Looking for a laptop

[4Lclovergirl]

I'm going away to grad school in a few months, and want to purchase a laptop so I can bring it back and forth to school with me. They give us our own cubicles with jacks in the building I will be in, so I figure it'd be worth it. I don't need anything super duper fancy, just to get on the internet, do word and power points, etc. I wouldn't mind if I had a DVD player in it but don't need one.

So is there any reason I shouldn't get a package deal or something from Dell or Gateway? Is one better then the other? What other options are there out there that I should look into?

 

[Storm]

Take a look at the Hot Deals forums for deals on Dell Computers. What are you going to be using the laptop for mostly? I guessing any old Dell hot deal will do, but if you explained what you're going to be using it for that would help too.

 

[4Lclovergirl]

I am going to be using it mostly for writing up papers, and killing down time on the internet. Nothing fancy. I have a new desktop, but I just want to be able to work on campus and transfer data to it at home. I am going into biology, so alot of my time I will be running experiments that ususally have timed sections, so time to kill. Or even breaks between classes where I don't want to go back to my apt, since I am living off campus.

 

[Booster]

There are lots of laptops to satisfy your needs for about $700 - 1GHz Celeron CPU, VIA 133KLE chipset, 192 max RAM and a DVD and a built in floppy.

 

[blackdogdeek]

i wouldn't go for a gateway. their customer service hasn't been great in my experience and from what i've gathered from others. dell on the other hand has had impeccable customer service. there's also definitely a lot of hot deals on their stuff.

 

[Looney]

I would go for size and weight if i were you. 8lbs doesn't seem like much to carry around, but try carrying it around all day and everyday.

 

[RossMAN]

What's your budget?

I would check out the Dell Inspiron 5100 or 600m or an IBM ThinkPad.

For around $1,100 after rebate you can get a pretty loaded Dell Inspiron 5100 with all the goodies.

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
i wouldn't go for a gateway. their customer service hasn't been great in my experience and from what i've gathered from others. dell on the other hand has had impeccable customer service. there's also definitely a lot of hot deals on their stuff.

Wow - you must not read any of the negative dell threads here - just do a search Honestly, I used to work for Gateway, and their customer service is very good (I've owned 4 Gateways in the past). It's easy to reach one of their customer service representatives over the phone (as opposed the the crap dell puts you through), and if you have one of their Gateway COuntry stores near you, you can just drop by if the laptop is having any problems.

I really like Gateways remanufactures laptops: http://www.gateway.com/reman/hm_notebook_matrix.shtml Sometimes they have killer deals

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: rbloedow

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
i wouldn't go for a gateway. their customer service hasn't been great in my experience and from what i've gathered from others. dell on the other hand has had impeccable customer service. there's also definitely a lot of hot deals on their stuff.

Wow - you must not read any of the negative dell threads here - just do a search Honestly, I used to work for Gateway, and their customer service is very good (I've owned 4 Gateways in the past). It's easy to reach one of their customer service representatives over the phone (as opposed the the crap dell puts you through), and if you have one of their Gateway COuntry stores near you, you can just drop by if the laptop is having any problems.

I really like Gateways remanufactures laptops: <a href="http://www.gateway.com/reman/hm_notebook_matrix.shtml">http://www.gateway.com/reman/hm_notebook_matrix.shtml</A> Sometimes they have killer deals

my sister had a gateway desktop and they gave her a lot of problems when she would bring it into their retail stores to have them take a look at it. however, when i'd call dell csr's for support for our work machines they were very helpful and personable.

i agree that these are specific cases though and that i have indeed not searched for the negative dell threads in the forum.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
What's your budget?

I would check out the Dell Inspiron 5100 or 600m or an IBM ThinkPad.

For around $1,100 after rebate you can get a pretty loaded Dell Inspiron 5100 with all the goodies.

But the 5100 is a beast...desktop cpu...

 

[iamme]

just don't spend more than $1200. For the things you are going to do on your laptop, you don't need to spend that much. If you don't mind doing some research, you could save alot and buy a used or refurb laptop.

 

[4Lclovergirl]

Well, don't Dell and Gateway both have pretty good payment plans? I am not going to be making a ton of money, since I am going for my PhD I am getting paid to recieve my degree, and I hope ot get a part time job. I am also going to be buying a car with help from my parents probably around Sept, but as long as it's not an outrageous payment, I think I can afford somehting pretty expensive.

Thanks for all the advice. i checked out hot deals, but what they had, some people said the deal ws great, but there were always complaints about them, so I am leary. How do you find out about deals from either store? Just search through their websites?

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: 4Lclovergirl
Well, don't Dell and Gateway both have pretty good payment plans? I am not going to be making a ton of money, since I am going for my PhD I am getting paid to recieve my degree, and I hope ot get a part time job. I am also going to be buying a car with help from my parents probably around Sept, but as long as it's not an outrageous payment, I think I can afford somehting pretty expensive. Thanks for all the advice. i checked out hot deals, but what they had, some people said the deal ws great, but there were always complaints about them, so I am leary. How do you find out about deals from either store? Just search through their websites?

IIRC, you have to apply for financing through 3rd party companies for both Gateway and Dell. Gateway uses Citibank and MBNA, Dell uses CIT Bank. YOU can apply online for both companies - down payment mean nothing to them, just put your information in, and they'll tell you if you're approved or not, and if you are, they'll tell you your limit and types of payments that you can do.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: 4Lclovergirl
Well, don't Dell and Gateway both have pretty good payment plans? I am not going to be making a ton of money, since I am going for my PhD I am getting paid to recieve my degree, and I hope ot get a part time job. I am also going to be buying a car with help from my parents probably around Sept, but as long as it's not an outrageous payment, I think I can afford somehting pretty expensive.

Thanks for all the advice. i checked out hot deals, but what they had, some people said the deal ws great, but there were always complaints about them, so I am leary. How do you find out about deals from either store? Just search through their websites?

Dell has a great payment plan (basically a personal loan), this is assuming you are approved.

I find the best Hot Deals by either searching the Hot Deals forum, or visiting xpBargains.com or eDealInfo.com.

I believe the Dell 600m has the new Intel Centrino chip

 

[Storm]

Those hot deals are not really advertised. Its more like people try to combine the best parts of several different deals trying to create a better deal. With these kind of deals there is a smaller amount of customization due to the lower price. Now if you want to pay 2-3k for a Sony laptop be our guest . Hot Deals are mostly for people that want the most bang for their buck, but if you have money to burn...

 

[4Lclovergirl]

I have CITI bank as my credit card, and very good credit, sO I hope that makes it easier to get a good payment plan. I do have money saved up, but I was hoping to add to it to put a good down payment on a car. So I think I would rather go for a payment plan.

Thanks RossMAN for the sites. i checked hot deals already, and didn't really see somehting that blew me away. I will check the other sites. I'm not going to buy for probably 2 months, but I wanted to get a head start in looking, so maybe somehting will come up by then. Thanks!

 

[Darien]

Apple iBook/PowerBook? 12" models are quite portable.

 

[RossMAN]

4Lclovergirl - Dell discounts will always be around and the really good ones happen about every 3-4 weeks.

Good luck!

 

[LuNoTiCK]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
4Lclovergirl - Dell discounts will always be around and the really good ones happen about every 3-4 weeks.

Good luck!

I say just listen to RossMan, buy what he reccommends. He's the Grand Nagus for a reason.

 

[Kevin]

There's that tiny notebook that Best Buy has on sale this week. I forget the name but I think its less than $600. If you hold out, you can probably get a Dell Celeron notebook pretty cheap...

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Kevin
There's that tiny notebook that Best Buy has on sale this week. I forget the name but I think its less than $600. If you hold out, you can probably get a Dell Celeron notebook pretty cheap...

$549

If it were me I'd hold out until the last possible second to buy a laptop UNLESS she has this money readily available, then I might buy this laptop.

 

[Kevin]

Well, if you're going to spend over $999 on the laptop, I have a free coupon for $100 off at Dell. They're finally sending me the deals again...

 

[woowoo]

Looking for a laptop....
I'm Looking for a Lapdance.......
Maybe we can help each other........

 

[stev0]

sagernotebooks.com