Thought some of you might be interested in this huge coupon today at Dell. They are also offering Free Shipping after rebate and memory upgrades after rebate. Feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested. Coupon Code: ZD5$P0NS954P16 Valid Today through 10/20 at 6:59am Some Tips from a board I frequent: 1) Don't ever add memory from Dell. Way overpriced and there's quite a few laptop ram deals recently. If the upgrade's free - go for it! 2) Get a screen upgrade. SXGA+ is a must on the Dell 600M, and SWXGA+ is nice on the 15.4" widescreen models. UWXGA is a little too hard on the eyes, cause some software don't allow adjustable fonts. DVDs look fantastic though. 3) If u're getting the 700M, get a 8 cell battery! The 4 cell battery only last 2hrs. It protrudes a bit out the back though 4) Check the warranty policy on your credit cards! A lot of cards double or add a year to your warranty as long as you save the statement which holds the charge. No point getting anything more than 2yrs cause it'll be dated as heck by then. 5) Config with Dell 1350 Wireless 802.11b/g, not Intel 2200. A lot of end-user comments state that the Dell wireless card has great reception while quite a few complain about the 2200. Here's the breakdown for the various models: Inspiron XPS: Forget it, get a 9100. Its just the name and a additional helpline number that gives this lappie a 500+ premium over its cheaper brother the 9100. Absolute waste of money. Inspiron 9100: Very powerful Desktop replacement. This is the only lappie other than the XPS to offer the Radeon Mobility 9800. While costly, it performs on par with a desktop 9700Pro which is a revolutionary step for mobile laptop gaming. Its only a few frames behind the 9800Pro which was the top of the heap until very recently. Combined with the Pentium-4 Processor it can beat a lot of current desktops in terms of performance and gaming. However, battery life is crappy, the 9800 mobility costs 400 more than the 9700 mobility (performs on par with desktop 9600pro levels), and weighs over 9lbs. More with the extra heavy power adapter. Get this if your lappie is gonna sit on the desk most of the time other than for a few short lugs around the house. Inspiron 8600: Not exactly light, but in line with most average notebooks this days. 6.7 lbs + a lb more with options and stuff. Not too heavy on the shoulder if u're a guy, though u don't want to carry textbooks together with this lappie. Nice 15.4" Widescreen LCD that provides very good DVD viewing. Battery life with centrino processor is adequate, clocking in at over 2 .5 - 3 hrs. Should last through 1 DVD movie (1hr 45min-2hrs). Good option to configure is the cheap upgraed to turbo Radeon Mobility 9600 (roughly same performance as Mobility 9700). Couple this with a 7200RPM Hitachi hard drive and you have a laptop that can deal with most games, just not at the highest resolutions. Inspiron 600M: For those not really into FPS games like Unreal and Quake, the Mobility Radeon 9000 provides more than enough oomph to play strategy games like Warcraft 3, C&C generals without a hiccup. Weighing in at slightly over 5lbs with standard configs, its a little easier on the shoulder than the 8600. With an SXGA+ (1400x1050) screen, it offers a very nice clear display, a long battery life (just over 4hrs with basic stuff, 2 1/2 hrs playing a dvd in the drive) and a relaatively compact case. Great for school work and light gaming. Inspiron 700M: Very nice compact laptop. Weights slightly over 4lbs. Gets close to 4.6 with 8 cell battery which is nearly a must if u want to bring it along with u where there's no ac plug. Although its roughly as thick as the 600M, it width and length are much smaller and covers a much smaller footprint. Perfect for putting in a laptop sleeve, dropping it into a book-case and bringing it to class to take notes. Very nice 12.1" widescreen with the brightest and clearest display. However, when the image is black or dark, it the screen acts as a mirror and reflections are very clear. Not a problem when there's something on the screen. Can also minimize by angling the screen a little bit away from you. I have the 600M and the 700M side by side, and even with the ugly 8 cell battery sticking out, it still looks much smaller. and cooler. This won't really do as a main machine though.
