Jinn

I've got a decent desktop -

Athlon XP 3200+
1.5GB DDR400
x800 XL (256 AGP)
280 GB internal IDE HDs

I've built it and its predecessors myself, so I have a relative idea of desktop hardware.. but I've never had a laptop. I'm looking to get a secondary laptop with a few goals in mind - ability to use it in classes for (a) boredom web browsing, (b) programming in Visual Studio 2003/2005 and (c) playing mid to high end games. I'd also like to be able to bring it home and have it act as a second computer that can play EverQuest II with decent quality.

I went browsing around and found a few, but I think what I've got now represents a pretty good buy:

Intel® Core™ Duo Proc T2050 (1.60GHz/533MHz/2 X 1MB L2 Cache)
LCD Panel 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
Memory 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™Go 7300 TurboCache
Hard Drive 60GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Combo/DVD+RW Drives 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Sound Options Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Draft N Internal Wireless
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr At-Home Service, and 1Yr HW

They're also throwing in a:
Dell Color Printer 725 Unit Price $0.00


Total Price
$923.52

My major concerns: is the 256 Go 7300 going to be enough to play a game like EverQuest II at medium quality? It's an additional $130 - without it, the price drops to $800. And is the Core Duo 1.6 going to be enough? There are options to bump it to a Core Duo 1.8 and 2.0, with repsective bus increases. I'd like to keep it below $1000. Any thoughts? Are there any similiar laptops that'll meet a, b and c for cheaper? If so, let me know.. Dell just happened to be the most convenient to customize.

EDIT: As an added note, I picked up a 500 GB external a few weeks ago, so the relatively small size from the laptop's internal drive shouldn't be too much of a problem.

EDIT x2: After a bit of browsing online it seems the Radeon Mobile x1400 is a much better performer than the geforce go, so I've switched to that and dropped another $30..

__________________
"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel