Does anyone have an oppinion on Dell labtops? I am currently shopping for a laptop for a combination of work, school, and DvD watching :)
Dell of canada is offering employees of my company interst free financing so I was thinking of going with the inspiration series notebooks.
How much ram should I get?
What's better Celleron (sp?) of pentium processors?
How long to the lithium batteries REALLY last on those maschines?
My primary uses of this maschine will be sufing the net, running powerpoint presentations, and watching DVD's, posting on messageboards and word processing. No serious gameing of other graphical needs.
Are their better PC notebooks out their? Cheeper?
Thanks for helping me out with any info / oppinions.
I know very little about computers.
You might want to look at this, but you have to be fast.
Dell is running a 24 hour special until 6am tomorrow, for $750 off any Inspiron laptop priced at $1500 or more.
See the details (second bullet):
http://edealinfo.com/Misc/dell.shtml#C2
I would avoid a Celeron, even for day to day stuff a Pentium (either M or 4, M will probably get better battery life) is vastly superior. The battery in my notebook lasts 2½ hours, of course I have a very fast notebook for Architectural rendering, so my battery life is a little low, but I wouldn't count on much more than 3 hours for an average notebook. There are probably cheaper notebooks out there, but Dell is reliable and has great tech support. Another recommendation is get lots of RAM, I would suggest 512MB, even if it knocks the processor speed back a little to stay in your budget. I have 1GB of Ram and a 3.0GHz Pentium 4 and its soo much faster than my friends 3.2GHz with a measly 256MB Ram. My biggest downfall is my graphics card (of course as I said, I do lots of graphics intensive rendering), but for just word processing, powerpoint, and dvds; pretty much whatever they put in will be sufficient.
:) nice post bq, time to do some shopping
You better move quick though.
From what I understand the 9100 is out of stock and the coupon is no longer available on the 8600 & 700M. Try the 700M, 1100, 1150, 5160, or XPS. I've heard it still works on these.
I'm having to pass (and kicking myself) because I'm already overextended on TBird parts. :wtf:
Thanks bq, sadly that offer only seems to extend to american customers. They are however offering a Candain deal untill the 28. Check out dell.ca for the canucks out their.
Also anyone have a preference over skreen size. Will a 12" cause me to concentrate so hard I go blind after typing 20 pages?
I've got an Inspiron 1100 that I'm happy with. I've had it for 10 months now and so far the only things to break were:
Video system or monitor - it was broken when I got it. Soetimes the screen's backlighting would come on, sometimes it wouldn't (rendering it impossible to see). Dell shipped a brand new system within two days
Power supply - twice, the cable from the power supply got a short (a common laptop problem). I could've fixed it myself but that's what warranty is for. Dell replaced it both times free of charge.
Other than that it's been great. The battery lasts just under 3 hours (I've been on it for an hour now and it shows 1:50 remaining). It's fast enough, but I wouldn't recommend this model for gaming due to its py Intel graphics chip. The only games I play are (very) old MAME32 Arcade emulations and SNES emulations and it works fine for that, but I wouldn't even attempt Doom 3!
BTW, stay away form Celerons! A Celeron to a P4 is like a 150-horse SO 5.0 to a 225-horse HO 5.0. Similar in most aspects but big difference in performance!
Mine's a P4 2.6 GHZ, 512MB Ram, 15" screen, 60GB HDD, CDRW/DVD combo running Win XP Pro with SP2 (BTW, I've heard the Inspiron 1150 has issues with SP2, you may want to look into that). I paid $1499 last DEC, but of course because it's a computer a new one is undoubtedly cheaper and more powerful now...
Only the XPS is available now. My freaking cable internet went out for like an hour so I couldn't get on. $1700 for the XPS.. pretty wicked machine 3.4 Ghz P4 w/ 1GB ram running dual channel... blah blah blah
I can't spend $1700 right now. Was hoping to find something around $1100 and sell my laptop for like 500-600...
If I bought the xps it would go something like this
me -> :flame: <- wife
than me again -> :bowdown: and than the wife -> :mad:
LOL
Thanks for the link though, I'll have to keep checking till something that falls in my bugget comes along. The hp deals are little weak only 10% off :yuck:
I wouldnt even touch a dell, but that is just my opinon, I have built over 10 computers, and I hate to see people buy brand new computers. In my opinion, Dell is way over priced for what you get. I built a amd 1800, all new, for less then $500, and that was when they were brand new. My freind got a brand new dell, 2,7 ghz and mine would out do it any day. Unless you plan on playing games, I would go for an older p4. Dont touch celerons, they are slower, require more ram, and lack any sort of performance. p3's are okay, but slow as crud. A 500mhz system with a good video card will out do almost any p3. Although when it comes to a 500mhz laptop, the p3 would prolly cream it.
Build vs. Buy. Always a good topic for debate. Now you must admit that, compared to other big name computer manufacturer, Dell is quite reasonable. Hell, are there even any other companies left? Gateway even closed all thier retail stores. I'm sure you couldn't build a PC for that price using all top of the line components. I've seen what happens when you buy off-brand MoBo's, RAM, vid cards, etc. It's not worth it to have to replace component after component just to have saved some money. Though I'm still building my next PC I'm gonna shop around for better quality components. Besides... you can't really build a laptop now, can you?
On the subject of processors, as far as I'm concerned, don't even touch Intel chips, period. The last Intel chip I used was a Celeron 433 (to put it in a time perspective), a big step up from my Cyrix 233, but nowhere near par with another 400+ MHz chip. It's Intel's budget processor, you get what you pay for. I'm happy with AMD and I have been for a good 5 years.
All this PC talk makes me want to shop around for some new parts. This Athlon 1800 is getting slow for me.
Build vs buy doesn't matter - its near impossible to build a laptop although companies have products that allow you to insert your own videocard (if you can find a mobile one), etc. Dell laptops aren't that bad although emachines made a huge splash in the mobile market a short while ago with the first athlon 64 and I think 9700 videocard in a laptop. Desktop wise, you can occasionally get parts from dell cheaper than if you were to buy them seperately from resellers (online or b&m). The only issue I have with dell is they supposedly still use their proprietary power supplies. The connectors are the same, but the pins on atx connectors are moved around. If you plug a normal atx psu into it, your system's gone. Dell has improved a lot over the last 7 years in both products and support.
Avoid any celeron over 1.4GHz. They're crippled so much, its sad really. 512MB is a must and even then, I notice a huge difference in performance between 1024MB and 1280MB (although I quit using the spare 256MB stick due to it making my sound cut out occasionally from incompatibility with my 512 sticks). More ram's always better.
and Ifixyawata, I don't know what problems you were having with your Celeron. Back then celerons were the only processor to have full speed L2 cache and this caused them to be superior to both amd's offerings at the time (K6-2/3) and intel's flagship processors (P2-400 and 450). People overclocking the Celeron 300A's to 450MHz were outperforming the pentium 2's at the same speed. Celeron 366's at 550MHz were even performing up there with the early Pentium 3's.
I've used AMD products more than Intel's though so I'm biased in no way. unknown 286, AMD 386sx, AMD 486 DX4, K6-300@333, K6-2 400@450, dual celeron 366's@468 or single @541 depending on what I wanted to do at the time - they didn't overclock worth (gaming with one processor stock performed over 2x better in games and about 30% better in non-floating point applications than my K6-2 at 450MHz), Duron 600@1GHz, AXP 1700+ @1.8GHz.
I've heard bad things about current Celerons, but I was pretty happy with mine (it was a HUGE improvement). Though, I was too scared to try overclocking it.
Yeah, current Celerons aren't that great. Although they recently got a doubled cache size (the reason they're so slow now), the P4's still have more. It means quite a bit now in terms of processor performance.
and yes, cyrix was behind in performance all the time. When Via bought them, they were turned around a bit with the EPIA line of small/cool motherboard/cpu combinations.
I've always preferred to build my own, and I've always preferred AMD chips mainly because of the huge price difference compared to Intel. This laptop is the only store-bought computer I've ever owned...
I got the Notebook (insprion 1150), and guess what..........
The AC adaptor didn't work. To their credit, they promptly shipped me another one.
Get used to it - as I said in my earlier post, I'm on #3 for my 1100 :D
Could be worse, though - when I fisrt got my notebook the screen didn't work. I had to plug it into a standard monitor to use until they shipped me a new one. The good thing though was that they handled it very good.
I'm not surprised. I tend to have bad luck with "new" stuff. They were prompt about shipping out a new one. Maby I should have got that extended warrenty.
Aww heck, I liked my Dell so much I bought the company...
...Well not really, I just bought me a new system to augment the laptop. I used to be a diehard build-it-yourself kind of guy, but after much research Dell can build one much cheaper than I can. I bought a Dimension 4700 with the following specs:
P4 3.2 gHz @ 800FSB (guess I get to see what this HT stuff is all about)
1GB Dual channel DDR2 @ 400Mhz ('twas a free upgrade from 512MB)
80GB SATA HDD
16X daul layer DVD +/-RW
52X CD ROM
128MB Radion x300 PCI express video
17" flat screen monitor
Total price including shipping: $1200. Canadian dollars. Let's see somebody build a system with those specs at that price or better! I tried "building" systems on local computer parts' web sites with both AMD and Pentium silicon and could not come up with a better price, or even a close price.
Now I just have to impatiently wait 'til it arrives...
"impatiently wait 'til it arrives." That's the truth. I've had three delieveries from purolator in the last two weeks. And for each one (one was the laptop, the other my new ac adaptor) I was not yet home from work and I had to drive into the city the next day to pick it up at the terminal.
Mines close if not dead even!! Check the what's your computer thread. I'm only up too $700 ish.
Building PC's is a lot like building car audio. In car audio you can put together a 2500 watt system for about 20% of the price it would cost using all high-end components if you use the kinda stuff you find at say... http://www.electronixwarehouse.com But, it's not going to be anywhere near the quality and reliability of a better name brand.
Same goes for PC's... if you use a good motherbord, well ventilated case, and high-quality power supply, just for starters, you've already got a more expensive system with the same performance specs as something you could build with cheaper parts. Plus, when you build your own and say your video card screws up... who's gonna send you a free one? Not me.
Not bad, but does that $700 include a DVD burner and a 17" flat panel? Or a two-year, in-home service warranty (something I wish I had bought for the laptop)? And it it US or Canadian dollars? ;)
Remember, this new Dell system is 100% new. Everything from the mouse to the monitor, and even a real honest-to-goodness-legal copy of Windows XP! The case, mobo, floppy drive, hard drive, proc, power supply - everything is newnewnewnewnew!
If I still had an old tower system lying around I probably would've just "rebuilt" it with a new mobo, proc, RAM and maybe HDD (and very likely would've gone AMD), but I had zero computer components lying around, so I had to go from the ground up. It's hard to believe how much the little stuff that you usually carry over during upgrades, like the case, mouse, keyboard, floppy, etc add up to. I couldn't find the parts cheap enough to compete with store-bought. Next time around, though, I'll have a base to upgrade from :banana:
dell can have some really good deals...it was hard to beat dell systems (without monitor/speakers) with top of the line processors/video/good amount of ram for $300 or so it was at times. A lot of people buy the "hot deal" dell systems and use the parts in their own builds since they can save a hundred or two getting the parts that way.
What brand of lcd? If its samsung or an equivalent brand, great price on the system. The videocard will bring down the rest of your system if you game at ALL though. Its their new budget card. I keep seeing it compared to the FX5200 and that card was slower than the geforce 4 Ti's.
"and even a real honest-to-goodness-legal copy of Windows XP"
heh, if its Pro, thats a good $150USD or so there...really jacks up the price. Don't think nirvanagod can compete ;)
Let us know how it runs and if dell includes a bunch of bloatware from the factory. It may be a good idea to just wipe the system and reinstall windows (as long as they actually include the bare OS cd with the system)
DVD burner is on it's way so i'm up to about 800'ish (US dollars). As for having a flat panel, i'm not 100% convinced on the technology based on my experiences with laptops having theirs blow out. So for now i'll just stick with my 19" dell crt :) . As for the warranty, all the parts range from a year to 3 years, so i'm not terribly concerned on that front. Besides the parts were cheap enough that if one did die and it was outta warranty I could easily just by the same part cheaper or just upgrade to something better. Granted it's just my personal opinion and all. But I do work with dell quite often at my job and I do like what they put out. Plus for people who are not technically inclined enough to build their own computer or want the highest end machine possible for gaming or staying ahead of the curve for a couple months, I typically suggest buying a Dell... Or IBM!!
I've got legit copies Of all micro$oft os's Up to Windows Server 2003, courtesy of my work, and they were free!!! It's fun working in IT!!
Seek: the fp is Dell branded, so I don't know who made it (I'm sure it won't be hard to figure out when I actually see it in person tho). It is XP home - I have Pro on the laptop and it runs pretty much the same as Home in my eyes.
I'm 100% certain that it will come loaded with ware, just like my laptop did. Before I even have it connected to the internet the HDD will be wiped clean, partitioned, and re-windowed. They do come with real OS CD's (thank God).
The only gaming I do is playing old arcade games on MAME, and some late-90's era games such as Need for Speed IV and Deer Hunter II. I think the vid card should be able to handle that with no probems - I played all of those games on my old Geforce II with a paltry 32MB VRam!
' Dell just shipped me a second AC adaptor that didn't work. My oppinion of them is steadly declineing.
if Dell is still going with the lcd's they have been for years, it should be a Samsung. Some of their products are nice. Myself, I have a Dell rebadged Sony G520. $180. Good stuff.
and if I ever had a lcd with a backlight die, or find one, it'll just be the next lcd to be built into a projector. Svga projector at 90" (room isn't big enough for a longer throw distance), with $30 bulbs that last 10,000+ hours, for $300 is hard to beat :D
Are you sure it's the adapter and not the jack in the back of the computer? That may have a bad solder joint on the motherboard, causing a no charge condition. Both of my fault adapters worked for awhile, and even worked when I returned them. They just had shorts in their output wires.
my dad had the same thing happen on his hp pavilion
On the subject of Dell's... my mother is looking into getting one for my younger brother. Anyone know if the models equipped with the onboard graphics also have an AGP port? I can't seem to find a desktop under $600 with a decent graphics card.
I say wait for black friday and then jump on one of the many deals that will be around. You never know what'll show up. http://bf2004.net/
I'm sure most if not all of Dell's systems have AGP ports. They use a lot more standard parts (motherboards) than they used to
edit:
or maybe not... http://china.nikkeibp.co.jp/china/img_data/040310tow2.jpg
This new one I'm getting has PCI express. The standard video option is onboard Intel Extreme but I selected the PCI Express add-in card instead. I would think that if you look at the system you want at it has the option to add better graphics cards then the motherboard would likely have the slot(s) to do so. My father's dimension that he bought last year has the onboard and the optional add-in Geforce card that he selected, with the onboard disabled in bios.
THe first one had a short on the output wire (the 19.5 volt piece) the second was completly the wrong adaptor. I didn't even plug it in, because it was a 140 watt and the origional was a 90 watt.
D'oh! Wrong parts suck ass!
What was your original power supply? Mine's a PA-6
If the connector is the same and the voltage is the same and the pinout on the connector is the same as your original, the PS will work for you. The computer will only draw as much power as it needs, so if everything else is the same your new 140-watt PS may just be a bonus. The pinout for the connector should be printed on the P.S. label.
My origional was a PA-10 series. You were right on, the replacement has the wrong connector. But get this.........it was also a PA-10!! Even if if woulda fit I was scared that the extra watts would do something bad. They are air shipping me, the third replacement, which should arrive tomorow. This time I talked with a tech support guy who knew his stuff, not a customer care representitve (who shipped the wrong one) :dunno:
Finally got the right, working part. To anyone considering dell products, to their credit they were prompt in overnight shipping replacement parts, and their tech support people seem decently knowledgeable on the phone.
I just got a new battery for mine. It was working OK but not 100%, and with the warranty coming to an end I wanted a new one. I called them Thursday at about 2:30PM (a holiday, at that) and the new battery was in my hands by Friday at noon. Now THAT is fast service!!1
I just helped my folks pick out a new computer. I chose a dell demension 3000 for them, mainly due to the outragous deal. After noticing that the demsion 2400 desktop system was no longer offered with the free 2nd bay cd burner bonus, I started shopping for a replacement deal (you know how dell changes there rebates and deals almost weekly). Well, I found on their business side a dell demension 3000, for only $499 before taxes. This system came with a pentium 4 @ 2.8 ghz (!), 512 mb ddr sdram (free upgrade), 80 gb ata hard drivem (7200 rpm), 48x cdr/rw, floppy, and windows xp home. Also included was a 15" dell flat screen lcd monitor, and a free printer. This was the best deal I've seen in a long time. Sure, its got the integrated graphics, but the folks aren't gonna run autoCAD or play any games. Practically any entry level computer would have worked for them, but this one just gives you so much more for your dollar than any of system out there for that price.
I was even thinking of getting the system w/o the monitor for myself. It was only $350 in that configuration. :ies:
I had actually forgotten to post the update about the Dimension 4700 I had ordered. It came, and I immediately uninstalled all of the Dell bloatware that was preloaded. I then installed Norton Antivirus and ran all of the updates. After the install I ran a full system scan and didn't the thing have no fewer than seven viruses on it!!! A brand new, virgin computer, only out of the box for about an hour and only connected to the internet long enough to get the Norton updates! All of the viruses were in the Java folder. I forget which ones were there except for one - byteverify. I can't believe that a brand new computer from a major manufacturer would come preloaded with viruses!!!
Having found viruses on a new machine I had an inherent distrust about the whole computer - I mean, if a virus could be there what other malware was included with that Dell preloaded garbage? I immediately formatted, partitioned, and reinstalled Windows. ed thing works real good now! I had no idea that ol' P4 3.2 Ghz HT chip would be so fast. It's only 400Mhz faster than the 2.8 in my laptop, but the laptop only has a 533Mhz bus and no hyperthreading. I'm sure the 7200RPM serial ATA hard drive and 1GB Dual channel DDR400 RAM (compared to the laptop's 5400RPM drive and 512MB DDR266 RAM) have something to do with the speed difference as well.