$599 (through Dell University; normally $783)
Dell Inspiron 1501
Windows XP
15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife (glossy)
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TK-53
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm (Upgrade to 2GB for $150)
80GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) (Upgrade to 120GB for $55)
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive (Upgrade to 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability for $40)
ATI RADEON® Xpress1150 256MB HyperMemory™ (Integrated)
29 WHr 4-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

I don't know about the processor. I have no idea what's good and what isn't and what's worth the money and what isn't. Here are my choices with this one:

AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-60 (2.0GHz/1MB) [add $100 or $3/month1]
AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-56 [add $60 or $2/month1]
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TK-53 [Included in Price]

Also, batteries:

29 WHr 4-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery [Included in Price]
53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery [add $30 or $1/month]
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery [add $50 or $2/month] Dell Recommends
6-cell Primary Battery and 9-cell additional Lithium Ion Battery [add $129 or $4/month]
9-cell Primary Battery and 9-cell additional Lithium Ion Battery [add $149 or $4/month]

Edit: These are all in my price range but the cheaper the better.
Edit2: As it stands now, I have it set for Vista. However, unless I can figure out a way to make it so I get XP instead (they're making it kind of hard to find), I'll probably just downgrade. I like XP a lot and if I wanted Vista, I might want more RAM but I don't feel like paying 150 more for that. I have 256MB on this computer now and would LOVE just having 1GB. Ha.

Screw you guys.

bad deal

for example

look at slickdeals.net today and the first thing you see is this:

Dell SB has Inspiron 1501 laptop for a base price of $449 with free shipping. You can choose a configuration with Windows XP Home or Windows Vista Home Basic. Thanks The Zanar

Specs:

* Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TK-53 (1.7 GHz, 2 x 256KB cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic Or Wnidows XP Home
* 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
* 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
* 80GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
* 24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
* ATI RADEON Xpress1150 256MB HyperMemory (Integrated)
* Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card (54Mbps)
* Integrated Audio
* 29 WHr 4-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
* 1 Yr Ltd Warranty, 1 Yr Mail-in Service, and 1 Yr Tech Support

Upgrades to consider:

* 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display with TrueLife(glossy) add $0
* 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability [add $40]
* 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery [add $30] or 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery [add $50]

so yeah the same thing $150 less

Isn't that for Dell Small Business though? SB seems to get a lot of good deals but I don't know anyone with a small business.

Edit: Hmm, apparently they don't really investigated it at all so you can just put a random company name in and they won't ask any questions.

You probably should get a higher resolution screen, if you can. I have an XGA 4:3 screen on my 12 inch laptop, and its annoying. That one is slightly better because of widescreen-ness, but...

Also, if you want to use a laptop as a...portable device, you will definitely want the biggest battery you can get, and will also probably want something that isn't 15.4 inches.