I wanted to get a laptop  for  home and school use. I was looking at a Dell  Inspiron 9300. Being honest, it is stacked heavily for entertainment and gaming with school use as a bonus.  Have it stacked pretty well as far as components and accessories.  There is an internet coupon for 35% off that will bring the price down to around $3000. This is combined with the "no interest if you pay it off in 16 months" credit deal that will let me finance it.

Any feedback on this deal?

Is this a rip off price? (guy at work says I could get the same elsewhere  for half the cost)

Quality of product?   (interweb reviews seem favorable-so far)


Here it is


Inspiron 9300  
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB), Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 + Single TV Tuner and Remote

Inspiron 9300 Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 + Single TV Tuner and Remote
Display 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
Video Card 256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800
Hard Drive 80GB Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
CD/DVD Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Wireless Networking Card Intel® PRO 2915 and Dell 350 Bluetooth Internal Wireless Cards
Office Productivity Software No productivity suite - Corel WordPerfect word processor only
Security Software No Security Subscription
Digital Music Musicmatch® Jukebox Basic
Primary Battery 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (80 WHr)
Carrying Cases Dell Nylon Deluxe Carrying Case
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options SAVE $100 (after rebate) 4Yr Ltd Warranty,At-Home Srvc + Nights and Weekend
CompleteCare Accidental Damage (except NY and FL) SAVE 10 %! Add CompleteCare Accidental Damage Svc to 4Yr Lim Warranty
Internet Access: Dial-Up 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Digital Imaging Photo Album™ SE Basic
LCD/Color Kits Carbon Fiber QuickSnap™ Cover
Enhanced Software for CD or DVD Burner Combo: Sonic DigitalMedia and MyDVD Plus (DVD+RW only)
Additional Battery 9-cell Lithium Ion Additional Battery (80 WHr)
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service & Support
Financial Software No QuickBooks package selected- Includes limited use trial
Floppy Drive and Other Home Setup Accessories External USB Floppy Drive
Operating System Backup & Recovery Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition backup CD

Belkin 2-Outlet Travel Surge Protector Qty  
Notebook Expansion Dock
PCMCIA Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS Notebook sound card
Wireless-G Broadband Router with SpeedBooster
Kensington Desktop Replacement Bundle
Norton SystemWorks 2005
Webroot - Spy Sweeper  
 
Dell Color Printer 720
1Yr Ltd. Warranty- Advance Exchange
Dell USB Printer Cable - 10 ft black

Quoted: Is this a rip off price? (guy at work says I could get the same elsewhere  for half the cost)

He'll shut up about that once you defy him to show you where and how.

That's a lot of computer. If you're going to be actually using it at school, beware that it is a large notebook, and eats up a lot of real estate. If you're mostly going to use it at home, not that big of an issue. I've been using a Dell Inspiron 8100 since Feb 02. Solid machine, but I hate to travel with that boat anchor, particularly with 2 batteries installed.

There will be a long list of Dell-haters along shortly to bad-mouth this computer, though.

You won't be getting anything close to that for half the price. It is expensive but that is pretty much the price for that kind of hardware. Nice system, go for it.

8 lbs doesn't seem too heavy to cart around. Carried more than that in books to and from class  before.

I noly have one class this semester anyhow, C++.

My .02

I'd buy a thousand dollar laptop and a two-thousand dollar PC.

Use the laptop for school and mobile work, use the desktop for gaming.  Unless you really need a "desktop replacement" portable a desktop will offer you a much better upgrade path, and alot more storage.

That's a lot of Laptop.  That's fine if it's 'Your Computer'.

If it's still going to be second fiddle to your desktop, then I'd buy a little less Machine for a third the money.

That's just MHO, though.  I've just seen WAY too many people go out and buy a spendy Laptop - and then they end up using their desktop - which will almost always have a bigger and better monitor, a nicer keyboard, a faster processor, more hard drive room, and be alot more upgradable.

My GF has a $2000 Dell paperweight.  She only uses it when she travels.  The rest of the time, she uses her desktop.

I, on the other hand, have a $700 Laptop that I use at School.  It does what I need it to do, and not much more.  When I'm at home, I use the Desktop.

Keep in mind that you could buy a $1000 laptop that's adequate, and still have $2000 'left over' to buy a Desktop that will blow the doors off of that $3000 laptop.  And be upgradable to boot.

I'm not telling you not to buy it.  But I'd be worried about the 'HURRY!' mindset.  Think very carefully about how much machine you really need in a portable setting.  You're looking at a 'desktop replacement' type of computer, make sure you need that.  Because you're throwing your money away if you don't.

Quoted: My .02 I'd buy a thousand dollar laptop and a two-thousand dollar PC. Use the laptop for school and mobile work, use the desktop for gaming.  Unless you really need a "desktop replacement" portable a desktop will offer you a much better upgrade path, and alot more storage.

Damn, great minds think alike!

And at home when I need some raw computing power (or more often just something on the desktop) I use the wonder that is the remote desktop connection.

I'm happy with my Dell notebook. I wouldn't buy a desktop from them as I prefer to build my own, but their notebooks are top notch.

Quoted: My .02 I'd buy a thousand dollar laptop and a two-thousand dollar PC. Use the laptop for school and mobile work, use the desktop for gaming.  Unless you really need a "desktop replacement" portable a desktop will offer you a much better upgrade path, and alot more storage.

+1

And $3k seems high. I recently got a Dell 6000 for less than 800 bucks. New. From Dell. It doesn't have the video card that the 9300 does, but it does have a 128 meg video card. Again...for less than $800 via a $750 off offer and an Epp discount. Here's how to get a good laptop cheap from Dell.

1) Go to slickdeals.net and watch for Dell discounts and coupons.

2) Order the minimum ram. Dell charges way too much for ram. Order extra ram from newegg.com. I got the ram I ordered in 3 days and shipping was only 3 or 4 dollars. I added the ram to my 6000 in less than 5 minutes. Any monkey can do it. You add ram to the 9300 the same easy way.

Good luck.

And, if you are wanting to carry that baby around campus, the 9300 is way too big. The 6000 is pushing it.

Sounds like a good deal, however, get at least a 2 year "at home" warranty.

I would third the idea about a 2000 desktop and 1000 laptop.

For  a laptop, howabout this for around a grand

Dell Inspiron 600m
Pentium M 1.6gb
14.1" SXGA monitor
256mg ram (upgrade cheaper on your own)
at least 40 gig HD (pref 60 or 80)
DVD/CDRW or DVDRW

This will be portable and still damn fast.  Then get a good desktop with <17" flat panel

BTW, I'm a college professor, and my last four computers have been:

Desktop:  Department provided generic Pentium IV.  My 21" Flat panel.
Current laptop:  Dell 300m, lots of bells and whistles...love it!
Previous laptop: Dell 8200.  Boat anchor, fragile, great performance.  Waay too big for campus!!!
Before that :  Dell 3800 (600mhz P3)  Still have it, still use it.  Loaner to students...

After some consideration of the advice posted here I didn't  get the computer I listed. After the sale expired a new one came up. This is less of a computer but much less money check it out. And thanks for all of the feedback. After shipping  $1067.

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 725 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/400 MHz FSB), Microsoft
Windows XP Professional Qty: 1
Unit Price: $1,688.00
Inspiron 2200 Intel® Pentium® M Processor 725 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/400 MHz FSB)

LCD Panel 15.0in XGA Display

Memory 512MB Shared DDR SDRAM, 2 DIMMS
512MB

Hard Drive 60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
60GB

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Network Card Integrated Network Card

Modem Internal 56K Modem


Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0

Combo/DVD+RW Drives 8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write
capability

Wireless Networking Card Dell 1370 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps)

Office Productivity Software Microsoft Works Suite 2005 - Includes Word 2002,
Streets & Trips 2005

Security Software Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition 15-months

Digital Music Musicmatch® Jukebox Basic

Primary Battery 8-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (65 WHr)

Carrying Cases Dell Nylon Carrying Case

Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 2Yr Ltd Warranty, 2Yr At-Home
Service, and 2Yr Technical Support

CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service SAVE 10 %! Add CompleteCare Accidental
Damage Svc to 2Yr Lim Warranty

Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included  

Digital Imaging Photo Album(tm) SE Basic

Mail-in Rebate SAVE $150 with mail-in rebate! System price shown before rebate.

Financial Software No QuickBooks package selected- Includes limited use trial

Dell Media Experience Dell(tm) Media Experience

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Display Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $75.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Memory Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $50.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Hard Drive Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $59.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Operating System Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $119.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: 8X CD/DVD Burner Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $99.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Wirless Card Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $29.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Software Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $49.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Security Software Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $79.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Carrying Case Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $59.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Complete Care Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $71.00

Dell EPP/FSS Customers: Digital Imaging Savings!
Expires on 2005-09-01 11:59:59 - $0.00

EPP/FSS Customers: Save $150 off with Mail-in Rebate on this product!
Expires on 2006-02-01 12:59:59 - $0.00

Congratulations, nice choice.

Make sure it's perfect when you get it.  Every pixel should be perfect.  Go ahead and check all of the ports including dialup and firewire.  If there is anything at all wrong, have the stomach to request a replacement.

I assume it's about the same size as the 9100?
if so it'll be a bit heavy, but I managed to run from one end of Minneapolis/St Paul airport to the other with it plus a backpack of other stuff

Not sure about the weight, imagine it's not exactly what you would call "featherweight". If it's heavy I will just have to suck it up.