Dell Laptops

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Dex

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Wannabe Geek

#17466 28-Nov-2007 12:42

Hey Guys... First post

Im after a little bit of the World renowned Geekzone knowledge I've heard so much about, Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

Im looking at getting a Laptop, a Dell Laptop to be acurate. Im hoping to find out what the general consensus is on these beasties, I've heard alot of bad things about Dell (Shoddy Customer Service, Constant errors etc) Does anybody know the un-biased truth on this? Obviously its really just opinion, i.e. 2 people buy the same laptop, works fine for one, but is royally rooted for the other, they are obviously going to have differing opinions.

Its just that from what I've seen in my reasearch so far, the best bang for your buck comes from Dell, for example...

I was looking at a Inspirion 1520, which comes with:

Core2 Duo T7700 CPU,
3gb Ram
320gb HDD
256mb 8600M GT GFX card
Windows XP (Vista can FOAD)
and the usual bits and bobs
all for just over $2000

To get something comparable from Asus, Toshiba, Sony etc, I'd be looking at paying closer to $3000 - $3500 ($2000 is basically the extent of my budget)

So.... Do I go with what is cheaper and looks wildly better on paper, but is liable to die on me in under a year, or Do I go with what has a better reputation but is signifigantly worse on paper if they both cost the same?

Its a little selfish to hope someone can appease my mind, but hey, its the internet, being selfish is what its all about :P

Thanks in advance!

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#97331 28-Nov-2007 12:47

Why not a XPS M1330, a little bit slower but im sure you will be more than happy with it!

Great design!

Fast!

http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1330?c=nz&cs=nzdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

paulchinnz

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#97333 28-Nov-2007 12:50

I've been a bit of a Dell fanboy and been involved in 5 systems purchases (3 myself over the years and 2 for others). I've never got their top-of-the-range stuff, and so have never had top-notch performance, but it's always been reliable with reasonable customer service. I like the fact I can just about pull the entire system apart e.g. actually opened up the CD drive one time, and it was still covered by their warranty. Out of those five, there's only been one laptop, but it's been fine for the past year. Golly how prices have fallen, a year ago, for that price, I got a third of the RAM and drive-space!

Dex

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#97337 28-Nov-2007 13:19

I've looked at the M1330, but to me, it seems like im paying for purty rather than performance... and just like a car, I dont mind if it don't look pretty, as long as it goes fast

To comapare the M1330 against the Inspirion 1520,

M1330______________________ 1520
T7250 Processor_____________T7700 Processor
Vista________________________XP
13.3" Screen_________________15.4" Screen
2gb Ram____________________3gb Ram
160gb HDD__________________320gb HDD
8400M GS 128mb Card_______8600M GT 256mb card
$2099_______________________$2028

I also probally should of said in my original post that the Laptop will be for light gaming and as a general Desktop replacement, I'm not gonna be taking it many places, so size and weight isn't really a factor.
Cheers for the Insight though :D

@Paul: I've heard good things and bad things about Dell, as will be the case for anything I suppose, I guess I'm just hoping for peoples opinions on them rather than reading a review at some PC website who's probally bias because of the free Laptop he gets at the end :P
So, Chalk one up on the Favorable Opinion side! cheers bud.

alasta

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#97338 28-Nov-2007 13:26

I bought a Dell 1520 a couple of months ago and I'm really happy with it. It looks good, is well built, and everything works fine. It is a bit bulky and heavy, but you've noted that that shouldn't be a problem for you.

I got a two year warranty thrown in with mine as one of their rolling special offers, which is good for piece of mind.

Noviota

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#97339 28-Nov-2007 13:31

I've had no problems with Dell hardware, I've always created an image of the drive and done a fresh install though.

Make sure you get a proper XP install CD. I've found little bits of unneeded things dell install as annoying.

The image helps if you can't find the right .inf file!

paulchinnz

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#97340 28-Nov-2007 13:33

Indeed. Got my Inspiron 640m last year,: good balance I thought, from the Dell range, between portability and viewability!

By the way Dex, there's a concurrent thread here (if you didn't already know!).

chakkaradeep

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#97341 28-Nov-2007 13:45

I bought Dell Inspiron 6400 E1505 and I would recommend getting Dell

The Customer Service is good (atleast till now) and they have done a good job with my complaints

And system is stable,good and excellent!

Regards,
Chaks

Desktop : Intel Quad Core Q9400 2.66GHz - 8GB RAM - 500 GB + 500 GB HDD - NVidia GeForce 9800GT - LG246WH Flatron Display - Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with Hyper-V
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Laptop: HP dv7-3004TX Entertainment Notebook PC | HP Touchsmart tx2 1119au - Windows 7 Ultimate x64
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Dex

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Wannabe Geek

#97346 28-Nov-2007 14:24

Cheers for the reply's guys, starting to set my mind at ease before pillaging my bank balance.

Keep em' opinions flowing

paulchinnz

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#97347 28-Nov-2007 14:29

Looks like what you need are some Dell naysayers to balance it up!

Dex

7 posts

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#97352 28-Nov-2007 15:04

Reckon... This (false?) sense of security could be harmful

Where for art thou Dell haters?

chiefie

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#97355 28-Nov-2007 15:22

I should remind you... keep an eye for m1530, as it just been revealed today on Dell US/UK/Germany website.

m1530 is the last of the m1x30 family, joining m1330 and m1730. A good balance between powerful-portable (m1330) and gaming (m1730).

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cyril7

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#97369 28-Nov-2007 17:01

Another happy dell Laptop customer here, also good desktop experience. I have also done recommendations for several realtors (wifes life) and in the 4-5yrs that they have been in service all parties have been well pleased. Had very few problems, and all of those have been quickly dealt with.

Cyril

signz

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Master Geek

#97412 28-Nov-2007 19:57

Well, I have an Inspiron 6400 dual core and it's the last Dell I will ever buy.

When I broke my last one (cracked the LCD !!! IBM quoted $6,000 for a replacement) I had 2 prices in my hand:

- A new IBM (direct from distributor so a bit cheaper than end-user)
- The Dell

Both prices were very close. I chose the Dell because it came with a 3-year "insurance policy". Break it, lose it, get it stolen, drop it ... we replace it. Seeing as how I had just broken one I figured this was a good thing.

Bad mistake ...

So, what's wrong with it. It just feels cheap. The space bar angles away from you when pushed, leaving a sharp edge. No big deal but just feels wrong to me. The CPU is fast but the disk feels SOOOOO sluggish. My old IBM P3 1.7GHz felt faster overall than this thing with it's dual core 1.83GHz ... despite having less RAM and one CPU.

Everyone comments on how nice the LCD is because it's all shiny and crystal clear. The problem is that it's not anti-glare (it's kinda like SUPER glare). I can see myself and everything behind be which makes working harder. Nice screen but no thanks.

Just ... doesn't feel right. I've had about 6 previous laptops ... all IBM or Toshiba and they just have a different feel.

Personal thing maybe.

I should mention that the Dell has been 100% reliable, never does anyhting weird despite me asking a lot of it (when I am away from home it's a database server, web server, development workstation and my office).

I don't hate it ... I just don't LIKE it.

If that is as far as the budget goes then I don't think you will go wrong with it ...

DS

P.S. Inspiron weighs a TON compared to my old one.
P.P.S. Found a replacement screen for my old IBM on TradeMe for $200 ... Gotta love the Internet!

paulchinnz

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#97421 28-Nov-2007 20:15

True enough, screen is rather reflective on my Inspiron too. No complaints about the speed or keyboard though.

alasta

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#97436 28-Nov-2007 21:13

I have the glossy display on mine and I generally really like it but I do find that I have to clean it quite a lot as it seems to show up dirt and dust much more than other LCDs that I've used.

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