[stang8118]

Well i am in the market for a new laptop, and needed some advise....

I have been shopping around the past few days looking for a laptop for when i start my spring college classes. So far i can't seem to find ANYTHING that compairs to what dell has to offer. I can't seem to find any other brand that comes close to what dell has in there outlet center. I can pick up a e1505 with a 1.6ghz merom, 1gb ddr2, 120gb hd, x1300 128mb gpu, dvd/rw, bluetooth for under $800.

I have been to all the popular sites like HP/Compaq, Gateway, Newegg, ZZF, etc and can't seem to find anything even close.

Is there anywhere else out there that may have similar offers? My budget it $800, and i would like something i can finance since i don't have the funds upfront.

Again its for school, so 17" is out of the question. I would like to have dedicated graphics and a dual core. Everything else is up in the air with what i get for it. Thanks for any info guys

[mcoleg]

hard to beat dell in price. btw - it's a laptop, you sure you need dual core? it just heats it up, eats battery life and you hardly use all that power in a portable. if you don't need the speed, go with dothan and invest the money in a nice 9-cell battery.

[ozzlo]

^^^^^ HUH?

a properly tuned core 2 duo can get the same or better battery life as a previous gen bianas.

The major difference what I think your referring to is the power hungry dedicated graphics that have come available with the 533mhz dothan and newer systems. of course if you get a 79xxGTx your going to have "less than desired" battery life no matter what processor you got.

And I would invest in a 9 cell battery no mattery what system I got, it's only like $30 for the upgrade for 2 more hours.

[mcoleg]

hey, just describing what i know from experience. i got a dell with a dothan and a fujitsu c2d. the later rans much hotter and the battery last less...

it's not apples to apples, of course.

what do you mean by "properly tuned", btw? are there some tricks to it?