After spending a weeking looking for my first notebook I decided on the Dell Inspiron XPS. Here are the specs and price I paid:
-Pentium® 4 Processor 3.40GHz w/ HT Tech, 15.4-in WUXGA
-1GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz
-128MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY™ RADEON™ 9700 AGP 8X Graphics
-60GB Hard Drive at 7200RPM
-WinXP Home
-8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer write capability
-Dell® Wireless 1350 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g, 54Mbps)
-4 Yr Ltd Warr,4 Yr At-Home plus Nights and Weekend
-96 WHr 12-cell Primary Battery with Subwoofer
-WordPerfect Office 12 Microsoft Office Compatible
-Backpack

$2460 all total
It's in testing right now and due to be arrive on 13th.
The programs I'll be running are the following:
-Photoshop 7(eventually upgrading to CS)
-Paintshop Pro 7
-MS Small Business Pro(WP,XP etc)
-Netscape 7.2
-MS Explorer
-Mozilla FireFox and Thunderbird
-Games:Call of Duty,MS FS2k4,MS CFS3,CFS2,IL2,IL2FB

These programs should be a good all around test/work-out. I'll be glad to post my thoughts(good and bad)with this unit. I will also be a road-warrior for a month so this is another good test.
Matt

My my my you're gonna build some juicy hunky muscles lugging that around

:evil:

6'1"...245.......just a walk in the park.

Having a backpack makes it a walk in the park, lol.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

Have you gotten it yet? My brother ordered a dell before xmas and they've screwed up his order 3 times now... he's still waiting on the right one.

I just bought myself a new lappy and I'm absolutely impressed with it.

1.8 GHz Pentium-M
1 GB Ram
60 GB HD
9700 Pro
DVD-ROM/CD-RW
Gigabit Lan
Intel 802.11b/g wireless
15.4" WUXGA 1920x1200 screen (my god it's gorgeous)

$1734 USD total

It's also got a built in webcam right in the LCD panel just above the screen. I am absolutely impressed with it. The company I bought from included a custom driver cd with all the updated drivers on it in a very easy to use format. There was no BS extra trial software or anything. I'm in love.

s signature has been formatted to fit your scr

Thats what outsourcing to the cheapest bidder will do, god I have to fix the f-ups every day from companies like dell.

<i><font color=red>Only an overclocker can make a computer into a convectional oven.</i></font color=red>

Finally got back in town an a chance to report on my Inspiron XPS experience.
-First thing is to get rid of the Dell drivers an get the Omega one. OEM drivers would not run Call of Duty/United Offensive except in default mode.
-Battery time is approx 1.5 hrs Get the upgaded battery.
-Make sure you don't put your laptop on your lap unless you like the heat or have a hard surface to set it on. I'm going to get this as a fix:http://www.lapinator.com/
-The built in wireless works like a champ.If there is a connection nearby it will find it. Got to tell my neighbor "Thanks for the Bandwith"....lol
-As bright as the display is inside it really goes dim even in the shade.
-Get a cordless mouse!!
-Dell Support exist only on paper!! I found about the Omega Drivers through the "Community Forum".
-I bought the 4year Warranty....C.Y.A.
Should I have waited to get the XPS 2? Just like everything else....there is ALWAYS a nicer car the next year and there is always a more beautiful girl than the one you are with!!
Matt

ehhh, you will learn to like it, or love to hate it!!!

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

Well the XPS 2 is using the mobility CPU and the 6800 agp so youll get the chance to run doom 3 on a laptop decently. It is also 17in screen which can be either a blessing or curse. Id bet the battery life is no different. Unless you are a doom 3 fanatic or really wantd a bigger screen then dont bother upgrading.

I myself am aiming for that Inspiron 9300.

<i><font color=red>Only an overclocker can make a computer into a convectional oven.</i></font color=red>

Congratulations on the purchase. I have had mine for about a year and have a similar setup. The thing is a beast! 10 pounds of raw power! I am constantly switching between programs like outlook, photoshop, dreamweaver, flash, excel and all the while listening to music and the thing isn't even phased. I have also used it playing games like Dawn of War and Doom 3 and the graphics are great for a notebook. My desktop still smokes it for graphics though (Radeon 9800 256 MB).

One thing that I did notice that is quite odd is that a lot of images on websites along with some text in dreamweaver and fireworks are extremely blurry. I believe this has something to do with low res imagery or something. All in all I love the machine but was a bit dissapointed when I saw the release of the Generation 2 XPS. Is it possible my 10 pound gargantuan is no longer the cream of the crop?

Anyone know how the two compare performance wise? I saw the benchmarking done with the nvida card that you can get in them and it seems pretty amazing. Does anyone know if the nvidia 6800 256MB can go in the original XPS?

The mobility 6800 is not compatible for the XPS gen 1, they will make you buy another machine.

<i><font color=red>Only an overclocker can make a computer into a convectional oven.</i></font color=red>