How good is my sons Laptop???

My son is going to university in the fall. I recently bought him a dell computer for approximately 2500

the computer includes

PROCESSOR Intel庐 Core鈩?2 Duo Processor T9500 (2.6GHz/800Mhz FSB, 6MB Cache)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows庐 Vista Home Premium Edition SP1

LCD AND CAMERA High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1440x900) & 2MP Camera

MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms)

HARD DRIVE 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

GRAPHICS CARD 256MB NVIDIA庐 GeForce鈩?8600M GT

OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD burner (DVD /-RW) with double-layer DVD R write capability

WIRELESS CARD Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card

BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 Enhanced Data Rate), for XPSM1530

BATTERY OPTIONS 9 Cell Battery

SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software

HARDWARE SERVICES 4 Year Next Business Day Onsite/In Home Service, CompleteCare, Tech Support with Lojack

SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 36-months

Also included is carrying case and a mouse with a retail value of $70

Just wondering if i paid too much??? AND if this computer will last my son 4 years (until he has finished university)

The specs you listed are very good, the processor is intel's top end laptop processor, and the other specs are the top end of a midrange laptop. You didnt pay too much, but some of the add ons likely drove the cost up, specifically the 4 year hardware support with lojack. Ill bet that cost a fortune, and it may work out to being worth every penny.

for a university student this will easily last 4 years, i likely would not have purchased such an advanced computer, but it is obvious that you wanted to make sure your son was both well equipped and worry free, which it looks like he will be.

I dont think you paid too much for the value of the specs (plus the warranty) it just may have been a little bit of overkill.

**added** Dont worry about vista, its much better than most people think it is, and the specs you have listed are far beyond the requirements of it (so no one can suggest it will slow you down) For info on the difference between Fact and belief about Vista, try searching "Mojave Project" and see what you get **

if he is going to only use it for like work and email and stuff its fine, but if its for gaming then there are a few things that could use upgrading.
on a scale of 1 to 10. for work and email usage i would give it a 9, but for gaming about a 6. but if it will be mainly used for his school then it will be just fine =]

Laptops-
http://headaray.net/

Whoa, that setup is awesome! I think you definitely got your money's worth for what you got! should last AT LEAST 5 years!