Dell Inspiron 9300

Inspiron 9300 Pentium M 740 (1.73Ghz/2MB Cache/533Mhz FSB)
17 inch Wide Screen XGA+ Display
512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
60GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
256MB NVida GeForce Go 6800
Intel Pro 2200 & Dell 350 Bluetooth
8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability
9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (80 WHr) w/ 128mb Memory Key
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 Edition backup CD
Remote Control for Windows XP Media Center Edition
Free Dell Color Printer 720
4Yr Warranty

Total: 2,005

After tax, s&h, coupons & mir, the total comes out to be $1,138.59

Is this a good price? Or should I wait after Christmas or until the beginning of next year? I'm not sure if I would get a better price without the coupon & mir in the future.

Is upgrade the parts difficult & will it void the warranty? I was considering to replace the RAM & HD in the future. Regarding the RPM of the hard drive, how much of a performance difference will it be between a 4200 RPM / 5400 RPM / 7200 RPM hard drive? Will it be very noticable? Also, I'm not a big gamer so should I go will the lower X300 video card instead?

 

The new dual core Pentium M's will be out early 2006. Therefore I predict the 9300 will be replaced and its price will drop. Having said that, how long can you wait?

Hermit

 

At the moment, I'm not really in a hurry to make a purchase. Ideally, I was like to have a laptop by early next year.

 

That is a good price. The benefit to Yonah is if you are a heavy multi-tasker like playing a game while encoding music in the the background. Memory and hard drives are considered user upgradeable parts so you will not void the warranty. 7200RPM offers desktop like performance. It is noticable to me, but not as big as going from 4200 to 5400. If you don't think you are going to game at all, I'd drop the card. Hard to say on the coupons. Something better may come along or not.

 

If I decide to go with the X300 video card instead, will I be able to upgrade it in the future? If so, will this upgrade void the warranty? Is there any upgrade, if done by ourself, that would void the warranty? Regarding the RPM of the hard drive, will 5400 RPM be sufficient?

 

I think the GPU is upradeable, but it is pricey. Someone correct me if I am wrong. The 5400 is a little lower than the 7200. The faster hard drive will shine when doing hard drive intensive applications like audio or video encoding. When bruning discs or doing office the difference won't as great.

 

What dell coupons are u using? Are u combining more than one? There is a mail in rebate?

 

So if the inspiron 9300 should be phased out by early 2006, Late Dec/January would be the prime time to pick one up right?

 

what cupons are you using?

 

Yeah. The price above was from combining coupons and EPP discount. There are several mir and the amount of the mir depends on which warranty you purchase.

Which lcd screen is the one that is causing problems, the Wide Screen XGA+ Display or the UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife? Also, is there a big performance difference between the Pentium M 740 and 750? Is it worth the upgrade?