$699 Dell Studio 15 Laptop w/ Vista Ultimate 64-bit

If you want a quality laptop, at a fantastic deal, here it is! This Dell Studio 15 laptop is a huge step up from the value-segment $500 laptops, since it is loaded with some of the latest technology, yet it is only $699.

Quite shocking is that this laptop comes with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate. Upgrading to Vista Ultimate is usually a $150 option at Dell, so having this included is quite a bargain. Cheap laptops usually come with Vista Basic, and mid to high-end laptops often have Vista Home Premium. Rarely do you see a PC with Ultimate included—especially at this low price.

The display screen on this Dell Studio 15 is an impressive 15.6" high definition (720) LED display with TrueLife. It also has a built-in camera.

It features a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 processor and 4GB of dual-channel DDR2 memory running at 800MHz. This is more memory than is typical at this price range, and with the 64-bit version of Vista Ultimate installed, you'll be able to make full use of it.

It comes with a 250GB hard drive and an 8X slot load super multi optical drive (Double Layer DVD+/-R Drive + RAM support). This means you can read and write CDs and DVDs, included double layer DVDs. The slot load mechanism is really cool, and a lot better than the clumsy CD trays many laptops come with.

For wireless networking, this laptop also come with high-end Intel wireless-N network capability. It has the Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11agn half mini-card allowing you to connect to high-speed wireless 802.11n networks as well as older 802.11g networks.

Included is the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD. While this is fine for basic work, it isn't very good for the newer 3D games. If you plan on playing demanding games, you should consider the upgrade to a 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570, which is $75.