Here's an additional tip for getting a great deal on Dell laptops.
do not buy any accessories to get it over the $1500 mark, instead go for upgrades to processor, screen, vga, and warranty. RAM, batteries, DVD players, wireless cards (bluetooth & wifi) can all be obtained elsewhere for 1/3 to 1/2 what Dell wants to charge and is easily installed. RAM is one of their biggest markups -- get this at
crucial.com instead. The other stuff can be obtained from froogle.com or ebay. I just bought a Latitude D610 barebones and just did this... works well.
Remember, if you order new from Dell, it might be 2 weeks before you get the laptop, so you'll probably get all the accessories first.