How is this notebook?

I think you have a decent laptop for the money "Right Now", but in 2 or 3 months this system will be in a different league. I just ordered almost the exact system, but I was hopeing to get the system with the x1600 or better video card, but it wasn't available. I did notice that the e1705 was now showing an optioin for the nVidia 7800 graphics chip, but there was a 40 day delay in shippping, so I would be willing to bet that the e1505 will have a better graphics upgrade within the next month or two. So in a nutshell, the longer you wait the more system you will get for about the same money.
I have been watching the "coupons" for dells for awhile and they seem to be pretty steady, so I wouldn't be too concerned about missing out on a deal.
The reason I went ahead and purchased my laptop now, was I got an email from dell that gave me a 34% off every upgrade. If you email a cart to yourself (simple registration) you will be put on thir mailing list and you would then get better deals than the standard coupons that you find online.
Hopefully this helps you out. I know that I research my purchases extensively and couldn't find any laptop that could match the specs of the one that I ordered for under $1000.
I ordered:
Duo Core 1.66Ghz (don't think a 2Ghz would give me too much more power for about $300 more, I can always try OC it a bit, but not going to right out of the box)
1 Gig DDR2 533Mhz ram
100 gig 5400 rpm SATA HD
ATI x1400 256mb graphics
Intel Bluetooth internal chip along with the Wireless A/B/G card
I also upgraded to the True brite screen, but not the WXSGA version

I hope this will help you save some $ and time I'll try to remember to give a review once I have my e1505 in hand