Friend headed to England

[TheStu]

So, as the title says, my friend is headed to England in the fall, there he will be in a Master's program for a year, and then maybe another few years for his doctorate.

Anyway, He has about $500 to spend (may be willing to go up to $600) on a laptop that will be used for mostly writing, so it needs a good screen and a great keyboard. He also would prefer it if lasted him about 3 years.

I don't shop in that price range (and actually will probably be tossing some cash his way to get him closer to the $700-800 range) so I am looking for your guys advice. He won't be buying it for a couple of months (Late August, Early September) so this is more of a fact finding mission for now.

Is it possible to get the following
-~2GHz Dual Core (Intel has better battery life, but will go AMD)
-13-14" screen (I will have to see if he greatly prefers a 15" or something, but a 13 or 14" screen is better for portability)
-great keyboard that will last and not flex
-160GB or more HDD
-good screen
-will last about 3 years?

For around $500-600? After looking at Best Buy for 2 minutes the other day, it seems that it is, but my concern is not just with build quality, but also with warranties. Since he will be out of the country, what happens if it has a problem, what manufacturers offer international warranties by default?

I have been looking at Dell Latitudes, but it will cost almost $800 to get a 14" to reasonable specs. Dell Inspiron 14 can be had for just under $600 with everything we're looking for (plus Office. He is not going to want to use OpenOffice) but I am wary of the Inspirons.

Any other recommendations?

 

[IlllI]

check out dell and lenovo outlets

 

[Fox5]

Check out newegg and hp.

 

[TheStu]

I have checked out all 4 actually. It is just hard to find concrete information about expected longevity. Specs are specs. I think that getting the specs is easy, no matter what he gets it will be incredibly powerful compared to what he has right now (5 year old Dell desktop).

I am most concerned about how the system will hold up to abuse, and the QC on the parts used.

Ultimately we are looking for the best put together system at the target price of $500. And also am concerned about the warranty. Ordinarily I would be his tech support, but eh commute would be a killer 🙂

 

[IlllI]

nobody can tell the future. sometimes you get a lemon

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: IlllI
nobody can tell the future. sometimes you get a lemon

Absolutely, but i want to stack things in his favor. Get a system from a company with a good GC record, and that has a strong warranty behind it. So, does anyone know if Dell, HP, or any of the others have international warranties that are either by default, or can be included for not too much more money.

 

[IlllI]

stack the deck.. panasonic toughbook 😀

ask (i think) corkyg, he does a lot of traveling so probably knows a lot about international warranties in other countries

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: IlllI
stack the deck.. panasonic toughbook 😀

ask (i think) corkyg, he does a lot of traveling so probably knows a lot about international warranties in other countries

Yea, Ill get right on finding him a Toughbook for $500 🙂

 

[Athena]

Originally posted by: TheStu
So, does anyone know if Dell, HP, or any of the others have international warranties that are either by default, or can be included for not too much more money.

I don't know about the others but Dell's next-day, on-site warranty service includes international support. A 3-year, next business day, on-site extended warranty adds about $100 to Latitudes from the Outlet (it's included if your order a new one). If you need service, you can either call the local Dell office or the US center to arrange service.

If your friend is going to be buying a machine for the UK, he will need to buy a power cord for the adapter. A plug converter will do in a pinch but if he's going to be there for any length of time, he should get a proper cord.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Athena

Originally posted by: TheStu
So, does anyone know if Dell, HP, or any of the others have international warranties that are either by default, or can be included for not too much more money.

I don't know about the others but Dell's next-day, on-site warranty service includes international support. A 3-year, next business day, on-site extended warranty adds about $100 to Latitudes from the Outlet (it's included if your order a new one). If you need service, you can either call the local Dell office or the US center to arrange service.

If your friend is going to be buying a machine for the UK, he will need to buy a power cord for the adapter. A plug converter will do in a pinch but if he's going to be there for any length of time, he should get a proper cord.

Oh, you are absolutely right on the power cord. Now, I know that with some power bricks, you can just replace the cable that goes from the wall to the brick. Is it the same with almost all OEMs?

I might have to give him a call and let him know that he is not getting a 3 year laptop for $500, easy as that. A Latitude E5400 with a 2GHz Core 2, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Vista Business (plus XP downgrade), Office 07 and a 3 year onsite warranty is right about $1000 new. That same system is about $800 from the outlet. I will have to talk with him to see if he would prefer a 15" screen because that can probably be had for less money.

I would urge him strongly to consider the Onsite service. Dells Techs are usually pretty prompt and good, and spending $200 now to cover any possibility for 3 years is a bit of a steal. Though he will need an external hard drive for backups (thankfully I can just give him one of those)

 

[Athena]

Originally posted by: TheStu
Oh, you are absolutely right on the power cord. Now, I know that with some power bricks, you can just replace the cable that goes from the wall to the brick. Is it the same with almost all OEMs?

Usually with Dells, you can just get another power cable for the adapter. Dell can give you the part number and he can order it once he gets to the UK.

I might have to give him a call and let him know that he is not getting a 3 year laptop for $500, easy as that. A Latitude E5400 with a 2GHz Core 2, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Vista Business (plus XP downgrade), Office 07 and a 3 year onsite warranty is right about $1000 new. That same system is about $800 from the outlet. I will have to talk with him to see if he would prefer a 15" screen because that can probably be had for less money.

Sign up for the Outlet coupons and you can save 15%-20% on the machine during promotions. Sometimes they will have an extra 5% off for extended warranties. Pro and Complete Care would be excessive in this instance but the the NBD extended warranty would be essential if he wants to have warranty service while he's in the UK.

Does your friend have Office on his desktop? If so, and it is a retail license, he can use the same key on his laptop. Also, check the system details closely; you may find one with Office preinstalled. You can't search on that but you can call the Outlet and ask the rep if he can tell. That may save you quite a bit of money. If neither of those apply, look for an academic license elsewhere. If he's eligible, Office 2007 Standard should be about a hundred dollars, $200 for Professional.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Athena

Originally posted by: TheStu
Oh, you are absolutely right on the power cord. Now, I know that with some power bricks, you can just replace the cable that goes from the wall to the brick. Is it the same with almost all OEMs?

Usually with Dells, you can just get another power cable for the adapter. Dell can give you the part number and he can order it once he gets to the UK.

I might have to give him a call and let him know that he is not getting a 3 year laptop for $500, easy as that. A Latitude E5400 with a 2GHz Core 2, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Vista Business (plus XP downgrade), Office 07 and a 3 year onsite warranty is right about $1000 new. That same system is about $800 from the outlet. I will have to talk with him to see if he would prefer a 15" screen because that can probably be had for less money.

Sign up for the Outlet coupons and you can save 15%-20% on the machine during promotions. Sometimes they will have an extra 5% off for extended warranties. Pro and Complete Care would be excessive in this instance but the the NBD extended warranty would be essential if he wants to have warranty service while he's in the UK.

Does your friend have Office on his desktop? If so, and it is a retail license, he can use the same key on his laptop. Also, check the system details closely; you may find one with Office preinstalled. You can't search on that but you can call the Outlet and ask the rep if he can tell. That may save you quite a bit of money. If neither of those apply, look for an academic license elsewhere. If he's eligible, Office 2007 Standard should be about a hundred dollars, $200 for Professional.

Thanks for all the help, I think I will recommend that he try and save up some more money and consider the Dell. I wouldn't use a dell consumer notebook if you paid me (unless their QC has gotten 1000x better), but all the Dell business notebooks that I have seen are pretty well put together and last a good long time. Of course there are always bad eggs, and that is why we get the warranty (if nothing else, it ensures that nothing will happen 🙂)

 

[Parasitic]

Dell offers international warranty on some of their machines when you get the 3-year domestic warranty with it, as previously mentioned. However, it's only available on Inspirons and Latitudes:

http://www1.ap.dell.com/conten...ce?c=my&l=en&cs=mybsd1

So if you're deliberately avoiding consumer laptops then you can only go with Latitudes. There's a few C2D 2.4 E5400's (14") in stock at Dell Outlet starting at $499 with the standard warranty.

 

[VinDSL]

Well, Stu baby, if it was MY friend... 😀

I'd chip-in $150 for a going-away-present and set him up with an Acer AS3810T-8503

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16834115585 (Newegg - 650 bones)

Comes with Vista HP 64-bit, but qualifies for a *free* Windows 7 upgrade, AFAIK!

Think of it as a cheap Apple MacBook Air clone... :beer:

BTW, what is your friend studying?!?!?

A Greek friend of mine went over there for a year to get a degree in (ocean cargo) shipping....

 

[Parasitic]

Where in England? Why doesn't he try to look for a Mac? Mac notebooks carry international warranty with AppleCare and there are Apple stores everywhere.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: VinDSL
Well, Stu baby, if it was MY friend... 😀

I'd chip-in $150 for a going-away-present and set him up with an Acer AS3810T-8503

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16834115585 (Newegg - 650 bones)

Comes with Vista HP 64-bit, but qualifies for a *free* Windows 7 upgrade, AFAIK!

Think of it as a cheap Apple MacBook Air clone... :beer:

BTW, what is your friend studying?!?!?

A Greek friend of mine went over there for a year to get a degree in (ocean cargo) shipping....

I am planning on chipping in some money to help actually, and he won't be getting anything from newegg due to the lack of good international warranty. This is going to be his only system for at least a year, maybe even 3 or more (depends on if he goes there for his doctorate and not just his masters) and so downtime must be avoided and minimized.

He will be studying something involving the classics, so lots and lots of research and paper writing. The system doesn't need to be that powerful, but he will have a weekend or two free and would like to be able to run some games on the system.

Originally posted by: Parasitic
Where in England? Why doesn't he try to look for a Mac? Mac notebooks carry international warranty with AppleCare and there are Apple stores everywhere.

Northern England is where he will be, he doesn't want to spend the money on a new macbook (I already tried to convince him), and doesn't want to have to deal with a new OS. He has quite simply put his foot down on it. Although it does come with an international warranty by default and there would be an Apple store or authorized repair center somewhere not too far from him.

The Dell Next Business Day warranty looks to be the best, so now I just need to work with him to narrow it down to the most appropriate model.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: TheStu
The Dell Next Business Day warranty looks to be the best, so now I just need to work with him to narrow it down to the most appropriate model.

You don't really have too many choices if he wants a laptop with international warranty. He'll be limited to either the Inspiron or the Latitude line. Assuming that the consumer models are out, on the Latitude line anything that fits his budget will have tom come from Dell Outlet, and it'd have to be the entry level 15.4" E5500 or the 14" E5400.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Parasitic

Originally posted by: TheStu
The Dell Next Business Day warranty looks to be the best, so now I just need to work with him to narrow it down to the most appropriate model.

You don't really have too many choices if he wants a laptop with international warranty. He'll be limited to either the Inspiron or the Latitude line. Assuming that the consumer models are out, on the Latitude line anything that fits his budget will have tom come from Dell Outlet, and it'd have to be the entry level 15.4" E5500 or the 14" E5400.

Yea, for right now I have it in his head that although he might be able to get a laptop for $500, he won't be getting one with a good warranty at that price. So he is ok with upping his budget to $800 or so. That means that the $200 or so that my friends and I are pitching in will let him get a pretty decent upgrade on the system.

Now I just need to wait until the next time he is in town so I can get his opinion on screen size. But that will be a while, so for now, thanks all of you for your advice.