Buying a new laptop....

[Dennis DeSantis]

I think you may want to look elsewhere then. Maybe go with an HP and upgrade the ram to as much you can afford and replace hdd with a 7200.

My Dell (Inspiron 8600) is my first and last Dell machine. It runs fine, but it just feels cheap to me. I've seen other places with better cases and a clean version of Windows at either the same or even a lower price.

Yeah, I've considered the HPs as well. But what I'm particularly attracted to about the Dells is that I can add a seriously extended warranty and still come in at or below the prices I've found at other vendors.
I agree with you about build quality - my Inspiron 8100 has a lot of flex, particularly when opening and closing the screen. It's definitely near the end of its life now, but I used it extensively for over three years now and when I've had problems, I've had extremely good luck with tech support.

[suburbanbather]

Then all I can say is go with whatever feels right to you. Happy Lappy hunting and Good luck!

[Rx]

Rx - I notice you list this as your laptop in your signature, but with a 7200 rpm drive. I called Dell to see about adding this as an option and they simply wouldn't do it. They were willing to sell me an aftermarket 7200 drive but they wouldn't build a 6000 with one installed. Annoying, but what can I do? Did they install yours for you or did you add a different drive yourself?

doh - i missed this and you've prolly got a laptop already. as far as i knew, 7200 rpm drives were scarce a few months back. i had one in my old laptop and switched it into the 6000.