word processor only
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

By the way, I will upgrade the ram myself.

I would be using it in my dorm room, and sometimes brining it into the library or the cafeteria. How's the battery life? I know I will not be bringing it to class.

What do you guys think on this machine?

 

Its a good machine but l would do two things:

Get the 17" UXGA
9-cell battery

The res you want on this 17" is the same as the res on my current 14" and i'd hate to see how much bigger everything is.

The 9 cell battery should get you 4 hours of battery life which is why l chose it. If you are on a limited budget you could get what l posted above and drop the processor down to the T2400.

 

So the price is pretty good?

I am just wondering are you in college? if you are, is the 17 inch impractable to carry around a few times a week?

Does the 9 cell battery make it much heavier? Should I just buy another battery through like ebay?

So the UXGA makes a big difference?

 

My professor's aide has one of those things she lugs around every day. The thing is huge, but she isn't that big of a woman, so I guess it's all about preference. If you get a nice backpack that you can actually fit that in, it wouldn't be bad.

 

I bought the E1705 for college as well. I received it only a few days ago and I'm in love with it. It is a real beauty. It has a beautiful screen, excellent graphics card, solid build, and so much more. It is not that big. It can easily be carried around a few times a week (I'm not a big guy either - 5'5"). I bought 2 9 cell batteries with mine. So I can get around 5 hours of battery life using both batteries, which is very good for such a powerful machine. This is a very solid machine and I highly recommend it. Good luck. You will really love this machine.

 

Now I am highly considering this laptop. Seems great. Do the 9 cell batteries add to the weight? So you get about 2 1'2 hours of battery with 9 cell batteries?

Any other college students with this laptop, or 17 inch laptops that can put input on the weight of the laptops.

 

I bought the 9300 for college and regret it, i am in the process of selling it right now. If you have standard desks, the laptop takes up pretty much the whole desk, leaving me not much room for my arms. The thing is just to heavy, i orignally bought it 75% for gaming and 25% for school, but i ended up just leaving it at home as a desktop replacement. If i were you, i would go for an Asus and get all the power that the 1705 has - in a 15.4 inch. Will be a lot lighter, probably a bit more durable, thinner, and have longer battery life.

http://powernotebooks.com/product.php?itemId=1430

 

JC: The Asus S96J does not have anywhere near the graphics card of the Dell. GoForce7900GS>>Mobility RadX1600.

I am considering doing what AbN610 did and buy a E1705 for college. I am not exactly big either, 5' 11", but I should be fine carrying it back and forth everyday, no? I wont get the best config (heh, /me saves $$$ and upgrades on his own) but the 7900GS is the important thing about this laptop. For me its either this or the XPS M1210, and I have to decide sometime this week....

 

The x1600 may not be near as powerful as the 7900, but you don't need the performance of the 7900 to play games. I currently have an e1505 with a x1400 and I ran DOD:Source on it and it was very playable even on high settings--almost no lag at all. I would go for the s98j. It's unbeatable at the price and size. I was thinking about getting it, but I decided to go with the e1505 because I don't want to do much gaming in college. The laptop will be too much of a distration for my studies if I do get it.

 

I forgot to mention this--the x1600 is very powerful! It can run current games and possibly games released in the next year or two without problems.

 

I don't think it will be able to run the games that are comming out in 2 years

 

Thanks you guys. Wow, I know have mixed feelings about getting a 17 inch.

I still dont know whether to pass the E1705 and wait and get the E1505 or the S96J.

I have a 35% coupon for dell...in a month or so do you think that by waiting I would be able to get a better deal without the coupon as it would have expired?

 

Well, neither of the two 15.4s will be as powerful as the E1705, and the difference is only 1 lb roughly.
I am torn between two extremes: the 17" E1705 with a lot of power, and the 12" XPS M1210 with more portability but comparatively poor graphics.

AbN610: Have you tried carryiing it around much? If so, is it *that* much of a difficult/uncomfortable thing?

 

The 7900 will be just as outdated as the X1600 in 2 years, it really doesn't matter. I have a 6800 256mb in my 9300, it's already outdated after 6 months.

 

Ok, two years ago: XPS gen1 with a Mobility Rad 9800, most powerful portable gaming machine available on the market.
is it now outdated: yes.
is it now obsolete? no. It will run Vista just fine.
Buy the top of the line, and it will be outdated but still useable and competent after 4 years.

ur 6800 is still one of the better mobile gfxcard right now, behind the 7800/7900 series and the 6800 Ultra.

 

just get the 17". I'm going to be a freshman in college and got the e1705. I love it, it's great. The performance is amazing! I mean at lower res, I can run CS:S at over 100fps! It really isn't all that big either. I have a backpack which fits it and i brought it to my friends' house last night, and it wasnt bad at all to carry. Then again, I never used my locker in high school and was carrying on average 3 large textbooks. And the other thing is, I've been to college classes...no one really carries their notebook with them. It's just a pain to do. It's a whole lot of work to pack the thing in your bag just to take notes when you could just bring a notepad and a pencil. Besides, if you bring it to class, it can be very distracting with all those games and things at your fingertips!

 

Ric3rboy91 I was in the same spot as you. I was going to get a 1705 for college, then the M1210 came out. I want the portability and battery life, the 1210 has that. Comparitivly yes the 1210 has weak graphics compared to the 1705, but there still not that bad. You can play games today on close to high settings, look at the review for it on this site, he was running HL2 at almost toped out settings, with HDR. Thats not bad for a 12.1' notebook, not at all. Im getting the 2.16GHZ processor and 2GB of RAM to help a bit since the 7400 will become outdated in about a year, mabey less. But remember there is always overclocking to squeaze a little bit more out of it.

 

Yea, i still am unsure whether to get the 17 inch, or go for something smaller, maybe 15 or even 14 inch...