I'm going to buy a laptop....I need some advice.

[Scarpozzi]

My wife's going to school next month and I know she's going to need a computer. I don't believe laptops are the best purchase option, but it would allow her to come home on weekends and bring work with her more easily.

Dell SB is running some deals on the Inspiron 1501s and the 6400s right now. I've got 2 questions. The 1501 is running the AMD Turions and the 6400s have the Intel Dual Core (not core 2 duos) in them stock. I can get the AMD system for about $20 cheaper.

The only thing the 6400 has extra, from what I can tell is bluetooth and multimedia buttons on the front. (they look like they'd get in the way too)

I know the stock Intel chip on this system is the slowest and oldest... I'm trying to figure out what will work best for the next few years. I'm going with Vista for the OS just so she won't need to upgrade in a year or two.

I'm also wondering if anyone expects better sales to come up in the next few weeks after this set finish. With Dell, they're trying to have a good quarter so they're really pushing these systems. Any opinions or suggestions are welcome.

 

[thepd7]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
My wife's going to school next month and I know she's going to need a computer. I don't believe laptops are the best purchase option, but it would allow her to come home on weekends and bring work with her more easily.

Dell SB is running some deals on the Inspiron 1501s and the 6400s right now. I've got 2 questions. The 1501 is running the AMD Turions and the 6400s have the Intel Dual Core (not core 2 duos) in them stock. I can get the AMD system for about $20 cheaper.

The only thing the 6400 has extra, from what I can tell is bluetooth and multimedia buttons on the front. (they look like they'd get in the way too)

I know the stock Intel chip on this system is the slowest and oldest... I'm trying to figure out what will work best for the next few years. I'm going with Vista for the OS just so she won't need to upgrade in a year or two.

I'm also wondering if anyone expects better sales to come up in the next few weeks after this set finish. With Dell, they're trying to have a good quarter so they're really pushing these systems. Any opinions or suggestions are welcome.

Can't speak to whether or not the sales will get better but the prices are pretty good right now, best I have seen in a while.

The multimedia buttons on the front don't get in the way, it's designed pretty well (I have the e1705/9400 which is built the same way).

Unless this is going to be used for gaming or something other than email/word processing I wouldn't worry about the processor, 90% of people who buy Dells get way more processing power than they need.

However, if you do get Vista I would reccomend upgrading becuase Vista uses a lot of resources. But, I would reccomed NOT getting Vista.

I do not think there is any way Windows XP will cease to be supported by everyone in the next 5 years. If anyone else out there disagrees let me know that is just what I think considering so many people use XP.