Thinking about this computer

College Life
1

<p>An Inspiron 6000, with the following qualities:</p>

<p>Processor & Memory: </p>

<p>Intel® Pentium-M® 730 Processor at 1.6GHz
Intel 915 Chipset<br>
2MB L2 cache<br>
533MHz Front-side Bus
1GB DDR2 Shared 400MHz SDRAM (2 x 512MB) (expandable to 2GB)3
Drives: </p>

<p>80GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
8x DVD/CD Burner (DVD+/-RW)<br>
Graphics & Video: </p>

<p>15.4" Wide XGA display; up to 1280 x 800 pixels
Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics<br>
Communications: </p>

<p>Intel® PRO/ Wireless 2915 Dual Band Internal Wireless(802.11a/b/g)<br>
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Internal 56K V.92 modem4
Audio:</p>

<p>Integrated Stereo Sound
Slots: </p>

<p>Connectors: (1) Type I or Type II card
3.3 and 5 V cards supported
I/O Ports: </p>

<p>IEEE 1394</p>

<p>4-USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) compliant 4-pin connectors</p>

<p>Flash Memory Slot - Secure Digital (SD) and SD/IO compliant</p>

<p>Video: 15-pin monitor connector</p>

<p>S-Video: 7-pin mini-DIN connector</p>

<p>Audio jacks: Stereo headphones/speakers mini-connector (same as line-out), microphone mini-connector </p>

<p>Operating System: </p>

<p>Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Edition </p>

<p>Microsoft® Office Small Business Edition:</p>

<p>Microsoft® Word
Microsoft® Excel
Microsoft® Publisher
Microsoft® PowerPoint
Microsoft® Outlook with Business Contact Manager
Additional Software: </p>

<p>Norton Internet Security™ 2005, Anitvirus, Firewall, AntiSpam, 15 months subscription
Music Match 9.0 Basic 7 day OnDemand
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Dell Media Experience
Power Supply:</p>

<p>Battery: 6-cell 'smart' Lithium-Ion battery, 53Whr5
Additional Information: </p>

<p>Dimensions: 14.02" W x 10.45" D x 1.52" H<br>
Weight: 6.65lbs.6 </p>

<p>What do u guys think? Anything that should be changed?</p>

2

<p>The Inspiron 6000 is one of Dell's better laptops.</p>

<p>Don't take the Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics. Your graphics are only going to be half decent for movies and many applications, and most games will drag on the system. Go with the ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON X300 64 MB option at least.</p>

<p>Also, don't buy MS Office from Dell. You can get it much cheaper using student discounts at software retailers or even your campus bookstore.</p>

<p>Are you looking at a specific price max? If not, then try to up the processor (from 730 to say a 740-770) as far as you can.</p>

<p>One more thing, what warranty are you getting? It is best to upgrade from the standard 1 year warranty. Complete Care makes a very nice add-on as well.</p>

3

<p>To redski:</p>

<p>Thanks for ur comments. About the video card, I probably won't play much games, but i will consider because i watch alot of movies on my laptop. Right now, this thing cost a little less than 1500 bucks, I don't want to go over 1600. Oh, I am getting the 3 yrs warranty.</p>

4

<p>The integrated video should be just fine for movies (and pretty much all 2d work)</p>

<p>Its when you get to the 3d stuff that you need a real dedicated card (like games).</p>

5

<p>That's good to hear. Yeah, the integrated video will function for movies; just know that if you can afford to spend a few more bucks, then the first upgrade I'd go with is the ATI card. The 3 yr warranty is certainly decent enough for your price. </p>

<p>One thing I missed earlier is the Norton Internet Security 15 month subscription. You probably should dump that too. What University are you going to? Many universities give their students free antivirus/firewall/etc. software for free. And if yours doesn't, then you can again get it for cheap through your school's bookstore or w/ student discounts.</p>

6

<p>TheKidd: I have two VERY BIG tips for you that will save you some significant cash.</p>

<p>First, don't get that much RAM from Dell. Get 256mb and then buy aftermarket RAM from somewhere like newegg.com or tigerdirect.com. Seriously, this will save you some serious cash.</p>

<p>Second, look for Dell e-coupons online. Notebookforums.com has a thread in its dell forum that keeps a running list of current coupons. </p>

<p>I just ordered an inspiron 6000 with the following specs: 1.6ghz Pentium-M, 15.4" screen, 60gb HD, 128mb ATI x300 video card, double layer dual format dvd-rw, windows XP and some other stuff. The initial total came to $1654. How much did I pay? $904, thanks to a $750-off e-coupon. That's right, $904.The deal I found was for $750 off $1499 and can be hard to come by (I was lucky). It had a limited number of uses and was used up 45 minutes after they released it. Another more common coupon is for $750 off $2000. Look for one and use it, and I hope you get a good deal.</p>

<p>BTW, I ordered mine with 256mb of ram and then ordered a 512mb stick of ram for $50. You're looking at saving at least $100 if you buy RAM elsewhere.</p>

7

<p>yeah, definately dump that.</p>

<p>AVG is free and is less of a resource hog than norton for virus scan and instead of hte other internet security stuff, just DONT USE INTERNET EXPLORER (use firefox). If you put yourself behind a NAT, that should be all the firewall protection you should need.</p>

<p>That solution is entirely free forever (AVG autoupdates just as well as norton but its free)</p>

8

<p>In case you haven't noticed, Dell is also running a $300 rebate on the Inspiron 6000 right now. I'd watch out, because sometimes you can't use the $750 off coupon when there's another deal like the rebate going on. Read the fine print to be sure.</p>

<p>Cavalier is right about the memory. Newegg.com does have a SINGLE 1GB stick of RAM for a little more than $100, as opposed to paying Dell $250 more to upgrade to TWO 512MB sticks.</p>

9

<p>Yea i am really interestd in this laptop as well. U guys should wait until Dell has another $750 off deal like it did two days ago. I configured a 6000 with 1.6 pM, 1gb RAM, 60 gb hd, bluetooth, cd burner/dvd rom, etc. for $850 shipped. These deals are hot and the promotion only lasts for about 2 hours because they limit it to the first 15,000 orders. I would have taken advantage of this deal, but DELL cleverly upped the prices RIGHT before the promotion started $100-150, so it ended up being $950 shipped with these awesome options. This is still a great price, but i know a better deal like this will come. You can expect one before school starts, which I am waiting for. Goodluck!</p>

10

<p>Dell didn't really up the prices; they simply made you pick options you didn't want. I didn't really want the dvd burner, but hey, that's still a great deal at $904.</p>

11

<p>Dell probably had a lot of DVD burners in their inventory and thought that forcing people to get one would be a great way to clear their stock.</p>

12

<p>That's what the $750 off coupons are for also: to clear most of the existing Inspiron stock. Dell is scheduled to bring out a new line of desktop and laptop computers within the next several months. But as I understand it, the first batch will be tailored for high-end users. New ones for those on a budget may not come out until next year.</p>

<p>The Inspiron 6000 and 9300 are both much newer models than the other Inspirons, but Dell probably already has the 6100 and 9400 waiting in the wings.</p>

13

<p>yea it was just kinda dirty how they did it though. They didn't force the options until like an hour or two before the promotoion. The deal was still very good, but the forced options rubbed me the wrong way. I probably should have ordered one anyway, but I know they will have another big deal before school or something.</p>