They are not bad for a Dell. Beware the AC/DC board. They periodically go out and you have to take the whole damn thing apart to replace it. Also, batteries don't last very long and they run hot (processor). All in all not a bad machine to pick up at a cheap price on Ebay. I've had at least a couple a dozen of them. (Inspiron 8200 is basically the same machine.)
I Just purchased a Lenovo IBM Thinkpad Yesterday. Its Has a 15.4 inch widescreen monitor, and my favorite you can either use the mouse pad or the dot on the keyboard. Both are very responsive. The laptop is very Business Oriented, it has a rugged design, and no stupid gadgets to slow you down.
I just got my new DELL Vostro 2 days ago. I must say I am quite impressed. I was looking at Sony Vaio and Toshiba's. The dell has a better processor (Intel Core 2 Duo) and was $100 less in price. They start at $599 for Core 2 Duo, 15.4", 120 gb hard Drive, 1mb ram...XP or Vista. I went Vista...what the heck we all will be using it soon enough. I like it. I added only one upgrade and that was the Intel wireless N minicard for $59. Total price $705 with Taxes. The sony cost $699 before taxes with a core duo. Check out the DELL Vostro at Dell small business. Very nice laptop.
1flyfisher, Does it come with Intel Integrated Video? What kind of resolutions can it support for external monitor?
I recently purchased an inspiron 9400 and am very pleased with its performance. One note regarding video, if you intend on running multiple monitors I highly recommend getting a good video card with minimum 256mb of onboard memory. A good video card should handle up to a 24" monitor (and with a DVI splitter you should be able to push two additional monitors... In addition, running XP 2MB of Ram is recommended and double that "4MB Ram" if you plan on running Vista... it is very resource hungry... Good luck and happy trading....