D810 vs. Gen1 XPS

I would go for a E1705. I just feel like whats more current will be better for future use.

Yeah keep searching. I know that at this point in time I would not be purchasing a laptop with a pentium 4. The pentium M is a great cpu but the Core2Duo is notably faster. Just for giggles i gotta ask what the sale price on the XPS Gen1 you found is?

There are plenty E1705 machines in the outlet for that $920 range. Just don't get one with integrated graphics. Your money will be much better spent going with the newer technology.

You can easily get a 1505 or 1501 brand new with much better technology than the 2 you posted, all the while keeping the price well under $1000.

You never told us your intended use of this laptop.

The Gen 1 XPS is a really poor choice as battery life will go. It's essentially a desktop replacement, so if you want portability, you're screwed.

I'm not a fan of the D800/D810, personally, though your listed configuration makes it a better choice than the XPS. The guts aren't bad, but the external shell is kind of bulky and clumsy, there's better designs out there. IMO, Dell did a much better design job with their earlier Latitude C6xx/C8xx series, and also a better job with their new Latitude D620/820 family. Unless you're a gamer (since video card choices are wider with the Inspiron line), I think the newest Latitudes are a more durable. and are a perfect choice for everyone but non-gamers. I also like the business-level support.

Some of my preference is also due to liking the Trackpoint-style pointing stick, (I dislike having to leave the keyboard to use a trackpad, since I can type fairly rapidly) and unfortunately, Dell leaves this off of many of the Inspirons. Same goes for the looks; I prefer the somewhat muted charcoal finish of the Latitudes as opposed to the bright silver of many of the Inspirons. Those are both personal preferences, of course. Either way, I wouldn't buy a P4 laptop like the Gen1 XPS. While I have a P4 laptop and it gets the job done for me, the P4 isn't a very efficient processor, and it's hot and power-hungry. If you want to do this less expensively, I'd suggest going through the Dell Outlet. I saved some family members $500-600 on a Latitude D620 with a Core2 Duo 2GHz CPU, a gig of ram, 80GB hard disk, nVidia graphics, combo drive, and wireless, all with a three year warranty. Unit looked just like new.

The reason Dell stopped putting the trackpoint on the Inspirons is because IBM owns the patents to the trackpoint. Since Inspirons aren't in the same market segment as Thinkpads Dell decided to save themselves some patent royalties. The only reason Latitudes and Precision Mobile Laptops (except the M90) have the trackpoints still is because those systems compete directly with Thinkpads so Dell pays the royalties in order to keep that often deal-breaking feature.

Good to know, and it makes sense. It's just one of those things --since I can type 70-80wpm, I found long ago that having to move my fingers down to a trackpad interrupts that and slows me way down. The trackpoint allows me to keep my fingers on the keyboard while typing, and I find it more precise. For that convenience, it's worth the price of entry.

Hope you don't have problems with overheating. I'm calling dell this week... again.

Don't worry Mike,probably a 99.9 percent chance that the one Isuzu will buy WON"T have had a 7800GTX shoved in it at some stage.
The one I owned for 11 months never overheated but ran quite warm when idling,but only max 75C under load.
How do you know your overheating isn't from You messing with it,I seem to remember you having stability issues with the 7800GTX which is not surprising considering the motherboard and PS wasn't designed for that current draw.
I'm all for people messing with their gear to get more performance,but not when they start complaining of problems down the line...like its the manufacturers fault or something