Dell Vostro 17" Laptop - Celeron M550/2GB RAM/160GB HD/XP Home $599, w/C2D T5870 $749

[AndrewRFD]

Found what looks like a good offer if you need a business oriented 17" notebook. Dell currently has a Vostro 1700 laptop for $599 with the following specs:

• Intel Celeron M® M550 (2.0GHz, 1M L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
• Windows XP Home Edition, SP2
• 17.0 inch Wide Screen XGA+ LCD Display
• 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
• 160G 5400RPM SATA hard drive
• 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/o Roxio Creator
• IntelJ Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, Integrated High Definition Audio
• Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card
• 1 Year Return to Depot Service and Technical Support
• 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
• Microsoft Works 9. Does NOT Include MS Word (free ugprade)

Yes, it's a Celeron processor (although it's one based on Core 2 Duo architecture), but $599 is the best price we've seen for a business quality 17" notebook so far. If you need more processor power, a Core 2 Duo T5870 Processor can be selected for $150 - bringing the total to $749.

A month ago, $749 got you a Vostro 1700 with a Core 2 Duo T5270 (1.4GHz) and 120GB hard drive. For the same money now, you get a faster processor (the T5870 is clocked at 2.0GHz) and an additional 40GB hard drive space.

Other upgrades worth mentioning are the WUXGA screen upgrade for $150, and Microsoft Office 2007 Professional for $200,

[rayl]

Dell Announces New Vostro 1310, 1510 and 1710 Laptops
The new Vostro 1310 and 1510 available April 15 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa while North America and South America will see availability on May 1st and Asia on May 5th. Later in May the Vostro 1710 will become available world wide.


http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4366
Dell Vostro 1310 Review

[Pr0metheus]

Dell Announces New Vostro 1310, 1510 and 1710 Laptops
The new Vostro 1310 and 1510 available April 15 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa while North America and South America will see availability on May 1st and Asia on May 5th. Later in May the Vostro 1710 will become available world wide.


http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4366
Dell Vostro 1310 Review

Looks awesome. Might wait for it.

[mustanglover76]

Is this considered a pretty good deal? I mean for $599 it looks pretty quick and does the basic office functions which is fine...just curious if there is anything else out there that competes for value with this one.

[Dfish]

I was able to get a bit of an additional discount from their on-line sales reps for the Vostro 1500.

[7jaii]

Is this considered a pretty good deal? I mean for $599 it looks pretty quick and does the basic office functions which is fine...just curious if there is anything else out there that competes for value with this one.

Anytime you find a $599 17" is a good deal. They typically are multimedia DVR style laptops with C2D CPU but we're talking about a business laptop here. Much better chassis, mylar keyboard, no flex and no restocking fee. Great price! Looks like Dell is clearing inventory to make room for a replacement model.

It's like when Vista was released, the XP loaded machine were dirt cheap but their replacements returned to regular price. Buy this if you need it.

[snoroqc]

I canceled my order for the 1500 for the 1700 with the celeron. Honest price.

I prefer to buy a low-end laptop and change it more often... Price drop fast

Is it possible to upgrade the CPU eventually to C2D ?

[AndrewRFD]

I canceled my order for the 1500 for the 1700 with the celeron. Honest price.

I prefer to buy a low-end laptop and change it more often... Price drop fast

Is it possible to upgrade the CPU eventually to C2D ?

The Celeron M550 is Socket P, just like all the newer Core 2 Duo processors, so you should have plenty of upgrade options going forward.

[peppy5]

you would think with the new laptops that are coming out that will push the price down even further in the future

[slotscanada]

Appears deal is dead - link comes up $899 now ?

[NiftyScent]

Appears deal is dead - link comes up $899 now ?

Dude, you should really check the date of post before you start bumping some old laptop deal threads.