Off topic: Is this a good deal on a laptop?

[96C220]

Okay,

I want to buy a new laptop, just because I find myself needing a computer more and more on the road.

Here are the basic things it has to do:

#1 - Decent battery life (my old toshiba's laptop battery lasted for 20 mins for about a week) a toshiba replacement under warranty did about the same thing. - Finally gave up on trying to run it on battery power.

#2 - Reasonably stable - All computers crash here and there, but it has to run relatively problem free.

These are the things I plan to use it for:

#1 - Microsoft office XP - pretty much anything these days should run this.

#2 - Palm / Outlook synchronization

#3 - Mobile internet - using my sprint pcs vision phone and a USB cable - basically unlimited high speed data access.

Other things are occasional playing of mp3 etc


Here is the machine im considering:

Dell Inspiron 1100

2.0 ghz celeron processor
128 MB ram standard - Upgrade to 256 mb for an additional $50
30 gig hard drive
24x cd-rom - Upgrade to DVD for $50, cd-rw for $99, DVD / CD-RW combo for $149
14.1" XGA TFT display.

The price is 899 + (whatever upgrades) - 150 mail in rebate, also free shipping from dell.

What do you guys think? - Is this a decent machine? Where would you spend your upgrade dollars?

Personally I want to keep the whole cost sub 1000 - Should I look at other brands / models.

Thanks again,

George -