RossMAN:
I would like to agree and disagree with you. 1) I agree that the UXGA 1600x1200 is quite a beautiful display. 2) I disagree that the money is not worth it.
Having looked at many many many laptops in the past 6 months, I have come to find that I ( who admittidly has very bad vision) find myself sometimes squiting to view the screen especially in conditions where light is either TOO abundent or near pitch black, even after countless fidling with contrast/gamma/brightness/etc. Unfortuanatley I have yet to see a Dell UltraSharp Display, (it's on my list of things to do) but according to the specs, it should clear up any/most of my viewing woes.
Comparison of the UXGA 1600x1200 vs. Dell Ultrasharp UXGA: By the numbers
1) Resolution: obvious no brainer, both offer high res. 1600x1200
2) Pixel Pitch: another area where the Ultrasharp offers NO extra performance. Both have .190mm pixel pitch (really good for viewing, especially if you compare that to the average CRT Monitor.
3) Luminence: Here is the first place the Ultrasharp is beneficial. The luminence of all the 15in XGA, SXGA+, and the UXGA all have an average luminance rating of 150cd/m2. (I am not sure the labels to those variables "c" "d" or "m", but I've seen this unit measurement before.) In comparison, the Dell Ultrasharp has a luminance rating of 180cd/m2. Now I really don't know how this translates into real life situation, but in more comparison, the 14.1in XGA display has a luminance of 130cd/m2, so THEORETICALLY one can say that the brightness gain from Ultrasharp is the greater than the 14.1in XGA to the 15in XGA/SXGA+/UXGA. If this is true, then I would view this aspect alone as quite beneficial (ie. viewing in extreme sunlight will be less "washed out".)
4) Contrast Ratio is by far the biggest selling point for me. Heres the comparison: All the other displays 14.1XGA-15inUXGA all have a contrast ratio of 250:1. The Ultrasharp upgrades that ratio to 400:1. I again don't have any mathematical calculations to this, but again this is by the numbers, so it would appear a substantial gain.
5) While I don't view this as too benefical, there are those out there who REALLY REALLY would find it benefical that the normal viewing range of the Ultrasharp is quite larger than the normal UXGA. Normal displays +/- 40 degrees of horizontal viewing angle with nominal "wash out" or loss in detail. Ultrasharp has horizontal viewing with nominal decrease at +/-70, which if you figure, thats 80degrees larger viewing angle. Not benefical to me, as usaully I am the only one viewing my display, but perfect for those frequently showing collegues or friends whats on their display. Also the vertical angle goes from +10/-30 to +50/-60 again the numbers speak for themselves.
6) Not purely by the numbers, as Dell doesn't offer response times of other displays, but the Ultrasharp response time is 25ms. Which seems pretty damn fast if I can recall normal CRT display times/LCD display times. Also Dell claims thats an 80% increase in response time compared to the other laptop displays, again I couldn't find any proof, but they didn't lie anywhere else so I doubt they did here. Obviously the response time will determine how much "ghosting" a user sees when playing games or watching dvds, some people are more picky than others.
ALL in all, they sold me on the Ultrasharp display. I figure if I am going to be spending this much money on a quality laptop, why not upgrade the part I will arguably be using the most (the display). I plan on doing quite a bit of gaming, and DEFINATLEY a lot of movie watching, possibly not always in the best conditions (ie planes/outdoors in the sun/ in a car at night/ etc...)
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As far as floppy drives as someone mentioned, I see no real need. Now days most Bios allow boot-from-cd and with the extremely cheap prices of CD-RW drives and CD-R media, its almost cheaper to buy a CD burner and pack of 5 CD-RW's and use those instead of floppies.
Also, I know its just a cheap ploy by Dell to sell some 8MB "disk-on-key" units, but I really think that it is a creative alternative to floppies (other than the CD burner route) Of course both of these options (CD burner and Disk on key) require that you have a home pc that you can use if you do need to get information off a disk for some strange reason. But just my 2 cents.
I think thats it. I really look for the practicallity in buying a laptop. For example, I really feel I need a second battery, whats the use of a laptop if it runs out of batteries half way through that 8 hour car/bus/train ride? (Or the airplane trip when you want to use the laptop when you're in the terminal, then on the plane, then on the shuttle/taxi to your hotel. I doubt most laptops can do that on 1 battery) Also, just a quick little plug for Dell laptops. They come with both a touchpad and a pointstick, another practical feature.
Aight I really thinks thats it now.
As always just my 2 cents.
sxmp