About Lauren Bennett Expertise I am a computer science major and my dad is an Electric Engineering, so my life has revolved around computers. For as long as I can remember, I have been buying and selling computers. I tend to travel a lot, so I have always had a laptop. I have bought 5 of them for myself, and bought around 30-40 for friends and family. I have dealt with the good and the bad of various version and brand names. If you are in need of buying a laptop, feel free to contact me and I'm sure I will be able to guide you into purchasing the laptop that will be the best fit for you. I will custom build you computers for you to choose from so you can get an exact idea of what to go and buy when you do it yourself and so that you have an exact price. However, I am in the USA and am only knowledgeable about computers here in the US. I do not know about foreign currency or the quality of computer brand names outside the US.
Experience B.S. in Computer Science. Buying and selling for years. Assisting friends/family.
Question QUESTION: I'm considering buying an HP notebook for my son. He will be starting college in the fall. Do you think it is smart to purchase the 3-yr HP Accidental Damage Protection with Express Repair extended service plan? It's rather expensive-$349.99. Also, I was considering buying LoJack. Is this a good idea? I understand there is a lot of theft at many of the colleges.
ANSWER: Yes, I recommend both. However, the downfalls to purchasing it through HP are that it is expensive, it is all separate, and the express repair still means he has the computer gone for a week while it is being repaired.
If your purchase the 3 year PC Care Bundle with a Dell laptop it is a lot cheaper and you get the exact same stuff but you get 7% off the final price of the notebook, it is all included in one, and the warranty includes at home service - a Dell tech will come to his dorm room or apartment within 48 hours and fix the computer on site. They also include LoJack.
I just purchased the Dell XPS M1210 notebook and I love it. However, being an XPS, it is a bit expensive and small (12" screen). While it is perfect for transporting to class, it would probably be too small if it was his sole computer (I also have the Dell XPS 410 desktop).
I'd recommend customizing both the HP laptops you were looking at as well as the Dell Inspiron E1505. See which one gives you want you want for the best value.
Regardless of which brand name you pick, here's what I would recommend you get on it
--Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 1.60 GHz or faster
--1 GB of RAM at 667 MHz
--Windows Vista Home Premium
--256 MB video card (mainly for Vista)
--3 or 4 year warranty with accidental damage and theft recovery
--battery with the most cells
--DVD burner (needed to backup the computer - you won't think its necessary until the hard drive crashes - that's from personal experience)
Your son will be able to purchase Microsoft Office through his college for a very discounted price (I'd double check this first, but I haven't found a college yet that doesn't offer this).
The LoJack thing depends on what he wants to do with the laptop. I locked my computer to my desk in college - laptop locks are pretty easy to find. However, if he plans on taking it everywhere with him, the software will be useful.
I wrote my dissertation on the quality of computer brands and the computers they make and Dell won by a long shot. HP was a second in terms of quality but fell a bit behind in terms of the warranty due to the fact that they don't offer at home service - shipping off the computer and being without one for a week is a horrible experience in college. Sony came in third, but their computers are horribly overpriced.
I believe that the last time I configured similar HP and Dell notebooks with the Dell coupon the HP was a few hundred dollars more. Not a huge difference, but to me, the at home service of Dell is invaluable to a college kid. Also, the fact that you can get 24/7 tech support, at home service, overnight shipping, LoJack, accidental damage, and 30 day dell on call in a bundle that also saves 7% is really nice too.
Ultimately the decision is up to you. Let me know where your thoughts are and I can help customize a computer for you, if you'd like.
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QUESTION: Would you recommend a 14" or a 15.4" computer? He will mostly use it in his dorm. Also, my son is taking Graphic Design in high school and enjoys it. Will I need 2GB? I was told that 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7400 would be a good graphics card. Do you agree?
Answer That's the graphics card I have in my notebook and I haven't had any complaints with it yet! From what I've seen, there isn't really a huge difference between the 14" and the 15.4" screens. If he isn't going to be carrying it around a lot, I would recommend going with the 15.4" screen. I used to have one for a long time, before I purchased my desktop, and it was a great size.
The RAM was always a hard call for me. While it is only useful to increase the RAM, it is pretty pricey to go from 1 GB of RAM to 2 GB of RAM. I went solo on purchasing my notebook so I opted out of it as I wasn't ready to spend a fortune on a notebook yet. If you have the money to spend on the upgrade, I would do it. If you don't, go with the 667 MHz RAM over he slower RAM and it shouldn't hurt him.
