Hey whats up new guy? Here is a bit of advice. With a question like your asking make a post like this:
DELL INSPIRON E1505 $679.00 U.S. after 250 $ rebate
Click here for E1505
SPECS and Options:
Processors:
Bullet
Intel® CoreTM Duo Processor T2500
(2GHz/667MHz FSB/2MB Cache)
Bullet
Intel® CoreTM Duo Processor T2400
(1.83GHz/667MHz FSB/2MB Cache)
Bullet
Intel® CoreTM Duo Processor T2300
(1.66GHz/667MHz FSB/2MB Cache)
Bullet
Intel® CoreTM Solo Processor T1300
(1.66GHz/667MHz FSB/2MB Cache)
GPU aka Graphics Processing Unit:
Bullet Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 950 Graphics
Display:
15.4" Widescreen Display
Available Resolutions:
Bullet WXGA (1280 x 800)
Bullet WSXGA (1280 x 800) with TrueLifeTM
Bullet WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) with TrueLifeTM
Bullet TrueLifeTM Technology provides rich, vibrant color with crisp, clear text; up to a 10% higher contrast ratio over the same display with an anti-glare coating.
HDD's:
Bullet 40, 60, 80, 100 or 120 GB1 hard drive
DVD CD:
Fixed bay (configurable at time of purchase only).
Choice of:
Bullet Combo Drive - 24x/10x/24x CD Burner and 8x DVD-ROM
Bullet 8x DVD/CD Burner (DVD+/-RW)2
Floppy/Removable:
Bullet Optional: External USB floppy drive
Bullet Optional: 64MB3, 128MB or 256MB USB memory key
Stereo Sound which means there is a headphone 1/8 inch and Mic 1/8 inch. (Your not gunna record good music with this)
I/O's:
Bullet IEEE 1394
Bullet 4-USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) compliant 4-pin connectors
Bullet Flash Memory Slot - Secure Digital (SD) and SD/IO compliant 5-in-1 Combo Card connector - reads MS, MS Pro, SD/SDIO, MMC, xD CD type I/II, & IBM Microdrive through ExpressCard adapter
Bullet Video: 15-pin monitor connector
Bullet S-Video: 7-pin mini-DIN connector
Bullet Audio jacks: Stereo headphones/speakers mini-connector (same as line-out), microphone mini-connector
OS's:
XP Pro SP2
XP Home SP2
XP Media
Mem. Module(s):
With integrated Intel® graphics:
Bullet 512MB of shared1 DDR2 SDRAM standard, upgradable to 2GB of shared1 DDR2 Dual Channel2 SDRAM
Bullet 2 SoDIMM sockets, both are user-accessible
Battery:
6-cell (53 WHr) "Smart" Lithium Ion battery:
9-cell (80 WHr) "Smart" Lithium Ion battery:
Bullet Optional: Spare 9-cell battery also available
Ac Adapter voltages etc..
Bullet Input voltage: 90 to 264 VAC
Bullet Input current (maximum): 1.5A at 90 VAC, full load
Bullet Output current: 3.34A (continous): 4.34 maximum at 4-sec pulse
Bullet Output power: 65W standard
Bullet Dimensions (H x W x D): 1.11-inch (28.2mm) x 2.28-inch (57.9mm) x 5.4-inch (137.2mm)
Bullet Weight (with cables): 0.9 lbs.
and it has a standard 10/100 LAN conection and a wireless card
or
DELL Inspirion 6000 $649.00 US after $250.00 mail-in rebate
Click here for 6000
Processors:
Bullet
Intel® Pentium® M 770 Processor
(2.13GHz, 2MB Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Bullet
Intel® Pentium® M 760 Processor
(2GHz, 2MB Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Bullet
Intel® Pentium® M 740 Processor
(1.73GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
Bullet
Intel® Pentium® M 725 Processor
(1.60GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB
OS's:
XP Pro or Home
Mem. Module(s):
With integrated Intel® graphics:
Bullet 512 MB of 400MHz shared3 DDR2 SDRAM standard, upgradable to 2 GB shared3
With dedicated ATI graphics:
Bullet 512 MB of 400MHz DDR2 SDRAM standard, upgradable to 2 GB
Bullet 2 SoDIMM sockets, both are user-accessible
Battery:
6-cell Lithium Ion battery (53 WHr):
Bullet Up to 3 hours with Celeron processor4
Bullet Up to 4 hours 20 minutes with Pentium M processor5
9-cell Lithium Ion battery (80Whr):
Bullet Up to 3 hours 50 minutes with Celeron processor6
Bullet Up to 5 hours 20 minutes with Pentium M processor7
Bullet Optional: Spare 9-cell battery also available
Display:
15.4" Widescreen TFT Active-Matrix Display
Available Resolutions:
Bullet WXGA (1280 x 800)
Bullet WSXGA+ UltraSharpTM (1680 x 1050)
Bullet WUXGA UltraSharpTM (1920 x 1200)
Bullet UltraSharpTM enables wider viewing angles and improved contrast ratio for brighter, more vivid colors.
GPU aka Graphics Processing Unit
Bullet Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics
Bullet Optional: 64 MB ATI MOBILITYTM RADEON® X300 HyperMemory Graphics3
Bullet Optional: 128 MB DDR ATI MOBILITYTM RADEON® X300 PCI ExpressTM x16 Graphics
HDD's and other storage:
Bullet 40, 60 or 80 GB3 Ultra ATA hard drive
Bullet Optional: External USB floppy drive
Bullet Optional: 64MB5, 128MB or 256MB USB memory key
DVD/CD:
Fixed bay (configurable at time of purchase only).
Choice of:
Bullet Combo Drive - 24x/10x/24x CD Burner and 8x DVD-ROM
Bullet 8x DVD/CD Burner (DVD+/-RW)4
Ac Adapter voltages etc..
Bullet Input voltage: 100 to 240 VAC
Bullet Input current (maximum): 1.5A at 90 VAC, full load
Bullet Output current: 3.34A
Bullet Output power: 65W standard
I/O:
Bullet IEEE 1394
Bullet 4-USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) compliant 4-pin connectors
Bullet Flash Memory Slot - Secure Digital (SD) and SD/IO compliant
Bullet Video: 15-pin monitor connector
Bullet S-Video: 7-pin mini-DIN connector
Bullet Audio jacks: Stereo headphones/speakers mini-connector (same as line-out), microphone mini-connector
Slots:
Bullet Connectors: (1) Type I or Type II card
Bullet 3.3 and 5 V cards supported
Bullet Dimensions (H x W x D): 1.1-inch (28mm) x 2.3-inch (59mm) x 5.25-inch (134mm)
Bullet Weight (with cables): 0.9 lbs. (0.4 kg)
Comm stuff:
Standard 10/100 ethernet LAN whatever
Wireless options:
Bullet Optional: Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (802.11b/g)
Bullet Optional: Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915 Dual Band Internal Wireless (802.11 a/b/g)
Also available:
Bullet Optional: Dell TrueMobileTM 350 (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) internal Bluetooth module
There are a bunch of configuartions to choose. There are actually over 20 different computers we are looking at here but mainly 20 different configurations of 8 computers. So which one were you looking at? Which Core Duo? Which Single core M? What Operating System and why? We know about the GPU and for gaming the Radeon would for obvious reasons be better. HDD? Wireless or not wireless? What types of I/O capabilities do you want to have? The only have headphone and 1/8" mic I/O ports so think about USB and Firewire capability because if you start to get serious about recording music you might want to get an external sound card which usually needs firewire or USB. How good do you want your DVD drive to be? And most importantly.. How much money do you have to spend and why do you want a DELL? Just some things to think about. Buying a PC is a very fun experience. Don't rush into buying a PC/Laptop because you might regret it down the road (unless your a billionare and don't care about money). Make sure you read reviews and check out all of your options. For me buying new parts for a PC is a long process which takes patience, research and time.
That is my two bits for the new guy.. Sorry about the enormous post but I thought it was necessary..