Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Buying a laptop.. any suggestions?

I am buying a laptop for my girlfriend for christmas... anyone have some advice? I am looking at dell because I have an option for a 10% off customer coupon or buying one of the models on sale in the november catalog. Unfortunately I can't add the 10% coupon to a model that is already on sale though. I am currently looking at the studio 15 which is regularly $819 but on sale for $659. Some of the available options I am not sure about:

for $50 you can upgrade from a core 2 duo 2.0 ghz processor to a core 2 duo 2.16 ghz processor... I wouldn't think you could really tell much of a difference but not sure.

The standard screen is a 1280x800 but for $125 you can upgrade to a hi res/bright WLED 1440x900 or for $150 you can upgrade to a hi res 1920x1200 resolution. I don't think I am too worried about those higher resolutions on a 15" screen but what is the advantage of a WLED display?

The standard harddrive is 250 gig 5400 rpm but you can increase to 7200 and/or larger size as well. She probably won't need any extra space but not sure about the faster drive.

She will probably use the laptop for homework, internet, music, movies, and some small arcade-style games.

Any suggestions about this model or something completely different?


I want to keep the total purchase under $1000 but would love to spend even less than that.
Thanks.

Stay away from the 1920x1200 screen unless she has really good eyes. I assume WLED means that it's LED backlit. That generally means that it's more evenly bright, brighter, and uses less power.

Go for the 1440x900; 1280x800 is awfully low for a 15" screen.

I probably wouldn't bother with the 7200 RPM drive, either.

Cool, thanks for the advice. She actually has perfect vision and can see something amazingly small pretty far away...

Do you think there is any point in upgrading the processor?

Terzaghi, concerning the $50 processor upgrade... if the only difference between the two chips is .16 ghz, save your money. I'm surprised it's even being called an upgrade! The difference is miniscule. You'd never notice any difference in real world use.

LED screen is good to extend battery life and should look better. 7200 rpm is not exactly necessary but may lead to zippier response, I usually go for that myself, downside is it may be noisier and cut into battery life.

Having a hard time deciding between a 1440X900 LED LCD screen or a 1920x1200 LCD (non-LED) screen.

I figure the 1920x1200 would be better for bluray movies but maybe too small of font for typical use... Also I don't think it would be a huge deal to watch a bluray on a 1440x900 but I think you would have to watch it in letterbox format.

What do you guys think?

Well, I've got both types of screens-1920x1200 on a Thinkpad T61 (florescent backlight), and a 1440x900 on a Macbook Pro (matte, LED backlight). The MBP screen is far superior in terms of everything but the obvious--resolution. The text isn't too bad on the Thinkpad, esp once I bumped up the DPI in Windows, but I still find myself squinting a bit. I haven't tried HD on either of them that I remember, though.

I don't get too hung up on max resolution on a laptop. Due to screen size, I find anything above 1024 by 800 starts to make things to small and my eyes work too hard to find things. I'd concentrate more on finding something that appears bright and crisp. Alternatively, on my PC often used for gaming, high rez numbers and a fast GPU to push them is a must.

Of course, maybe I just need my prescription checked.

Well I have narrowed it down to either a souped-up xps model on sale for $1284 (reg. $1808) or a bare bones inspiron model for $649 (reg. $774)...

I honestly don't think she will use the 500 gb hard drive in the xps and probably won't miss the bluray drive.

I think the bare bones model will suite her just fine... but I think if I got her the xps she would get some games like "The Sims 2" and others... maybe give her something to do while I play my games yah know?

I know she won't want to play any super graphically demanding games like crisis or anything though.

What should I do?? spend 1/2 the price of the xps for a bare bones laptop or get the xps? (the xps sale ends today!)

Here's the specs (excuse the formatting):

Inspiron:
Module Description Description Product Code & SKU Product Code & SKU
Inspiron 1525 Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T3200 (2.0GHz/667Mhz FSB/1MB cache) PS320HN [224-2716]
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic Edition SP1 VHB31E [420-5769][420-6436][420-7580][420-7622][420-7905][420-9100][420-9106][420-9107][420-9128][463-2282]
System Color Jet Black BLKP [467-5840]
Memory 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz 2G2D [311-7806]
LCD Panel High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900) 15XGAL [320-6053]
Video Card Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 INTAC [320-6059]
Hard Drive Size: 120GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) 120GB [341-5616]
Network Integrated 10/100 Network Card INTNIC [430-2651]
Modem Integrated Modem I56NM [313-5793]
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 ADOBER [410-1883]
Combo or DVD+RW Drive CD / DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW Drive) 8XDVDRW [313-5791][420-8183]
Sound Card High Definition Audio 2.0 IS [313-4783]
Wireless Networking Cards Intel Next -Gen Wireless -N Mini-card IP4965 [430-2337]
Camera No Webcam Option DNCAMER [313-5786]
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) No Productivity software pre-installed MSONO [412-1397]
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days MC930D [410-1160]
Battery Options 6 cell battery 6BAT [312-0617]
Warranty & Service 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis S1OS [412-0360][950-3337][950-9797][960-2780][984-1930][989-3867]
Datasafe Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year DOB2GB [420-9518][988-0099][988-7707]
Dial-Up Internet Access Earthlink Internet Access ERTHLNK [412-0933][412-0934][412-0935]
Bluetooth Option Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) TM355I [430-2348]
Bluetooth Option Dell Travel Mouse (with Bluetooth Technology) BLTHTRM [430-2350]
Entertainment and Editing Software WildTangent Games WLDTNG [420-9352]
Processor Branding Intel Pentium® Dual-Core Processor ID3CNB [310-9752]
Labels Windows Vista™ Basic VBN [310-8627]
DataSafe Online Backup Receive an E-mail for your Dell Remote Access


XPS:
XPS M1530 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5800 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache) M580DHN [224-2394]
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit VHP64E [310-9764][420-5769][420-6576][420-7590][420-8223][420-9100][420-9319][463-2282]
System Color Tuxedo Black BKDMSAT [313-6439]
Memory 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (2 Dimms) 4GB2D [311-7823]
LCD, Color and camera High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2.0 M DXGAPLC [320-6693]
Video Card 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS 12884GS [320-6081]
Hard Drives 500GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) 500GB [341-6799]
Software - Adobe Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 ADOBER [410-1883]
Combo or DVD+RW Drive Slot Load Blu -ray Disc (BD/DVD/CD read/write) BD [313-5819][420-7759][420-8164]
Sound Card High Definition Audio 2.0 IS [313-4783]
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card DW1505 [430-2450]
Productivity No Microsoft Office MSONO [412-1397]
Software - Antivirus McAfee SecurityCenter 15-months VMCAF1Y [410-1184]
Primary Battery 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery 9BAT [312-0639]
Warranty & Service 2Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis S2OS [412-0360][902-0941][950-3338][960-8710][970-2321][984-2350][988-5607][988-5608]
Datasafe Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year DOB2GB [420-9518][988-0099][988-7707]
Dial-Up Internet Access No ISP requested NISP [412-0148]
SECURITY Finger Print Reader XPS M1530 FPRDR [467-2337]
Bluetooth and Wireless USB Dell Bluetooth Travel mouse BLTHTRM [430-2315]
Bluetooth and Wireless USB Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0+Enhanced Data Rate) H355I [430-2566]
Doms Camera and Color High Res, Black glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2MP Ca KXGTPLC [320-6797][420-7715]
Processor Branding Intel Core 2 Duo Processor IC2DNB [310-8319]
Dell Printer Driver Windows Vista™ Premium VPN [310-8628]
DataSafe Online Backup Receive an E-mail for your Dell Remote Access

The extra power etc. is strictly a guy thing, get her the inspiron and save the money. I know my wife would never be able to tap into the power of the XPS or care if she could, anything that she would want to run on the inspiron will still run possibly just not up to our standards.

Naaahhh... get her the better one. It'll have a longer useful life and you can use it as a bargaining chip for the next expensive thing that you want!

That was my first thought Mark but then that little voice inside my head(which sounds an awful lot like my wife) told me otherwise.

Sssshhhh...
I'm trying to "quiet" that little voice in my head or I'll never be able to justify a receiver and B-D player!

I bought my wife a cheap-o Toshiba laptop two years ago (for Valentines Day of all things, which I will never live down, even though she asked for it)

In her case, the bare bones model turned out just fine. The only thing we eventually needed to upgrade was the RAM (2 years later). Otherwise, she hasn't missed any of the upgrades I passed on initially. Everyone is a bit different, but I suspect the advice above is correct, it's probably you thinking she needs the upgrades more than she actually does.

Jason

Yeah, I decided that I am going to go for a cheaper model.. maybe not that exact one but something in the same price range (aprox. $700). She mentioned that she wishes she had a laptop again and I asked her, "for what?". and she said "just school, internet, and music use." I said, "No games, or anything that would require extra speed, video cards, ect.?" and she said "no". plus, apparently The rule about me not buying expensive things is still in effect, even when I am buying her something. She said "the only expensive thing I want is a ring :)" (but she still says she wishes she had a laptop though...)

I guess I will get her the cheaper laptop, and I might even get in trouble for spending that much. I'm sure she will forgive me though...

Oh yeah, and about the laptop on V-day... I bought my girlfriend a nice set of kitchen stuff (pots, pans, ect.) for christmas one year. Boy did I get in trouble! The funny thing about it though is that is what she said she really wanted. I guess she wanted a necklace to go with it or something

You could always just get the ring to free up YOUR ability to buy more expensive items ie. EP800

good point. hmmmm.

That sounds like a perfect trade-off deal to me. Ring for you, EP800 for me. I suggest you wait until Valentine's Day to make the offer, it should go over much better then.

Jason

Are you sure she you didn't misunderstand her when she said she wanted some pot(s)?

Ha!

Since you're going with a Dell, keep an eye on xpbargains.com for coupons. There are often very good deals to be had on Dell (and HP) laptops via discount codes. Pay special attention to the "$400+ off notebooks >$999" type deals. Over the past couple of years I've purchased a couple of Dell notebooks and have saved almost $1,000 off the normal prices by using various coupons from there.

My main home PC is a 1520, and my wife uses a 1420. They're both about 15 months old and see a couple of hours use per day. The 1520 was loaded (w/ 8600GT video) and was about $900 (after saving $450), and the 1420 was about $600 (after saving about $300).

Consider getting a 7200RPM hard drive. My 1520 came with a 5400RPM drive but I later upgraded it to a 7200. It made a difference. Shaved a couple of seconds off boot time, and it seems that the overall system performance is 'snappier' than before.

2GB of ram is the absolute minimum for Vista. Don't do it with 1GB - you'll hate it. I see your configs are both 2+. That's good.

Also think about getting an upgraded video card in whatever notebook you buy, even if it won't be used for any games at all. I actually have grown to accept Vista, but it does need a decent amount of video horsepower to perform as well as XP. I question whether any of the integrated video options can really cut the mustard. My 1520 has the nVidia 8600GT, my wife's 1420 has the 8400GS. I've seen a 1520 with the same processor as mine, same RAM, but with the integrated video instead and it wasn't as fast and smooth as mine. And if you do any gaming at all, the higher-end video cards are a must.

Honestly, I have not been overly impressed with either machine. My first Dell notebooks. They are acceptable and I would say that I am content with them, but they are worth about what I paid. I'd give them a B or B-, if I was grading. I have had a few problems with the notebooks...

The 1420's touchpad is flaky and frequently stops working. It has had strange display driver problems since day one (about twice a month it'll lock up for a few seconds, then report that the display driver is missing/corrupt) and Dell has been useless at offering a solution. And lately, its LCD display recently freaked out and only displayed reds and blacks. A reboot solved it, but I'm leery about that.

My 1520 arrived with a very loose screen that would barely stay open on it's own. I had to take it apart and re-tighten the chassis screws to fix it. NBD, but still sort of a pain on a brand new machine. It's also been back to Dell for repair. About a month before the warranty expired, the LCD backlight/inverter quit and was replaced under warranty. To be fair, the warranty service was very quick - only took about 5 business days. I also replaced the hard drive with an aftermarket one because the OEM was acting up; system lockups, lots of 'bad-sounding' head noise. There was no way to really prove it to Dell so they wouldn't do anything unless it completely failed.

I'm not saying that I won't ever order a Dell notebook again, but if/when I do I will probably cough up the extra hundred bucks or so to pay for the 2 or 3 year extended warranty. I also do know that you do get what you pay for. My work PC is a Dell Precision M4300 'workstation' notebook. It cost work about $2k. It seems better built and more robust than my 1520 and has been a great & flawless notebook for the 6 months that I've had it.

Thanks for all the advice. I went with an inspiron 15.4" with the following specs:


Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5800 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)

Jet Black

3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz

High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)

320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)

Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card

Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam

9 cell Battery

Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)

Dell Travel Mouse (with Bluetooth Technology)


total price (with upgrades) was MSRP $1114

They were running a special on this laptop for the employee purchase program through my work, and then there was an extra 7% off from the total price with the standard employee purchase program discount. I paid $757.02 after discounts, not too bad.
Also, shipping was free.

I am thinking about getting her a set of bluetooth stereo headphones. Anyone have any suggestions?

I was looking at these:
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-S805-Blue...7306204&sr=8-10

and these:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DRBT50-Stereo...S00T0NMFCVZYWV3

That's a great deal for that price. Congrats.