Quote:
Originally Posted by Jabberwhacky  it seems as though it's limited much more by the video card than the CPU, and having stayed with a slower processor wouldn't have made much difference. |
Bingo. If you have to decide where to spend money, you want to put it into graphics card, ram, and then higher RPM hard drive, in that order.
Sounds like your spec is still solid. I got a vostro 1400 as well, but I went with a similar refurb ($750 with tax) and made sure it had 2GB ram and the intel wifi. The only downside about that 1400 as a gaming rig, IMO, is the resolution (17" 1920x1200 > 14" 1280x800), and the video card specs being limited by form factor.
Vostro 1400s are really great, though. They put Mac Books to shame, at least in terms of hardware and performance per dollar spent. Vista and a sloppy Ubuntu 7.10 release cause some issues, but oh well.