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zioxide

macrumors 603
Dec 11, 2006
5,737
3,726
Lenovo Thinkpads are by far the best laptops if you have to buy a windows computer.
 

epiphany

macrumors regular
Jan 8, 2004
105
0
Rocklin,CA
Where to Buy

Believe it or not, I regularly see PC laptops at Staples (the store, not the website) for less than $600 running Vista Home Premium.

I'd also recommend http://dealnews.com They post deals from across the net every day, including Dell deals.
 

blackstone

macrumors regular
Dec 12, 2005
213
0
Washington, DC
My entire school (approx 300 students) uses Dell Latitudes, and they are AWFUL. My class uses D600s. We discovered the batteries had been designed to fail a few months after the warranty expired (they would just stop working all of a sudden - battery life would be 3 hours one day, and nothing the next). Motherboards break constantly - buttons stop working, computers start randomly turning off, HD connections go bad, etc. The screen hinges are very fragile, as is the latch. The hard drives run so hot that they make it hard to use the laptop on your lap.

Worst of all is the buggy dell firmware. When we first got the computers, they couldn't be hibernated while the screen was set to its native resolution or the computer would never wake up. Even now, sleeping the computer can often result in problems when the computers wake. Wireless cards tend to be finicky as well, with poor software support.

Dells are great if you don't want to pay much and have free on-site service with free loaner laptops. Otherwise, I highly recommend going with IBMs. They are more solidly built and the IBM software is far better integrated. I have worked with both the D620s and the new Lenovos, and the Lenovos are far better. The D620 chassis feel like they are constructed from wet spaghetti.

Some of these problems sound familiar to me (although not the HDs or processors running unusually hot -- my sense is that they are within normal parameters for modern laptops). The student Latitudes at my school are constantly getting sent in for replacement motherboards, the power buttons fail with alarming frequency, the screen connections die, the latches break, and they don't deal with hibernation well. The wireless cards themselves are the same Intel hardware that every Centrino laptop has built in, but Dell's software for storing wireless settings is confusing for users and doesn't play very nice with the built-in XP software that serves the same purpose. (To be fair, though, Toshiba's software is even worse.)

I wonder if the reason why odinsride hasn't experienced similar problems is that students tend to abuse their computers more (e.g. carrying them around uncushioned in backpacks, accidentally dropping them on floors, etc.), which exposes more of the weaknesses of Dell's designs and choices of components?
 

cbinns

macrumors newbie
Sep 6, 2007
1
0
just dont get a dell or you will regret it. They may seem cheap, but after dealing with customer support and strange errors, you will find the cost of ownership rise significantly.
I personally have been building and fixing comps for 25 years now.. i can imagine how those without my computer knowledge deal with the abysmal support you find at dell. If i could go back in time i would have rathered bought a fisher price laptop than my inspiron.
Dude dont be a dope, dont get a dell.
 

odinsride

macrumors 65816
Apr 11, 2007
1,149
3
I wonder if the reason why odinsride hasn't experienced similar problems is that students tend to abuse their computers more (e.g. carrying them around uncushioned in backpacks, accidentally dropping them on floors, etc.), which exposes more of the weaknesses of Dell's designs and choices of components?

I'm a consultant who travels daily, so my D600 gets quite a bit of action...even still, the thing still works like a charm, I only just noticed a small crack at the bottom of the case - but that's bound to happen with any laptop made of plastic casing if you move it around daily.
 
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