Anyone here ordered one of those $500 laptops from Dell.com?

[purbeast0]

Link to said computer.

I'm just wondering if anyone has gotten one of these before. I'm thinking about getting it for my GF for xmas. It's only $500, and comes with a printer as well. All she really does is use the internet, talk on AIM, download some songs from iTunes, and that's about it.

I am just curious as to if anyone has used it or not and the performance of it. I don't know much about laptops at all so I figured I'd ask. My mom just ordered one as well, but she won't have it till first week of December, and I figure I don't want to wait that long to check it out and possibly order one for my GF since it's so close to the holiday.

 

[RagingBITCH]

My roomie and my sister both have the B130. It's actually a solid laptop for $500...they're not handicapped like the old Celeron's used to be. I wouldn't do any gaming in particular on it but for your GF/mother it's more than good enough. Considering I don't do gaming on my laptop anymore it'd work pretty well for my tastes as well. I'd pull the trigger on it.

 

[mitaiwan82]

I'm interested in the $250 Toshiba at BB for Black Friday...it's got less RAM and only a DVD/CD-R combo drive

 

[lokiju]

Pretty hot deal.

 

[minendo]

I just picked up a dell laptop for ~$500 for my wife for X-mas. However, I went with an AMD model with 512mb RAM and 60gb hd.

 

[amdhunter]

I have a Dell B130/1300 and while it is a good computer, I can't stand using it because of the on-board Sigmatel sound. I wouldn't buy a DELL laptop period because they refuse to admit there is a problem with their laptops and sound.

Check their forums and search for "stuttering" and you will see what I mean. It's unbearable, and I literally have a brand new laptop sitting doing absolutely nothing. :|

 

[RossMAN]

I ordered a few, they're ok laptops for entry level.

The 1GB RAM, DVD Burner and $10 upgrade to Vista is nice though.

 

[ranmaniac]

I bought two of these from the outlet one time, one for $399 and the other for $449, and they're great for websurfing and light office type stuff.

 

[Aharami]

this might be a perfect laptop for my mom. she just wants one for surfing, paying bills online, and what not

 

[amish]

Originally posted by: Aharami
this might be a perfect laptop for my mom. she just wants one for surfing, paying bills online, and what not

same here. thanks for the find OP!

 

[SketchMaster]

This would also make a good car PC for music and GPS.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: SketchMaster
This would also make a good car PC for music and GPS.

meh. one of those mac mini type PCs would suit better as a car pc

 

[SketchMaster]

True, but you would have to buy a screen for it and depending on size and if you wanted a touch screen that would be another $150-$300. This would be more simple and you can take it out of the car and not have to worry about it getting stolen, and you could use it in other cars aswell.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: mitaiwan82
I'm interested in the $250 Toshiba at BB for Black Friday...it's got less RAM and only a DVD/CD-R combo drive

holy crap that is a hot ass deal. damn how early do you think you have to get there to get into that line? i would really like to get that for my GF

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: mitaiwan82
I'm interested in the $250 Toshiba at BB for Black Friday...it's got less RAM and only a DVD/CD-R combo drive

holy crap that is a hot ass deal. damn how early do you think you have to get there to get into that line? i would really like to get that for my GF

Very early, before 9PM.

BB will already be extremely busy with their $379 HP laptop and $479 Westinghouse 32" LCD.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: mitaiwan82
I'm interested in the $250 Toshiba at BB for Black Friday...it's got less RAM and only a DVD/CD-R combo drive

holy crap that is a hot ass deal. damn how early do you think you have to get there to get into that line? i would really like to get that for my GF

Very early, before 9PM.

BB will already be extremely busy with their $379 HP laptop and $479 Westinghouse 32" LCD.

bah screw that, i've waited in enough lines for the ps3 and the wii, don't think I can do that crap anymore. i'll just grab that dell probably.

 

[loup garou]

I buy them for clients as pretty much disposable machines. They give them to interns, klutzes, luddites, etc. If they break em, who cares? Just buy another. I don't even bother upgrading to the 3 year warranty as I usually do for laptops.

Whatever you do, though, don't get the 14" screen, it is horrendous.

 

[Injury]

My mom was looking for a lappy to get my dad for Christmas.

I saw the $599 Inspirons last week and I told her it was a pretty good deal to jump on to make sure it got here before the holidays.
I ordered for her because she's clueless about computers, and when I used my Dell account the price somehow dropped to $519+ $20 shipping.

I'm not going to argue that one.

It shipped this morning and it supposed to arrive Monday, so I guess I got on before the holiday rushes start. Last year it took 3 full weeks to get my order for a laptop.

Any of you guys with Dell accounts scoring random discounts?

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: SketchMaster
True, but you would have to buy a screen for it and depending on size and if you wanted a touch screen that would be another $150-$300. This would be more simple and you can take it out of the car and not have to worry about it getting stolen, and you could use it in other cars aswell.

Using a laptop in the car does NOT work. If you can mount it up, maybe, but you're eating up a lot of passenger space that way. The only decent option would be a tablet pc.

 

[SearchMaster]

I bought one for my wife about 7 months ago (when they first came out and hot deals were abounding). It's been fine, but make sure you get the upgraded battery. Reports have the 6 cell battery life at just over an hour.

[edit]sorry, the 4 cell's life is an hour.[/edit]

 

[mundane]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: mitaiwan82
I'm interested in the $250 Toshiba at BB for Black Friday...it's got less RAM and only a DVD/CD-R combo drive

holy crap that is a hot ass deal. damn how early do you think you have to get there to get into that line? i would really like to get that for my GF

Very early, before 9PM.

BB will already be extremely busy with their $379 HP laptop and $479 Westinghouse 32" LCD.

It says the sale starts @ 5 AM - I'd suspect (hope?) that if I showed up at that time I'd be able to snag one of them.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: diegoalcatraz

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: mitaiwan82
I'm interested in the $250 Toshiba at BB for Black Friday...it's got less RAM and only a DVD/CD-R combo drive

holy crap that is a hot ass deal. damn how early do you think you have to get there to get into that line? i would really like to get that for my GF

Very early, before 9PM.

BB will already be extremely busy with their $379 HP laptop and $479 Westinghouse 32" LCD.

It says the sale starts @ 5 AM - I'd suspect (hope?) that if I showed up at that time I'd be able to snag one of them.

I seriously hope you're joking. You are correct the store opens at 5AM but there will already be 200-600 people waiting in line. So by the time you get in the store around 5:20 AM, everything you want will have already sold out.

 

[Oyeve]

I got one free when I opened a credit card. Not a bad lappy......for free. Actually, it is pretty decent and I still hate Dell.

 

[mundane]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: diegoalcatraz

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: mitaiwan82
I'm interested in the $250 Toshiba at BB for Black Friday...it's got less RAM and only a DVD/CD-R combo drive

holy crap that is a hot ass deal. damn how early do you think you have to get there to get into that line? i would really like to get that for my GF

Very early, before 9PM.

BB will already be extremely busy with their $379 HP laptop and $479 Westinghouse 32" LCD.

It says the sale starts @ 5 AM - I'd suspect (hope?) that if I showed up at that time I'd be able to snag one of them.

I seriously hope you're joking. You are correct the store opens at 5AM but there will already be 200-600 people waiting in line. So by the time you get in the store around 5:20 AM, everything you want will have already sold out.

I see, thanks. I've never done the Black Friday shopping before, and am trying to get an idea of how much waiting would be required. I assumed that such an early opening would deter some shoppers (actually I assumed it would deter most, but apparently not enough).

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe

Originally posted by: SketchMaster
True, but you would have to buy a screen for it and depending on size and if you wanted a touch screen that would be another $150-$300. This would be more simple and you can take it out of the car and not have to worry about it getting stolen, and you could use it in other cars aswell.

Using a laptop in the car does NOT work. If you can mount it up, maybe, but you're eating up a lot of passenger space that way. The only decent option would be a tablet pc.

Actually, TabletPCs are a bad idea as well as they require the use of a stylus. UMPCs are a good choice as they are true touchscreens, but are pricey for what you get and smaller screens. Although woot had the Samsung one the other day for $700.