help deciding dell e1405 laptop

[568overclocked]

to make a long story short. friend is selling his brand new 7 day old e1405 laptop. company got him a new ibm laptop. he is willing to selling me the laptop for $900. he paid somewhere around $1350 for it. it comes loaded with

intel core duo 1.83ghz processor
windows media center and cd
14.1" truelife screen
1gb 2dimm ram
120gb 5400rpm hd
8x cd/dvd burner
dell 1390 wireless
53Whr 6cell battery
4 year warranty with complete care accidental damage service

i think it's a great price but at the same time the duo core 2 just came out on that same laptop. should i buy his laptop or should i purchase the e1405 w/ the duo core 2. i was planning on getting the same specs as above except for the processor difference.

thanks

 

[chairbornrangerx]

I went to dell's site really quick, customized a dell e1405 to your specs, its (with the warranties) $1300 bucks, so ... is 1MB more of cache, and a few more MHz on the proc, worth 400 bucks to you??? Your call, you gotta pay for it. But thats the only difference.

 

[Nocturnal]

I'd wait until the end of the week. The Core 2 Duo processor (Merom) should be available. The price should not jump significantly.

 

[568overclocked]

part of me sees a great deal since it's a savings of $400. another part of me is always looking for more...i'm torn between getting the core duo 2 or purchase his and be satisfied with his laptop...anyone else...i guess i'm looking for the majority vote

 

[Philippine Mango]

Buy it then ebay it? Either way dell laptops are garbage, or at least NOW they are, they used to be decent..

 

[DaveSimmons]

Do you need any 3D ability? the e1405 only offers intel motherboard graphics which are crippled for 3D.

With the e1505 you can upgrade to a radeon x1400 for decent 3D.

 

[568overclocked]

i'm looking for something more portable. the e1405 is a perfect fit for me as i had a 600m and liked the size. i just want to get opinions on whether i should buy my friend's laptop or get the duo core 2. i planning on getting the same specs with warranty with the difference being mainly the cpu.

 

[chairbornrangerx]

I say just buy it

 

[mc866]

Personally I don't think you will notice $400 worth of difference between the Core duo and the new Core 2 duo. I would just buy your friends and save the money for something else.

 

[568overclocked]

so i ended up getting it today. however, one issue that i now have to fix is the media direct controls. he erased all the partitiions and created one big partition so now i don't have media direct buttons working and no longer do i have the restore functionality of Ctrl-F11. ugh.