Making a Purchase

After pricing, researching, and thinking for the last few months I'm ready to make my final decision and purchase a notebook PC to prepare for my freshman year in college.

I checked around my local retailers like Best Buy and and Circuit City and then I priced some from Dell and other online custom built places. I basically found that DiscoutLaptops.com gave me the most bang for my buck by far. Plus, I was able to not get the things that I didn't want to pay for, like useless software installed by the manufacturer and even wasting my time with an OS since I already own XP Pro.

I've decided on the Centrino core because I've read that the performance is right on par with the high end P4s in notebooks, and the battery life, heat and noise emissions are all far more practical for a Centrino. Unless somebody can find a good reason for me to believe differently, I plan on getting that.

Basically here are the two models I am choosing from and they are nearly identical. I just figured I'd post the specs to let you guys help me make my final choice, and also to make sure this is a pretty good deal. From what I've priced, nothing that any major company can offer comes within $500 of this.

Chembook 2056 -X
15" SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) Active Matrix Display
2.0 GHz Intel Pentium M Processor (Dothan / 2,048k L2 Cache)
128 MB Dedicated Video Ram, Ati Radeon 9700 Pro w/ 4X AGP 3D Graphics Accelerator
80 GB Hard Drive (4200 RPM)
1024 MB DDR333 (PC2700) SDRAM (512 MB x 2)
4X DVD RW (+/-) / 16X CD-RW / 8X DVD Combo Drive with Software
Internal 56k Modem
Internal 10/100 Ethernet LAN
Internal IntelPRO Wireless Ethernet/Lan (802.11 b+g)
Smart Lithium Ion Battery (4.0+ hours battery life)
S-Video, VGA, 1 IEEE Firewire Port, 3 USB 2.0 Ports
Panasonic Secure Digital (SD) Memory Slot
AC Adapter w/ power cord
Free Deluxe Carry Case
FREE BONUS! Notebook Essentials Software (19 Titles)
No Operating System Installed, drivers included on CD-ROM
1 year parts / 3 year labor, life tech support

$2210 with shipping

Chembook 2060E -X
15.1" SXGA+ (1400 x 1050) Active Matrix Display
2.0 GHz Intel Pentium M Processor (Dothan / 2,048k L2 Cache)
64 MB Dedicated DDR Vram - ATi Mobility 9700 Pro (M11) w/ 4X AGP
80 GB Hard Drive (4200 RPM)
1024 MB DDR333 (PC2700) SDRAM (512 MB x 2)
2X DVD-R / 8X DVD / 24X CD / 16X CD-RW Combo Drive w/ Softwares
Internal 56k Modem
10/100/1000 BaseT Ethernet LAN Port
Internal IntelPRO 2200 Wireless Ethernet/Lan (802.11 b+g)
Smart Lithium Ion Battery (5.0+ hours battery life)
Built-in Flash Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro)
AC Adapter w/ power cord
Free Deluxe Carry Case
FREE BONUS! Notebook Essentials Software (19 Titles)
No Operating System Installed, drivers included on CD-ROM
1 year parts / 3 year labor, life tech support

$2295 with shipping.

I'm leaning towards the first one because it's obviously cheaper and it has the faster burner, and twice the amount of video ram. There is one final model that I'm looking at that is a rugged design but it gets close to $2400 which is started to get hefty for me.

Basically I just wanted to hear some opinions before I buy sometime in the next week or two. And also, if any of you have experience with DiscountLaptops, please help me out. From what I've researched, they seem to be a great retailer.