Help! -- Laptop

Well, I'm trying to decide between a Tablet and a regular notebook. However, something caught my eye. Dell has a deal where certain models are 750 bucks off. Obviously, as a student, this is a great deal of money. So, the laptop I was looking at was the Inspiron 9300. Here are the problems:

It's heavy! About 8 lbs. However, in it's defense, the monitor is 17.1 inches (diagonal) and it has everything I want. Good graphics, DVD burner, plenty of memory, etc.

I guess what I'm asking is does anyone have something similar to this that can tell me what they think? Or anyone familliar with laptops that can attest to it being bulky? Looking awkward, not worth carrying around, etc.

Thanks!

The one I have is a little bit of an older Toshiba and it weighs about 5-6 lbs and I've never really had any problems with the weight of it. Make sure u get a nice laptop case to carry it around in with roomy enough pouches for your recharger, mouse, and I also personally keep a set of earphones with mine as well. I love mine as it has helped a ton with my writing when I'm on the go or to connect to the internet when I'm away from my desktop.

Yeah, I know for a fact im getting one, and I have the money ready. The problem is it's hard to find somewhere to make a custom one for a decent price besides the internet, and you don't get to feel anything tangible on the internet which makes it a hard decesion.

get a backpack that fits a laptop and your all set. IMO a couple of pounds at the most is worth the savings. you can spend the rest on redskins stuff.....

i have a friend that did the same deal and it hasn't bothered him and he carries it everywhere.

Well, I suppose more than the weight is the dimensions of it that would bother me. It's 1.6 inches thick, but it doesnt give the other two dimensions. Yeah, I want to find a good backpack for it. Any ideas? (preferrably one with the single strap that goes across the front with enough room for a book or two in there along with wireless mouse, AC cord, etc.

Check out www.newegg.com and look at their Acer notebooks. They are SUPER high quality with a very affordable price. Also remember that the bigger the computer, normally the more powerful AND the shorter the battery life.

Also remember that the bigger the computer, normally the more powerful AND the shorter the battery life.

I can definitely atest to the second half of that statement. of course mine's a bit old and it definitely wouldn't hurt for me to replace my rechargable battery.

yeah, i have an older Acer notebook (TravelMate 2000), and for what I use it, it does the job. i bought it really cheap from my old company...but unfortunately, the 2nd batch, they had more names on the list than PCs to sell. Since I've got a decent in with the President, his secretary (happens to be Mom), and the IT guy (he made sure I got the best one of the bunch), I jumped on it.

I pulled up the 9300 deal. Not too bad...but take a look at this Acer from newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834115303)

for about 500 cheaper, you're getting about the same PC...

just depends on what you want to do. Dell gives you the great customer service. If you aren't afraid to open up a computer, I'd go with newegg. You could probably call them and have them add or subtract anything from it.

but one thing I would do is get the extra battery, especially if you're going to be away from an outlet for extended periods of time.

*if you use tech bargains and dell.com you can get the absolute cheapest deals possible on intels (on a good day/deal/overstock rummaging run)...
*your nearby stores (best buy compusa ssircuit city, but especially office depot for some reason) have weekly sales and 500-750$ laptops are offered every month or two (amd 64, radeon gfx, 15" usually 512mb ram and 60+gb HD) which are the best overall value...
*for everyday prices, newegg and sometimes powernotebooks (more for high end) are pretty good

8lb may be a bit heavy to set on your lap, but if you've always got a table it's not too bad (17" is nice), its more of a desktop replacement than a laptop though ;) the biggest cost is screen resolution in laptops, most only have XGA by default configs (1280x960 on a 15.4" which was more than enough for me).

I'd advise against tablets though... my dad's owned three now (from his work) and they tend to use slower processors, but besides that its a lot of extra cost for very very little in features... the handwriting stuff still isnt that great so you'll be going over it all with your keyboard (correcting it) anyways (most people type faster than write to begin with though, which is why i never really saw the point).

For my money, you can't beat the amd 64s, super fast, super cheap.

hope that helps.