Help me shop for a new laptop.... Opinions wanted

[Fonzie]

OK..... So since I think I squeaked an A in my first class after 12 years off, I had dangled a reward in front of myself of a new laptop. Here's one I'm seriously considering for $568. Think maybe it's the sweetspot between a netbook & a full service laptop. Anyone have one already, or know if that's a good processor?

Do those specs/features sound like a good deal/value at that price?

Doesn't say anything about battery life, & I'm hoping that shipping weight is about 3lbs heavier than the unit itself

The Dell 14" Inspiron 1440 Laptop PC is powered by the Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 Processor and features 4GB of memory for quick and efficient computing. A 500GB hard drive stores photos, videos, music and more. Plus, the Dell 14" Inspiron 1440 Laptop PC qualifies for a Windows 7 Tech Guarantee Upgrade.

Dell 14" Inspiron 1440 Laptop PC: Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T4200 (2GHz/800MHz FSB/1MB cache)

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium edition with Service Pack 1: Makes your computing experience on the Dell 14" Inspiron 1440 Laptop PC more efficient, more secure and more fun. To learn more about the different versions of Microsoft Vista, click here

4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD integrated graphics

500GB Hard Drive

DVD /-RW Drive- Plays and Creates CD's and DVD's

7-in-1 Media Card Reader

14.0" High Definition Display (1366x768)

10/100 Ethernet

Dell 1397 b/g wireless card

High Definition Audio 2.0

6-cell Battery

1-Year Return to Depot* and 24x7 Technical Support

McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days

Microsoft® Works

Roxio Creator 10 Dell Edition

Adobe® Reader 9

Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year

Dell Remote Access, free basic service

The Dell 14" Inspiron 1440 Laptop PC qualifies for the Microsoft Windows 7 Tech Guarantee. Purchase this PC today and Upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium Edition for Free (Shipping and Handling Fee's may apply. Product to ship in late October). To learn more about the Upgrade instructions and fee's Click here. To learn more about Microsoft Windows 7 Click here

Processor Brand: Intel

Processor Type: Pentium Dual Core

Processor Type: Pentium Dual Core

Hard Drive Size: 500GB

Resolution: 1366x768

System Ram: 4GB

Type: Laptop

Shipping Weight (in pounds): 8.2

Product in Inches (L x W x H): 18.3858 x 4.7244 x 12.874

Assembled in Country of Origin: USA and/or Imported

Origin of Components: USA and/or Imported

Edited October 27, 2009 by Fonzie

[Disclaimer]

Imagine the possibilities if you get all A's....when you get a laptop for one.

Bling Bling, new 'birdy in the garage.

[Fonzie]

Imagine the possibilities if you get all A's....when you get a laptop for one.

Bling Bling, new 'birdy in the garage.

I wish Justin. 5 classes left to finish my business degree, but the one I'm taking in January is my last math class that I've been dreading for over a decade, & frankly, will be lucky to pass

Combination of calculus & statistics...... Neither of which are my forte', though I know they're downright pre-school'ish for an enginerd like you

[Disclaimer]

Calculus... le yawn

[RVTPilot]

A 6-cell battery will give you a bit over 2 hours of battery life. 4GB of RAM will help Win7 run smoothly, and make sure you take that upgrade. Vista Home Premium licks monkey balls. I would find out how much RAM the motherboard is capable of handling. 4 is a good place to start, but I am a RAM junkie. Buy RAM 'til it hurts.

What kinds of things are you planning on doing with this machine, Fonz? Dell laptops are pretty decent (aside from what used to be some flimsy hinges), but Dell tech support sucks. (Besides, us geek guys will always be willing to help.) Not sure if you are looking for just a internet/email/MS Office type of machine, or gaming. (The porn is understood.) This woudl be best for the former.

Congrats on the A! School at our age is hard.

[Fonzie]

I would find out how much RAM the motherboard is capable of handling. 4 is a good place to start, but I am a RAM junkie. Buy RAM 'til it hurts.

That price is at the high end of where I wanted to be. I think 4 is largest I've seen around that price point, or at all for that matter. 'Course, I haven't really been lookin' closely at units $600+

How's that processor? Solid? Dual core's are faster, correct?

What kinds of things are you planning on doing with this machine, Fonz? Dell laptops are pretty decent (aside from what used to be some flimsy hinges), but Dell tech support sucks. (Besides, us geek guys will always be willing to help.) Not sure if you are looking for just a internet/email/MS Office type of machine, or gaming. (The porn is understood.) This woudl be best for the former.

Roger on the former..... Never got much into gaming. Also for pictures, music, vid storage, etc

Congrats on the A! School at our age is hard.

Thanx

It would sure be a lot easier without all the family/kids/sports stuff to juggle with it

Edited October 27, 2009 by Fonzie

[Fonzie]

Calculus... le yawn

Good deal! I'll send you the class link w/ my passwords

[exSRAaron]

Seems pretty decent, but make sure its battery life is good, my Sony only lasts for 2 1/2 hours and it blows!

[jagr]

I wish Justin. 5 classes left to finish my business degree, but the one I'm taking in January is my last math class that I've been dreading for over a decade, & frankly, will be lucky to pass

Combination of calculus & statistics...... Neither of which are my forte', though I know they're downright pre-school'ish for an enginerd like you

My wife completed , IIRC, two stats classes last year.

If you need help let me/her know.

[Benyen Soljax]

i like dell cause they have have that good price point with decent performance. usually the ugly duckling, but im buying it to compute, not look good.

[RSVDon]

Calculus... le yawn

Calc can lick my nuts.

[Disclaimer]

I'll take Calc ANYDAY, finding triple integral, the third derivative of acceleration () whatever, over Diff Eq.

I remember coming into Diff Eq class on one of the first few snowfalls of the year up there, and McCartin busts out the overhead and the problem says:

"Randy drives a snowplow, he's been plowing for the last hour. His plow is capable of moving 6 cu ft. of snow every 15 minutes. What time did it start snowing?"

I don't remember how, but the answer was 1:15PM. F*(king BLEW MY MIND.

[RSVDon]

I'll take Calc ANYDAY, finding triple integral, the third derivative of acceleration () whatever, over Diff Eq.

I remember coming into Diff Eq class on one of the first few snowfalls of the year up there, and McCartin busts out the overhead and the problem says:

"Randy drives a snowplow, he's been plowing for the last hour. His plow is capable of moving 6 cu ft. of snow every 15 minutes. What time did it start snowing?"

I don't remember how, but the answer was 1:15PM. F*(king BLEW MY MIND.

Truth

[kreator]

What are you looking to do with this laptop? That processor would prob be fine, but 4G ram is more than enough if the processor has 1mb l2 cache

[kreator]

My last 5 pc's have been Dell's, most were from the refurb department and you really can't build a pc for less $$.. Yes, the customer service has gone to shit if you don't know what you need, but for someone who knows what is up you can usually speak slow and clear.. "SEND ME A HARD DRIVE!" "HAAAARD DRRRIVE" and get what you want.

XPS support is much better than Dell's regular support, but for the most part all if the support complaints is the frustration of trying to understand the other person. Dell will always do you right, so you never have to feel like you are wasting your money.

[RVTPilot]

That price is at the high end of where I wanted to be. I think 4 is largest I've seen around that price point, or at all for that matter. 'Course, I haven't really been lookin' closely at units $600+

4 is about all you'll see on the market until 7 is completely out there, since XP only recognizes 3 GB. I just picked up a rehabbed machine that supports 8 GB. Once I have 7 on it, I plan to max that out.

How's that processor? Solid? Dual core's are faster, correct?

Dual Core is plenty for what you want to do. You can go to a quad, but I don't think that there are any applications out there for the average user that are written to utilize the quads capabilities.

Roger on the former..... Never got much into gaming. Also for pictures, music, vid storage, etc

I always recommend an external HD for pics, vids & music. Even with a 1/2 TB drive, it take up tons of space. Plus, laptops are more prone to catastrophic losses, and you don't want unreplacable pics or your tons of mp3 lost. Just MHO.

Thanx

It would sure be a lot easier without all the family/kids/sports stuff to juggle with it

With ya there! Trying to decide how I manage my bachelor's program next year being a single dad.

[Fonzie]

I always recommend an external HD for pics, vids & music. Even with a 1/2 TB drive, it take up tons of space. Plus, laptops are more prone to catastrophic losses, and you don't want unreplacable pics or your tons of mp3 lost. Just MHO.

I tried an external drive last year for those exact reasons. Western Digital, & the damn thing tied up on me shortly after I got it & got all our pictures & music transferred over to it

I let it try running through it's rebooting software, or whatever it is, overnight a couple different times, & both times woke up the next morning with it still running & only having gotten through a couple percent of the files At that rate, it was gonna take like a week, and each time I re-started it, it started all over from the very beginning, rather than where it left off at

Pissed me off & I've just left it sit ever since. I'm thinking I may try it again once I get the new laptop & see if I get any better results

[Fonzie]

Are Gateways still junk?

AMD dual core

4gb RAM

320gb hardrive

4 USB ports

1 HDMI port

SD slot

$479

[SWing'R]

...Think maybe it's the sweetspot between a netbook & a full service laptop.

We just got this netbook, haven't used it a whole lot yet, we bought

mainly for internet access and mapping software while traveling...

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0304016

[Benyen Soljax]

We just got this netbook' date=' haven't used it a whole lot yet, we bought

mainly for internet access and mapping software while traveling...

[url']http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0304016

ive been using a netbook for about 6 months, and imo its only worth it if you abosolutely need the tiny size. i think they might also be good for kids as most netbooks have an 80% or less sized keyboard. netbooks are bad for streaming high quality internet video too, but they play all regular media fine if its not streaming over the internet. internet video and games are probably the only thing netbooks cant do well.

[Fonzie]

Are Gateways still junk?

Gateway NV5207u

AMD QL65 dual core

4gb RAM

320gb hardrive

4 USB ports

1 HDMI port

SD/XD/Sony slot

$479

15.6" screen too

Finding it VERY difficult to quit thinkin' about this deal. 'Bout 50/50 on the Gateway responses I've gotten so far

Has the amount of RAM, hard drive, & USB's I want. Plus.... First time I've actually seen HDMI & SD slot in a laptop as an added bonus.

All in the price range I wanted to stay within

zdnet's givin' 4 stars/8 out of 10 good reviews so far

Edited October 28, 2009 by Fonzie

[Fonzie]

Um... where's the rest of the it? Is this the whole problem? How the fuck does someone come to the solution of "1:15PM" with no fucking information?? !! ¿/?!!?!???

Glad it wasn't just me thinkin' that!!

[Disclaimer]

Um... where's the rest of the it? Is this the whole problem? How the fuck does someone come to the solution of "1:15PM" with no fucking information?? !! ¿/?!!?!???

You would've had to have been in class that day. I was tripping balls (and I don't smoke and wasn't hungover that day).

But, IIRC I think it involved making a few reasonable assumptions in order to add some additional numbers into the problem. The numbers weren't explicitly given to you in the problem, but if you thought about it, they could easily be researched or logically assumed.

You settle on a laptop yet Fonz? The Gateway one you posted seems like a decent deal - my home tower is a Gateway I got before college, and I'm still running it. 8 yrs later - 2.0Ghz, 512MB RAM... all I did was add 250GB to the 80GB it came with.

In the past, I know my parents and I both were dicked over by Gateway, then dicked over by Dell, and then went back to Gateway. I had the bearing fail in my fan, but that was a $30 replacement on my tower. For lappy's though, I have a preference for Toshiba, Sony, and HP - but no experience to back those up, just what I've read. Not that there's anything wrong w/ that Gateway you posted.

[InyaAzz]

I always recommend an external HD...as a BACKUP. Not a primary HD. All those pics and vids of your family? Gone. No one prints pictures anymore unless they have to, or computer phobic. At a minimum, invest in some cheaper SD/USB cards/sticks for backup purposed.

If you're not backing up your data, then don't cry when your HD fails and you lose everything. It's not a matter of 'if', it's 'when'.

Edited October 28, 2009 by InyaAzz

[Fonzie]

You settle on a laptop yet Fonz? The Gateway one you posted seems like a decent deal - my home tower is a Gateway I got before college, and I'm still running it. 8 yrs later - 2.0Ghz, 512MB RAM... all I did was add 250GB to the 80GB it came with.

Probably goin' to pick up that Gateway shortly

In the past, I know my parents and I both were dicked over by Gateway, then dicked over by Dell, and then went back to Gateway. I had the bearing fail in my fan, but that was a $30 replacement on my tower. For lappy's though, I have a preference for Toshiba, Sony, and HP - but no experience to back those up, just what I've read. Not that there's anything wrong w/ that Gateway you posted.

Only comparable Toshiba I've seen had 1gb less RAM, 70gb less hard drive, 2 less USB's, & no HDMI or SD slot...... And was $30 more

Sonys are wayyyy more than I want to spend. Haven't found an HP with all those features in that price range either. Did find a sweet carbon fiber lookin' comparable Asus, but keyboard acted all goofy when I was typing, didn't have the HDMI slot or a scroll mouse pad, and was more expensive also

Edited October 28, 2009 by Fonzie