I am a tech and I have been working with Dell latitudes for years. I would highly recommend this laptop. If I had the $$ right now I would buy one myself. That is a great price. You can always upgrade the HDD and Ram later. If you looking for a quality laptop that will stand the test of time you can't go wrong with a Dell Latitude.

Thanks everyone for all the comments. I decided to get one for my husband; he needs a laptop for when he deploys to Afghanistan and I didn't want to get something that was too fancy and would get ruined with all the sand and travelling and whatnot. This seems like it'll work perfectly: decently rugged, not too expensive, enough power to do day-to-day stuff like email and Skype, and a small enough size that it's not too cumbersome to lug around.

Thanks woot for offering just what I needed!

Anyone know if the cpu is socketed?

tc1uscg wrote:Sorry, I edited my post before I seen yours..

:-).. Nope. Not going to get in a tinkling contest here but I've been using a tower that came with a SSD (64gb). It took me 2 weeks to exceed the limit of the drive even though I was installing EVERYTHING on the data drive. Just saying, it's not for everyone and to me, I don't need to shell out the bucks for a 300gb+ SSD drive just to gain a few seconds on booting. My needs justify internal capacity. Who wants to dongle a external drive while on the top of a telephone pole like I would have to do? Besides, 130.00 for 750gb hybrid vs 400.00 for a cheap 500gb SSD. Thats enough price dif for me to go with a 750.

If all you'd personally get out of an SSD is a faster boot time, then yeah, go for more storage. That said, SSDs are amazing for any sort of computing where you are doing frequent writes (database developers and software engineers take note). I can let my i3 laptop with a 128GB SSD race my i5 desktop with a 7200 RPM 1TB HDD on importing a production database and it's no contest. Like, we're talking 45 seconds vs 7-8 minutes.

The number one reason for buying a laptop is portability, definitely. I guess it all depends on what portability means to you--if I'm trying to go portable, that means I don't need my entire HD movie collection every time I walk out the door with my laptop.

pepsi216 wrote:Has anyone ever had problems with refurb laptops? I'm tempted to jump on this but the refurb has me wary .

For the last 5 years or so I have bought only refurbished computers and have had no problems at all.

Look at: http://www.ebay.com/sch/dell-official-store-usa-refurbished/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2654

I think these are "off lease" computers from large companies.

rgfitz wrote:For the last 5 years or so I have bought only refurbished computers and have had no problems at all.

Look at: http://www.ebay.com/sch/dell-official-store-usa-refurbished/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2654

I think these are "off lease" computers from large companies.

...I mean the ones on Dell's eBay site.

I am trying to buy, but keep getting denied. Anyone else having this problem?

zonecontrol wrote:I'm looking for a couple like this as my minecraft computers. Aside from the small screen/size (which I prefer for travel), the video card seems robust enough to run it smoothly.

Recommended Requirements for Minecraft:
CPU : Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 (K8) 2.6 GHz
RAM : 2GB
GPU : GeForce 6xxx or ATI Radeon 9xxx and up with OpenGL 2.0 support (excluding integrated chipsets)
HDD : 150MB

It looks like from the website below that the video card is up to snuff but I need more confidence.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-3000.37948.0.html

Thoughts?

I'm looking for an answer to this too. I'd like to get this for my son who is big into Miencraft and this looks like a great option to keep him off my laptop!

I have the same laptop for work - I can't really speak to the tech specs, but those complaining about its looks - who cares? I've used thinkpads for years, and this one is up there in terms of durability. Its taken 1+ years of banging around thru TSA checkpoints, conference room meetings, punching in and out of docking stations every day, weekly road work, etc etc, and still looks more or less brand new. The keyboard still types firm, etc. No complaints here.

bigred*nyc wrote:I've brought several Dell refurb laptops over the years - no problems at all

My 2.5 year old refurbished Dell Vostro 3500 is still running strong. Just replaced the HDD with an SSD to extend it's life.

That said, my work laptop is Lattitude E6300. Looking around it appears this shares the same docking station as that one, which my Vostro does not. This is a pretty tempting buy for me.

One question: I know that the lattitudes come with either a backlit or not backlit keyboard. I couldn't find anything in the specs that answered this. All it says is "Full Sized". Should I assume that means it's not backlit? My Vostro came w/a backlit keyboard and I had no idea how quickly, and deeply I'd get addicted to that feature.

The i3-2350M CPU is a pretty good chip. Better than most out there...

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i3-2350M+%40+2.30GHz&id=758

First: Every refurb laptop I've purchased from Woot appeared to be brand new, the refurb claim seems to be a way to avoid interfering with the normal market while offering a lower warranty. Second: I replaced the normal hard disk drive with a solid state drive on my Toshiba laptop. Disk access speed definitely increased but not magically so. It's most noticeable on whole disk operations such as scans, backups and imaging, and major file transfer operations. Third: 128GB is pretty skimpy, I use a 256GB SSD and am currently over 185GB. Look at the properties on your current hard drive to see if your stuff will fit onto 128GB and, if not, whether there's stuff easily eliminated. Then determine your future growth requirements (pictures, music, games, etc.).

This is an odd-ball laptop.

The Latitude E**30 series laptops only shipped new from the factory with IvyBridge (3rd generation core) processors.

This is a decent laptop at this price, but that picture is misleading. The viewing angle on the screen on these is NOT good enough to get those colors at that angle. It's fine if you're looking right at it though.

The best part about this is that this machine is built like a tank.

I just bought one.

I'm a computer janitor for a major university; we have a premier contract with Dell and we pretty much insist people by Latitudes.

What you're paying for here is build quality: Latitudes, barring the usual % of lemons given for anything are complete tanks and can be used/abused for years.

Your average POS $300 Wal-Mart special Acer/whatever now might have a better processor/graphics, since this is a second gen i-series processor and not a third gen which brand-new laptops will likely have.

Any other $400 laptop however will have:

-Much poorer build quality
-Worse screen
-No SSD, but rather some POS 5200RPM spinning platter HDD.
-Likely no USB 3.0
-Likely no E-SATA
-Likely not both HDMI AND VGA output
-Tons of crapware installed
-Been made by a manufacturer who has a godawful website you can't find drivers on if you ever upgrade to a newer OS or side-grade to Linux or whatever.

Provided you win the refurb lottery, this is a hell of a buy. To give you an idea, an equivalent brand new Latitude with an i5 (2 more cores, similar clock speeds), a NORMAL HDD, and everything else the same will cost at least $1100 or so.

Again; refurb can mean somewhere between these two things.

*Some dude opened the box, realized he ordered the wrong thing and sent it back.

to

*It caught on fire and exploded.

Oh yeah, since it's an enterprise laptop; you'll be able to find part replacements for years, usually at reasonable prices.

Just bought 1. I need a new lappy top to replace my old Latitude D610, which is still going strong after 7 years (i'm typing on it now.) Unfortunately it can no longer play any sort of HD video, and forget outputting video. I'm hoping this E5430 will have the ability to output 1080p video files via HDMI without any hassle. I already purchased a caddy for the optical bay and a 750GB 7200rpm SATA drive to give me some extra space. Don't need it for games, so I'm hoping this does the trick!

I was going to buy an HP Folio 13-1020US that was on clearance locally for $599. But I just couldn't justify it. I'm just hoping I don't regret it! But the fact that I can add a cheap SATA drive to the E5430 for massive storage is a HUGE plus!

Thanks for selling this Woot.

It motivated me go to the Crucial website and order:

CT1725319 128GB Crucial m4 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s (SATA III) Upgrade for a Dell Latitude D531 System

I had been putting it off for months.

rgfitz wrote:Thanks for selling this Woot.

It motivated me go to the Crucial website and order:

CT1725319 128GB Crucial m4 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s (SATA III) Upgrade for a Dell Latitude D531 System

I had been putting it off for months.

I've replaced some HDs with SSDs in D620s and D630s and my users say it's like a whole new machine. I can probably keep them in service for another 2 years for $150 (or less) each.

Does anyone know if Woot is charging tax - in CA?

This notebook hits almost all the checkboxes I have been looking for in a laptop:

Option of dock
SSD
Built like a Tank
i3
Windows 7

Only checkbox it missed:

16:9 Screen (I prefer 4:3 myself)

If it wasn't number two on my priority list, right behind replacing a 32" CRT TV, I would be all over this. I do take comfort in one fact though,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200855

Newegg has the exact same build for $20 more. This has me thinking these will hang around for a bit.

And I also can personally attest on the build quality of Lattitudes, still rocking a C600. Comes in at 7 lbs strong, and is still suitable for light web cruising. Not counting it runs XP great, and older games like Roller Coaster Tycoon and MOO2.

I will probably be on the lookout for one of these when it comes up again.

irfkhan wrote:128GB SSD, but no Hard Drive????

Bwahahahahhahaha!!! wait a minute -.-

rjolly87 wrote:This notebook hits almost all the checkboxes I have been looking for in a laptop:

Option of dock
SSD
Built like a Tank
i3
Windows 7

Only checkbox it missed:

16:9 Screen (I prefer 4:3 myself)

If it wasn't number two on my priority list, right behind replacing a 32" CRT TV, I would be all over this. I do take comfort in one fact though,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200855

Newegg has the exact same build for $20 more. This has me thinking these will hang around for a bit.

And I also can personally attest on the build quality of Lattitudes, still rocking a C600. Comes in at 7 lbs strong, and is still suitable for light web cruising. Not counting it runs XP great, and older games like Roller Coaster Tycoon and MOO2.

I will probably be on the lookout for one of these when it comes up again.

i3 quad thread.
Windows 7PRO


Good find woot, must resist. I got a 64gb ssd for a d830 with only 2gb of ram and 2.0 dual core, but that thing screams.

rjolly87 wrote:This notebook hits almost all the checkboxes I have been looking for in a laptop:

Option of dock
SSD
Built like a Tank
i3
Windows 7

Only checkbox it missed:

16:9 Screen (I prefer 4:3 myself)

If it wasn't number two on my priority list, right behind replacing a 32" CRT TV, I would be all over this. I do take comfort in one fact though,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200855

Newegg has the exact same build for $20 more. This has me thinking these will hang around for a bit.

And I also can personally attest on the build quality of Lattitudes, still rocking a C600. Comes in at 7 lbs strong, and is still suitable for light web cruising. Not counting it runs XP great, and older games like Roller Coaster Tycoon and MOO2.

I will probably be on the lookout for one of these when it comes up again.

Thanks for the heads up on New Egg. It was cheaper there.

billlh wrote:Thanks for the heads up on New Egg. It was cheaper there.

Have I missed something? I checked there earlier today before I bought on Woot! Looked to be $429... Was there a Promo I missed out on? I'll be unhappy...

Being able to max this thing out at 16GB RAM is pretty good for a system at this price point. Even though it's about $130.00 to get there (Crucial) it's probably the first thing I would do. Should be fast for years...and the 128GB SSD is ok but 256's have really come down in price. MUST RESIST.

Also, it comes with "Windows Recovery Software." I assume this is the OS re installation disc. One thing especially nice about Dell is that they make re installing Windows very easy as long as you have the disc...

riponfrosh wrote:Have I missed something? I checked there earlier today before I bought on Woot! Looked to be $429... Was there a Promo I missed out on? I'll be unhappy...

Somebody is either yanking our chain, or is getting taxed on woot, and not taxed on Newegg...

ROGETRAY wrote:The taxability of delivery related charges in California is dependent on conditions that vary from retailer to retailer. These rules are known to be complex and have been the subject of past controversy.

We consulted with the California State Board of Equalization in deciding that our Shipping and Handling charges are subject to tax when made in connection with a taxable sale. This is because we do not have visibility into the split between the pure shipping charge and any excess shipping charge (including amounts charged for handling).

Staff: In what state is the retailer located? the general rule of thumb for CA is if it has one or more retail stores n CA it must charge tax. If not, the retailer can forgo the tax.

rjolly87 wrote:Somebody is either yanking our chain, or is getting taxed on woot, and not taxed on Newegg...

Ah, makes sense. I thought I was pretty thorough in my search. It appeared there were others at similar prices, but Woot was the cheapest. Now they need to stuff that thing in a truck and send it to me! I want to play with my new toy!

Despite tax, I am in for one... Thanks Woot...

Cook74 wrote:Despite tax, I am in for one... Thanks Woot...

FWIW: Tax is charged for CA purchases - just about $35.

It has been a while since I ordered from Woot. When will these ship out?

Anyone know if the keyboard is back lit?

jhoffman66 wrote:Anyone know if the keyboard is back lit?

From all my research, it is not lit. That was an upgrade, and looks likeit is not included in this deal.

moneyfornothing wrote:From all my research, it is not lit. That was an upgrade, and looks likeit is not included in this deal.

Thanks.

My order shipped on 3/15. Says it will be delivered tomorrow!! I am ready!!

Just got mine today!

schmaffy wrote:Just got mine today!

Is it fast? I am looking forward to the fast boot times!!