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Buying a computer - need advice!
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| razmataz |
Im looking to buy a laptop and I was wondering since I am this close to xmas and New Years maybe I should wait for some discounts. And how good are the Dells on offer from the Dell Outlet? They have some sweet deals on there.
Any other makes I should look into? Im looking between a good compromise between price and resources since I dont play many games. Maybe around 1,500 - 2,000 US$.
Thanks! |
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| MisterOpus1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by razmataz
Im looking to buy a laptop and I was wondering since I am this close to xmas and New Years maybe I should wait for some discounts. And how good are the Dells on offer from the Dell Outlet? They have some sweet deals on there.
Any other makes I should look into? Im looking between a good compromise between price and resources since I dont play many games. Maybe around 1,500 - 2,000 US$.
Thanks! |
There's a reason why Dell is kicking everyone elses collective asses. They have good parts, superb support, and sell cheap. If the option of building your own computer from scratch is off the table, I would go Dell in a heartbeat. Half our company is on Dells now, and we're likely going to replace the remaining 1/2 with Dells within the next year. |
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| reveal |
| quote: | Originally posted by MisterOpus1
If the option of building your own computer from scratch is off the table, I would go Dell in a heartbeat. |
Is that even possible with a laptop? |
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| MisterOpus1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by reveal
Is that even possible with a laptop? |
Yeah, it is possible but I didn't quite read his statement very carefully. Thought I saw "desktop", not laptop. My bad.
Still, in terms of brands, I'd stick with Dell for laptops as well. |
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| mizzuno |
The gateway laptop is very good as well, especially if you don't like dells wacked out color.
Mizz |
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| QuickStep |
I agree with a Dell.
They have a great support line, and their server support is up there with IBM's. We had a server HDD go down one weekend. Well, it told Dell that it is going down, everyone in support at theoffice received and email that is is going down, Dell flew a technician out on a Sunday to replace the HDD before it went dead.
That's some sweet service.
That and they are truely affordable and setup for the most novice of users. The only thing I don't like about Dell/Gateway/Compaq setups, is that they generally create Higher-DOS partition for company info. These types of partitions have caused some users to not be able to install other OS's (Linux) later on.
We had this problem with Final Scratch, since it runs on a Linux platform, the Dell would not allow us to write another OS onto the HDD. Sucked, we had to get another HDD. |
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| Harri |
| Toshiba has some cheap TERCA series notebooks. Depending on what you need, they have centrino notebooks or the standard P4m up to 3.2 ghz with 17" monitor. All the TECRA series come standard with a 3 year international warranty, nothing you have to pay above and beyond the initial price for. |
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| mizzuno |
| quote: | Originally posted by Harri
Toshiba has some cheap TERCA series notebooks. Depending on what you need, they have centrino notebooks or the standard P4m up to 3.2 ghz with 17" monitor. All the TECRA series come standard with a 3 year international warranty, nothing you have to pay above and beyond the initial price for. |
P4M is not a good processor for laptops, it eats up battery time. I suggest the Pentium M processor, it has a faster bus, and much better battery time.
Mizz |
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| razmataz |
Yeah it was going to be either dell or toshiba in my mind... just 2 specific questions though...
1) Do prices of computers fall during New Years or do they stay stable?
2) Dell also operates this part of their site which is called the "Dell Outlet". What it is is basically a warehouse of computers that were returned for various reasons - companies bought in bulk and maybe returned 1 or 2 that werent needed, minor glitches that consumer didn't like, etc. etc. Either way they are totally refurbished and retested and put back on the market at crazy prices. You can find laptops worth $3000 at $2000 sometimes. And they come with standard warranties.
So basically I wanted to know if anyone bought from Dell Outlet and how their experiences were. Some of those deals are too good to be true.
Thanks again.
another thing - whats a good graphics card to play some of today's games on? im not into games but might be interested in a few too ease of some stress. so what should i be looking for ? 16, 32, 64 mb? geforce? ati? its all foreign to me... |
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| Harri |
| quote: | Originally posted by mizzuno
P4M is not a good processor for laptops, it eats up battery time. I suggest the Pentium M processor, it has a faster bus, and much better battery time.
Mizz |
Are you referring to the centrino? |
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| Harri |
| quote: | Originally posted by razmataz
Yeah it was going to be either dell or toshiba in my mind... just 2 specific questions though...
1) Do prices of computers fall during New Years or do they stay stable?
2) Dell also operates this part of their site which is called the "Dell Outlet". What it is is basically a warehouse of computers that were returned for various reasons - companies bought in bulk and maybe returned 1 or 2 that werent needed, minor glitches that consumer didn't like, etc. etc. Either way they are totally refurbished and retested and put back on the market at crazy prices. You can find laptops worth $3000 at $2000 sometimes. And they come with standard warranties.
So basically I wanted to know if anyone bought from Dell Outlet and how their experiences were. Some of those deals are too good to be true.
Thanks again.
another thing - whats a good graphics card to play some of today's games on? im not into games but might be interested in a few too ease of some stress. so what should i be looking for ? 16, 32, 64 mb? geforce? ati? its all foreign to me... |
Go for the biggest you can get at the moment as video in laptops are crazy expensive to upgrade. |
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