[chadh]

Well, as I'm changing jobs, the folks at the current place want all their computer gear back.  Hence the need to buy a new laptop and a new desktop PC.  

I need the laptop pretty well immediately.  I'm not going over to a Mac.  Ultimately, I wouldn't mind going to a linux platform.  But in the immediate term, it's safest for me to stay with Windows.  I found this deal with Dell:  1.66GHz Intel Core Duo, 512MB DDR2 memory, 60GB hard drive, 15.4" screen, CD-R/DVD drive, 802.11a/b/g wireless with bluetooth, free wireless router and XP media edition for $699 plus $8 ground shipping.  It sounded like a good deal to me.  But I never know with these things.  For the price, could I do better?

I don't need the desktop until August.  But Dell also had what looked like a good deal on a desktop: 2.8Ghz Pentium D 820 Dual Core, 512MB DDR2 SDRAM, 80GB S-ATA, DVDROM, CDRW, 128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE for $709 with FREE Shipping plus 19" LCD Monitor.  Is this deal good enough to jump on now?  Or is something just as attractive likely to pop up at the beginning of August when I need it?

I've been spoiled, in that I've always had somebody at work who took care of computer purchases.  So now it comes to making my own purchases, I'm not really sure how frequently the deals come along, or how good they get.  So, any insight would be appreciated.  These particular ones came off GotApex ( http://www.gotapex.com ).  

And my apologies if this reads like an ad for Dell.  The rumors one hears about their customer service is one reason I hesitate on these offers.

Chad

[Folsom]

Personally I like IBM (Lenovo) laptops the best for non mac ones.

They have excellant battery life, good customer service, function amazingly well etc.... They are the life of non Mac business world laptops. All around they perform like a dream. I refer basically to the T class of course, it is the main line. I have been using one for some time and love it. A friend has one, he loves his... They do cost a little bit more but they are not so chinsey. You can do things like get a battery that goes in the CD/DVD/Burner(etc) drive to give a lot more battery life. Overall I would not recommend another laptop to depend on in the mobile world aside from Apples perhaps (they are goofy looking for business though).

Dell's are cheap, and work. They come with the usual extra BS software. They are usually bigger, weight more etc... Their battery life is usually shorter. They just are not made as well. They do work though. You have to be careful what you buy though.... If you want to be mobile you want a Centrino CPU. The biggest and fastest machines usually eat the most battery life.

If you want a media machine laptop I would go with an HP for their amazingly nice screens (bright view high def), which are huge, etc... Also not mobile in anyway though. They are cute for do it all circumstances too, if it is to be your DVD player, internet, etc...

What would you need to use a laptop for?

Do not even think about buying a laptop until the time comes. There will be ten different new technologies out and everything now will be out dated etc...

Would I buy a Dell desktop? No way in hell. I build my own. I realize that may not be for you but I would still not even buy a Dell desktop.

I could only recommend some stuff like Alienware or Falcon Northwest. They are the only ones with components that are worth diddly in them. They also cost a bit more...

Shopping via gotapex etc, looking for the best deal... Waste of time. The best deals are computers are paying what you can afford to get something that works correctly and keeps working correctly.

I will explain this way.....

When you buy shoes you can go to Payless shoes to get the cheapest shoes on the planet. You know they will work. You also know they will only work tops for a month. Even with the short life span you know the other unfortunate thing is they will hurt your feet for the entire month. You are just better off going to a real shoe store and buying some Clarks or something.

Everything I just said directly applies to computers in everyway, I just think it makes more sense with shoes... Only some women buy shoes from Payless because they wear them once a month. Then there is the few insane people that buy them for their kids or whatever and never figure out it would be cheaper to buy them a pair that lasts six months for $20-50 more, as opposed to paying $20 every month. You get the gist.

[mgalusha]

We have HP and Toshiba laptops at work. Of the HP's we purchased for our developers, ZD7000 series, 4 out of 6 have failed, some more than once. And by failed I mean motherboards and displays. Other HP's we bought for the sales folks also had a high failure rate. We have since been purchasing Toshiba Tecra A4's and have yet to have one fail. They just seem to run and run. As you might guess we no longer buy HP laptops. I like their servers but unless they were giving the laptop's away for free I wouldn't take one.

We have purchased some refurbished Dell 4700 desktops from Dell and they have been pretty good. We had one with a bad CPU but they came to the office and replaced it the next day. There are some good deals to be had this way. We purchased two last week including 17" flat panel displays for slightly less than $1K for both.

[Folsom]

Hm that is a high failure rate with HPs... Weird, everyone I know that has purchased one for personal use has been happy with it. Although theirs just sit on their desk for the most part.

Either way IBM is where I would go.

[chadh]

What would I use my laptop for?

In my new home, the desktop will be in the basement.  So the primary use for the laptop is to be dragged around the main part of the house for all the really basic sorts of things we do - browsing, email etc.  No intensive computing.  No gaming.  No music serving or movie editing.  I'd  be mainly concerned to ensure that online applications ran smoothly.  The secondary use would involve taking this thing on the road when we travel, mostly so I can work when away.  Again, this won't be intensive computing - word processing/typesetting applications, ocassionally some mathematical modeling, but rarely; maybe some low level statistical applications (but no huge data sets).  Oh, and DVD watching I guess.

Anyway, ease of integration into networks (e.g. doing the VPN thing with the work system), speedy and reliable wireless connection, ease of use, large, easy to read screen and seamless internet operation are the most important things for me on the laptop.

I use the Lenovo T43 currently at work.  It's all luck of the draw, really, but it has never worked properly.  And they're about 50% more expensive than the Dells.  I don't doubt you when you say that they may be the best of the bunch.  But the premium you pay for one is quite steep.

Do you lose much by stepping down to the R series?

Chad

[Doublej]

Value wise the only machine better than a Dell is the same Dell on a different day when they have a greater special offer.

There is a reason Dell is the market share leader. It might not be the absolute best in quality or customer support but they hold up reasonably well and at half the price of a Lenovo laptop it's a no brainer, buy a Dell.

Generally speaking Dell's best deals are at the end of their quarter, especially when they are struggling to meet their numbers. Their next quarter ends at the end of July.

The gotapex site is a great one for identifying Dell deals. A quick way to check prices on products available at retail stores is www.salescircular.com

If you can wait to 4th of July you should see some super deals at CompUSA, Best Buy, etc.

My pet peeve with Dell is that they don't have a small form factor machine.  As surprising as it is, Apple is still the low cost leader in small form factor machines.

Small form factor PCs are running around $1000.

[jon_010101]

First, I was a PC user for years.  Linux and Windows NT.  I hated Macs, and converted dozens of people to Windows in the late-90s.  And, I know it isn't what you want to hear, but I'd buy a MacBook without hesitation.  

A tad bit more $$$ than the Dell you describe, but the quality of construction is in a different league and the processor is faster even on the lowest-end model.  Specs are comparable or better than what you described, plus has a webcam built in, a remote control for presentations or media-center use, a magnetic latch, and a really pleasant keyboard.  And (if-needed) you can run Windows or Linux via Parallels and actively switch between them if you have enough RAM.  

I just have seen too many problems with the PCs and PC laptops lately ... I beat the crap out of my Apple laptops day in and out and they never care.  OS X is very robust.  I reboot once every few months, and that's on a Laptop.  I reboot my desktop even less and constantly run gigantic Fortran simulations and poorly-written scientific software while doing normal work at the same time.  No way could I go back to Linux, or Windows, after using a Mac for the past several years.  Sorry to sound like a Mac user, but I have found that the grass really is greener .

[Folsom]

That is to bad you have problems with your Lenovo... They are under contract to do everything IBM said for them to do, so all warrenties etc are exactly the same.

I put mine through HELL. I literally ran 115v at 3-20a through mine, with an electrical explosion.... The only thing hurt was the audio jacks. I take it everywhere with me etc... it is the best work horse computer I have had. It has always worked great. These reasons is why corporate people etc use them.

I have to say, as much as I hate to say, that a lot of "problems" are user inflected ones, not the computers doings. Computers get bad raps for this all the time. The unfortunate thing is no matter how well you know computers, Apple, PC, Alpha, whatever, can totally screw up to another level you will never understand, and it has nothing to do with the user.

Apples are cute and functional no doubt. I would probably have one if I did not have my IBM. Frankly it cost a lot more at the time, I was not about to pay for nothing extra at a premium. The prices now though are much more reasonible for the PowerBooks. I would not touch a ten foot pole attached to a robotic arm that responded to voice commands.

I will say my wireless is pretty freaking impressive though, I surpized an Apple employee. Oh well....

I would like to point something out just for fun. Apple's now have a magnetic thing to hold their power charger cord on. IBM's power charging socket is like a tank, the way it is built (and I know, I have looked at it first hand inside), yeah you will never hurt it. HP's, Dell's etc make them to break, they are the weakest link on the entire machine. It is insanely common to have it plugged in and move it to jam the cord into the laptop and bust the socket.

Oh yeah, rebooting is personal prefernce.... I turn mine off all the time because it save some power and it refreshes all the cache. Sure I can leave it on however long I want and it will run, but it will slow a little. All computers slow down some, anyone who claims they do not is simply not noticing. It is not the OS that determines this, or a difference in parts, it is just the nature of magnetically stored information on IC's of sorts.

[chadh]

Thanks to everyone for their input.  I really appreciate it.

Chad

[Bemopti123]

For non Mac, I second the Toshiba Satellite series.  Extremely reliable.  Stay away from the HPs and other brands such as DELL.  Sure, affordable enough and good enough when they work, but their technical service and reliability....makes you wonder whether you are buying products off the back of a truck.  Want to save $$$, sometimes, we get more than we bargain for by buying affordable, but really "cheap" stuff.  The description for some of the famous brands that I have questioned really fits the description of shoddly made and put together well with CHEAP.

[Folsom]

Reason not to get a dell

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32550