Anyone with a Dell laptop? How are they (especially if you recently got one)?

[Hoeboy]

I bought one less than 2 years ago. An Inspiron, which I did not really like. Their customer service ain't too great and a lot of people seemed to be complaining about the same problem that Dell never managed to understand/fix. My bro wants a laptop now and to be frank, Dell is really the cheapest way to go for a new laptop w/o any deals. But I'm reluctant to tell him "Dude, you're getting a Dell" until I can confirm that Dell has improved the quality of their laptops.

 

[narzy]

SUCK! COMPLETE SH!T breaks every fsking second it gets, kills batteries, and they don't honor the warrenty you buy with your top unless you play chace around some asshat in charge.

STAY AWAY FROM DELL! THEY USED TO BE GOOD BUT NOW THEY SUCK!

 

[Pastore]

My 8200 has treated me quite well so far, had it about a month... knock on wood...

 

[RossMAN]

What's your brothers budget?

What are the minimum specs he's looking for?

 

[KingNothing]

I've had a Dell Inspiron 4000 for a year now and it's been great. All of my experiences with their customer service have been fantastic. I got the 3 year warranty with mine and had the LCD replaced once (it was somewhat my fault that it got damaged but they still replaced it). Their turnaround time is unreal, I had my laptop back the day after I sent it in, and I sent it out late in the afternoon.

YMMV I guess.

 

[Jfur]

please don't ask for details or I will be riled up for days (seriously). I will NEVER buy another Dell laptop. Ever. Ever. Ever. Amen.

 

[Hoeboy]

He wants to spend at most $1,000. It's mainly gonna be for websurfing and misc stuff. No hardcore gaming or CPU tasking work. I'm aiming for around 1ghz w/ dvdrom and 14" lcd w/ 128mb ram.

It sounds like there's mix emotions. Those who dont have a problem don't seem to be ecstatic either. But those who hate it seem to want to kill Dell. Hm.

 

[xuanman]

i have a latitude c400, and i love it. i don't know much about the inspirons...i do like the latitudes. they're costlier, but they're better machines than the personal user dell laptops.

 

[RossMAN]

The good news is for $1,000 he could probably get a brand new Dell Inspiron 2650 from Dell Small Business after rebate.

The bad news is $1,000 isn't enough to get you a better laptop such as a lighter IBM ThinkPad R series (lighter, better, and no rebate), the 2600/2650 SUCK compared to the lighter/faster/better 4150 (which costs about $200 more) and those who have had problems with their Dell laptops do wanna kill Dell.

However I'm sure that the majority of Dell Inspiron laptop owners are happy.

 

[Hoeboy]

Rossman, is that deal on the HP still available? looks pretty good

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Hoeboy
Rossman, is that deal on the HP still available? looks pretty good

I think so, AFAIK one of the offers (free 2nd battery) expires 11/24 that's Sunday.

 

[Hoeboy]

Cool. There is a staples $100 rebate right? It mentions it but doesn't not link to it. BTW, how are HP laptops?

 

[Green Man]

Be careful you don't burn your dick off!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/28245.html

 

[Dudd]

I've gotta say that my 8200 has been great for me so far. Don't know how much of that is applicable to the $1000 models. Whatever you do, stay the fsck away from Gateway. My father originally ordered one from them without thinking about what it was going to be used for (gaming), and we ended up with one with a cheap 8 mb integrated video card. We somehow managed to pay $1800 for this too. Getting a rebate from them was a major PITA. Every time we called we got the run around, finally we sent it back, a month or two passed with no answer, and finally we ended up disputing the credit card charges to get them to pay attention. I will never buy anything from them again.

 

[Kaervak]

I've had my Inspiron 8200 since mid September. Got the one year warranty and have had the LCD replaced twice. Once for dead pixels and once for watermarks. Both times the CSR's were up to par with everything and both warranty repairs were extremely quick and painless. I had a problem with my preferred account with them charging me interest on my 90 days no interest setup. Called them up, told them what was going on and they removed the charges and knocked another $40.00 off my balance. The laptop itself is fantastic. Nothing but good experiences here.

 

[apoppin]

Perhaps I am not the one to ask.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Hoeboy
Cool. There is a staples $100 rebate right? It mentions it but doesn't not link to it. BTW, how are HP laptops?

There might be a $100 rebate currently available, I'm not sure. I would check the FW Hot Deals forum search for ZE4000 or Staples.

 

[BigJ]

try taking a look at this baby

1080$ from PowerNotbooks.com

Here are the specs:

14.1" XGA TFT Active Matrix w/up to 64MB Video Memory
1.6GHz Intel Pentium® 4 Processor w/256k L2 Cache - 400MHz System Bus Speed
20.0GB Ultra ATA/100
256MB (1 DIMM) PC2100 DDR Memory
8X DVD w/Software
3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive
Built-in 56k V.90 Data/Fax Modem
Built-in 10/100BaseT Ethernet w/RJ-45 Jack
Built-in IEEE 1394 (Firewire)
Smart Li-ion Battery
No Operating System
Productivity Software Bundle
Full Range Auto Switching AC Adapter
Standard Carrying Case
1-Year Parts and Labor, Lifetime Telephone Technical Support

PS: No Operating System as mentioned

 

[Atrail]

My 8100 has been a charm!
No problems. Only complaint is the poor design of the stick mouse, it puts a permanent smudge on the display.
I would buy another Dell...

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
The good news is for $1,000 he could probably get a brand new Dell Inspiron 2650 from Dell Small Business after rebate.

The bad news is $1,000 isn't enough to get you a better laptop such as a lighter IBM ThinkPad R series (lighter, better, and no rebate), the 2600/2650 SUCK compared to the lighter/faster/better 4150 (which costs about $200 more) and those who have had problems with their Dell laptops do wanna kill Dell.

However I'm sure that the majority of Dell Inspiron laptop owners are happy.

he might be able to get this one

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: RossMAN
The good news is for $1,000 he could probably get a brand new Dell Inspiron 2650 from Dell Small Business after rebate.

The bad news is $1,000 isn't enough to get you a better laptop such as a lighter IBM ThinkPad R series (lighter, better, and no rebate), the 2600/2650 SUCK compared to the lighter/faster/better 4150 (which costs about $200 more) and those who have had problems with their Dell laptops do wanna kill Dell.

However I'm sure that the majority of Dell Inspiron laptop owners are happy.

he might be able to get this one

Yeah but add tax and shipping and it's prob closer to $1,100. Besides I'd rather pay another $100 and have a 14.1 vs 13.3" LCD.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: RossMAN
The good news is for $1,000 he could probably get a brand new Dell Inspiron 2650 from Dell Small Business after rebate.

The bad news is $1,000 isn't enough to get you a better laptop such as a lighter IBM ThinkPad R series (lighter, better, and no rebate), the 2600/2650 SUCK compared to the lighter/faster/better 4150 (which costs about $200 more) and those who have had problems with their Dell laptops do wanna kill Dell.

However I'm sure that the majority of Dell Inspiron laptop owners are happy.

he might be able to get this one

Yeah but add tax and shipping and it's prob closer to $1,100. Besides I'd rather pay another $100 and have a 14.1 vs 13.3" LCD.

yea that's true. i'll probably get one around march... prices are only going to go down by then right? i sure hope so.... i checked crucial and they have 512 mb for these things at 140. not bad... that laptop would roxor for only about 1200-1300

 

[Stallion]

I just got one last week. I got it for my sisters birthday. Inspiron 2650. So far all I have done is play a DVD on it. I hadto test it for her ya know. It's a 1.7 , 256ram. 20g HDD , 8x DVD 14.1 screen. Works great for me. It was $1100 shipped.

 

[compudog]

I have an Inspiron 4100 for about a year. It works perfectly well. Last week my internal modem died. I called Dell and the next day I had a replacement modem with the mailer to send the old one back. 100% warranty, 100% hassle free (except for the fact that the modem died in the first place!) The Dell guy (Dennis) called me back to inform me that my replacement was on it's way. Not a bad experience. I would recommend a Dell lappy. Go for it.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: gopunk

Originally posted by: RossMAN
The good news is for $1,000 he could probably get a brand new Dell Inspiron 2650 from Dell Small Business after rebate.

The bad news is $1,000 isn't enough to get you a better laptop such as a lighter IBM ThinkPad R series (lighter, better, and no rebate), the 2600/2650 SUCK compared to the lighter/faster/better 4150 (which costs about $200 more) and those who have had problems with their Dell laptops do wanna kill Dell.

However I'm sure that the majority of Dell Inspiron laptop owners are happy.

he might be able to get this one

Yeah but add tax and shipping and it's prob closer to $1,100. Besides I'd rather pay another $100 and have a 14.1 vs 13.3" LCD.

yea that's true. i'll probably get one around march... prices are only going to go down by then right? i sure hope so.... i checked crucial and they have 512 mb for these things at 140. not bad... that laptop would roxor for only about 1200-1300

Oh yeah. The great thing about IBM's eBayStore is 1) you are buying directly from IBM not Vinny in New York and 2) it's new but old stuff, brand new but a few months old models.

Hopefully by March 2003 this beauty will drop a few hundred $. That is the PERFECT laptop for me, major drooling going on right now.