Any recs on 17" laptops?

[Cb]

...well, my final 8 weeks of vacation is coming to an end when I go in to process out from my soon-to-be former employer on Tuesday. Seems they want my company credit card, phone card, badge, drive-in pass, and worst of all, they want my company laptop back!! Whatever came of the notion of lovely parting gifts??

I want a laptop with:

- a 17" screen (my 14.1" was a bit tough without my 1.25 reading glasses)

- ideally the screen would be bright enough for use outdoors in the shade

- wireless

- DVD burning

- good battery life

- and naturally, cheaper is better.

- it shouldn't be REAL noisy like the $499 Dell I bought my son.

I'm a Costco member if it matters. I saw the following 17" Inspiron on the Dell Outlet site for ~$779 - whaddya think of this if something similar turns up?

tia,

Cb
---------------------------------------------------------

Inspiron 9400/E1705 Notebook: Intel Core Duo Processor T2250 (1.73GHz/533MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache)
Genuine Windows XP Home

System Price : $779.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz (2 DIMMs)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hard Disk Drive
60 GB EIDE Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
Media Bay
8x DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Network Interface Card
1390 Wireless Card

 

[wabmester]

I've got the 9400/E1705, and it's my favorite laptop EVER (and I've had a zillion or so).

Soild as a rock (magnesium alloy base and lid), great keyboard, great battery life, great sound (includes a subwoofer), and rocket fast.

Dell has a lot of variability in their laptop LCDs (and some other components).   They use at least 3 different vendors, and each vendor has various quirks, revs, etc.   So, LCD quality is a bit of a crap shoot.

If you plan to use it outside, you'll probably want to use the WXGA+ with the matte finish.   The WUXGA LCDs have a glossy reflective film that basically turns them into a mirror in daylight conditions.   If you have bad eyesight, then you probably want the lower-resolution WXGA+ anyways.

The 9400 has two fans.   The fans are quiet and cooling is excellent (unless you get one of their high-powered graphics card options, in which case it can get pretty toasty).

Dell also has a good return policy, so if you don't like, they'll usually take it back without much fuss.

 

[Cb]

Thanks Wab...just bought one.

Cb

 

[wabmester]

The other nice thing about the outlet is that you should get it in just a few days. Enjoy!

BTW, Intel just released "Merom" -- their superfly CPU that replaces the "Yonah" CPU in the laptop you just bought. Not a huge difference, IMHO, but might affect resale value if that's a concern to you.

 

[Cb]

Resale? I have 3 kids and loads of nephews and nieces.

When I'm done with a PC it goes to whichever kid's current machine is hosed up the worst with viruses...

Cb

 

[TromboneAl]

Thanks Wab...just bought one.

Wow, that was fast.

 

[Cb]

Wow, that was fast. 

Well, I don't waste a lot of time agonizing over the less important purchases. It's not like we're talking about a delay pedal, after all.

Cb

 

[peggy]

We got a HP 8000 series 17" widescreen laptop at Costco for about $1300 a few months back.

The screen has gorgeous color, and the other features you mentioned (except, possibly, cheaper than alternatives). DH has been using it since we got it, and has had no problems with it at all.