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.
My name is Anthony and I just recently graduated from undergrad and will be going onto graduate school in about 2 months. At present I have a built from scratch desktop I made about a year and a half ago and an older dell latitude d600. For the most part I know about computer components and everything, but I don't know much about laptops.
The dell that I have right now I got 3, almost 4 years ago thru the school I was attending (it was mandatory). The warranty they gave us thru the school sucked and I have problems with the screen supports having broken and the battery life being little over an hour now.
What I want is just a new laptop that I can take to class at grad school and not be ashamed of (I don't want to look like the poor kid with the beat up old laptop...). I don't have too much to spend - maybe 600, 700 max and am really looking for something for taking notes, email/im's, occasional database and statistics stuff and occasional music. All of my heavy processing and gaming is still done on my desktop.
Can you recommend a laptop for me (I was looking at the inspiron 1501). My only other question is what peripherials should I perhaps downgrade to increase battery life between chargings (I was gonna see about dropping down to a smaller screen and probably the smallest hd to cut down on start up time/seek time).
Last thing - does dell have student discounts anymore? And what would I have to do to get that?
Thanks in advance for any advice and help you can give me.
Answer Yes, Dell still gives student downloads, but I can never find how to get to them to sign up, so I'll just give you a link to the 1501 and from the drop down list, just select 'higher education faculty, staff, and students' or it may just ask you to click to enter if you don't know your MemberID. One thing to keep in mind - the discount depends on the warranty, and the warranty jacks up the price above your price range.
However, - this coupon should help bring the price down as well
--Use code TS4$$78CTQWL3W to save $350 off any $999.00+ Dell Inspiron notebook. (valid 6/7/2007 12:00:00 AM - 6/14/2007 6:00:00 AM)
I'd personally try to make it work to get the PC Care Bundle for 3 years because it includes the accidental damage, but since graduate school in 2 years that might work for you and keep the price down. Customize both and see how much the difference is, since you get extra discounts with the 3 year one.
-make sure you upgrade the processor to the X2 (dual core)
-Vista Home Premium (if you search around on their website you can find the laptops with XP if you wish - just make sure you are still in the University part
-you can get a 14.1" or a 15.4" screen. You might want to go with the 14.1" because it is a little smaller and lighter, but is still decently sized, but the 15.4" gives you the ability to get the TrueLife glossy screen.
-upgrade to 1 GB of RAM
-you can stick with the 60 GB of upgrade to 80 GB. it largely depends on how much storage space you'll need but you can always get an external if needed for pretty cheap.
-i would recommend a DVD burner because a DVD holds 6 times as much as a CD and makes backing up your computer much easier, but again, up to you.
-upgrade to the 9 cell battery for optimum battery life.
-i'd personally recommend doing the full upgrade for the N wireless as it is definitely the future and even now with G routers, my N wireless does much better over my old G wireless card. I get less interruptions and a much stronger signal. However, I have G in my laptop still and I haven't had a problem.
-I'm sure you probably know - but get Office through your school if you need it; much cheaper.
I think that covers all the basics. I customize it exactly how I suggested above with the 3 year warranty and the 14.1" screen and it came out to $1,031 before that $350 off coupon. Dell's site is being weird and it freezes my computer whenever I try to add the coupon so hopefully you have better luck.
