Help on a new E1505 (long)

I'm considering swapping my old Inspiron 8600 for a new E1505. I travel a lot and, as much as I would like to get a more powerful system, I can't justify toting a 17-incher around airports and tiny planes.

Below is the system I've configured. Coming out to just over $2K with tax and shipping. Wanted to post it first and ask a few questions to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious.

Processor: Intel Core Duo T2500 (2GHz)
OS: Windows MCE 2005
LCD: 15.4" UltraSharp Wide Screen SXGA+ with TrueLife
Memory: 2GB DDR2 533MHz SDRAM (It only $100 to upgrade from a single-DIMM 1GB. Checked around and the best I could find another 1GB stick was $77, before tax and s&h. Figured wasn't worth the hassle of the extra order and installation to save $10)
Video Card: 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon x1400
Hard Drive: 100GB 5400rpm SATA
Sound: Integrated SB Audigy
Wireless: Intel Pro 3945 and Dell 350 Bluetooth
Battery: Two 85 WHr 9-cell (have trouble finding outlets on most planes so figure I'd be needing this a bit)
Warranty: 3yr Ltd, At-Home Service, HW Warr Support plus Nights and Wknds (3 yrs was the minimum for the max EPP discount plus I figure if I resell it in 2 years, the extra year warranty might help it move faster)
Reinstall: For some reason, the website isn't offering me the option of the Windows CD with my discount. Question #1 is if anyone thinks it's worth calling and trying to coax it out of the sales rep on the phone or am I just SOL. I'd really rather not be stuck with the Dell/Symantec restore CD.

1b) If I do just have the Dell restore CD, is there any point to doing a reformat when I first boot it up? Or is the restore CD just going to dump all the bloatware back on.

2) The total comes to $2006.23 = $2697 - 593.34 (22% Inspiron discount) - 252.44 (12% EPP discount) + 155.01 (crazy NY taxes; shipping is free). Does that look like a good enough deal for that system? I tried pricing it up with the $750 off coupon (through Home & Home Office; wouldn't let me combine it with the EPP discount) and it came to $2228. Systems were identical except that I could drop the pre-installed McAfee with the EPP setup.

3) Went with the 5400rpm hard drive. Wouldn't mind the 7200rpm but don't want to pay up for it and then also have to suffer with shorter battery life and more heat. Anyone ever compare the power usage of the 5400 vs the 7200? How noticeable is the performance difference?

4) I've never used Windows MCE. Am I losing much performance, flexibility over XP Pro (what I've had for about the last 4 years)?

5) The reason I'm upgrading in the first place is to get better performance for the mid-high end games (high-end, in my opinion anyway). Anyone try out a system like the above on AoE3, RoN: T&P and RoL? The only one my Inspiron ran normally was RoN.

6) I'm getting a Dell because I've had one for most of the last 8 years and I like their service, discounts. Is there any other system out there I'm ignoring that'll be comparable in the same price range? Someone suggested I even look at a macbook pro running native XP but it looked too expensive (in addition to being a mac which have a something of an ideological difference with).

7) Anyone want to buy a 2-year old Dothan 1.8Ghz 8600? Still has a year of warranty on it. ;-)

Thanks all. Long, so I appreciate if you're still reading at this point. Would like to buy today (before the current deals run out) so any comments would be welcome.

Thanks,
OO

P.S. No need to answer question 7 (unless you want to wait a while). I'll probably post it in the For Sale section once I get my new one and transfer all the stuff over so may be some weeks yet before it pops up there.

Thanks for your (mostly) helpful comments.

I did check out the outlet and the systems actually come out to the same ballpark when I add back in the stuff I wanted that's missing (better video card, bigger HD, more RAM/expansion space) but I can probably shave off another hundred dollars or more with a better deal. The 40% coupon seems rare but if I had it, I could get down to about $1800, all-in. Checked eBay for it and found some friendly folks selling the $750 off $1999 coupon you can find by logging on to the Dell website.

Probably going to hold out on the 7200rpm HDDs. Good call on waiting for the price drop, especially since my price tag is already bloated as is.

Will call the rep though and see if there's anything else I can wrangle out to convince me to order now (another good piece of advice). Otherwise, I'll probably wait a while for a better deal. Very difficult to do though when you have unplayable games waiting on your desk but I'll try!

Thanks again everyone.

Hey chevyrulz099, if you're offering one with the specs I'm looking for at, say, $1600, I'll buy it from you right now. You can pocket the extra $300. I can't figure out for the life of me how to get lower otherwise. What do you think?

Thanks! Yeah, found this coupon and reran it this weekend. Saved me about an extra $300 from my last configuration. Still never got down to $1300 but pretty happy with where I am now.