New notebook for dad - suggestions? *Updated - Found good deal*

[gramboh]

Hi there,

My dad's 2 or 3 year old Dell P4-M 3.06 notebook is crapping out (mainboard issues) and is no longer under warranty so he is looking for something new, willing to spend around $2,000CDN for something nice and fast that will last. It will be a business/internet/media playing laptop, but does not need sophisticated 3D or sound.

I priced out a nice Inspiron 9100 on Dell.ca for $1900 with Core 2 Duo 2GHZ (T7400 I think), 2GB ram, 160GB drive, ATI X1400 and XP Pro license included (even though he already has an XP Pro OEM license, I guess he needs to buy another one from Dell for a rip off price, oh well).

The trouble is, Dell only seems to sell this config in 17 inch WS. He would prefer a 15 inch as the 17 inch is bulky and annoying to move around.

Is there a major manufacturer (Dell, HP, IBM/Lenovo) that sells a 15/15.4 WS laptop w/ C2D, 2GB RAM? I seem to keep finding Pentium-M and Core Duo when I look at 15 inch models.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Brainonska511]

Look at the Inspiron E1505 if you want a smaller notebook from Dell.

 

[gramboh]

Weird, a link to 14inch notebooks took me to Inspiron 6400, C2D, 2GB, 15.4inch WS. This should be it.

Thanks

 

[gramboh]

Well he is ordering it now, $1644CDN w/

C2D T7400 (4MB, 2.16GHz)
2GB RAM (DDR2-533)
120GB 5400RPM HDD
ATI X1400 shared memory
8X DVDRW, 15.4inch WSXGA+ 1680x1050
Windows XP Pro license
6cell battery
Integrated sound
3 year extended warranty (return to depot)

Pretty good deal I think, I'm curious to get my hands on it. A lot cheaper than a Macbook Pro config'd similar (C2D 2.16GHz, 2GB, 120GB, 15inch glossy, superdrive, AirPort extreme, MacOS) which is a honking $3,279CDN, twice as much!

I'll post a review when I get to play around with it, I'm curious to see how fast it is.

 

[Alienwho]

That looks like a good laptop. Can you tell me the exact model he got? I'd like to price out something very similar.

 

[gramboh]

It's the Dell Inspiron 6400 15.4inch widescreen

components are listed above...

 

[dnuggett]

Odd.... Dell fails, dad looks for something that will last because his Dell dies, so you buy another Dell.

Here's to being in the same position after another couple of years. :beer:

 

[alimoalem]

yea i was thinking that too...

OP, i don't know what your dad does but i REALLY doubt he needs what he's getting. and he could get it for much cheaper, too. iirc, it costs like an additional $250 to go from 512mb to 2gb on dell. go to fry's and wait for a 2gb combo kit deal for some ddr2-533mhz ram. if you can't wait, you can easily get a good pair of 1gb sticks from newegg for $200. you still save $50 that way. and it costs $175 for the CPU upgrade from the T7200 to the T7400. i can guarantee he will NOT notice ANY difference at all between the two CPUs. why not get the 9-cell battery? it may be an additional $99 but the point of a laptop is portability. if he's going to be near an outlet most of the time, the 6-cell will be fine but if he'll be moving around, he'll want the extra hours.

in the end though, if you're open to change, i would try a different brand. HPs are cheap and i like mine. i've seen many friends with apples and they seem pretty solid. my dad's thinkpads have always been reliable. even if you can't spec out a similarly configured system, changes are your dad just needs something that lasts. going from a 1.83GHz Core Duo to a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo won't show any visible performance difference if all your dad does is basic stuff. does your dad need a larger screen? if he's willing to go with a 13.3", the macbook (non-pro) would be good. get the base model and add your own ram and hdd. the ram'll cost you $200 and the hdd (120gb SATA 5400rpm) $110. that'll get you to basically the cost of the dell.

anyways just thought i'd get those things out there for you to think about

 

[pkme2]

Nice Laptop and nice price.:thumbsup:

 

[gramboh]

Originally posted by: dnuggett
Odd.... Dell fails, dad looks for something that will last because his Dell dies, so you buy another Dell.

Here's to being in the same position after another couple of years. :beer:

It's funny, we barely even considered this. Dell is actually repairing his other laptop (P4-M 3.06) for free since it's still within the 3 year warranty, and giving it to my sister who is still using my Athlon 1200 T-Bird, 512MB PC133, GF2 GTS box (the first PC I built myself, still running XP fine).

Anyway, we did consider other brands such as HP and IBM. HP didn't have the ease of customization and options and was higher priced as well. I personally prefer HP (I use a Compaq nc6220 at work, Dothan 1.6GHz) over Dell but even though he has had this problem he still likes Dell. Thinkpad is probably the best Windows notebook but you definetely pay for it.

 

[gramboh]

Originally posted by: alimoalem
yea i was thinking that too...

OP, i don't know what your dad does but i REALLY doubt he needs what he's getting. and he could get it for much cheaper, too. iirc, it costs like an additional $250 to go from 512mb to 2gb on dell. go to fry's and wait for a 2gb combo kit deal for some ddr2-533mhz ram. if you can't wait, you can easily get a good pair of 1gb sticks from newegg for $200. you still save $50 that way. and it costs $175 for the CPU upgrade from the T7200 to the T7400. i can guarantee he will NOT notice ANY difference at all between the two CPUs. why not get the 9-cell battery? it may be an additional $99 but the point of a laptop is portability. if he's going to be near an outlet most of the time, the 6-cell will be fine but if he'll be moving around, he'll want the extra hours.

Of course he doesn't need anything like it. Dual core for sure he wanted as it does give a real world advantage in desktop multitasking. He would've been fine with something much slower, but to him, the $600 price diff from a $1,000-$1,600 is insignificant so why not get top of the line for a bit more money, and a laptop that will handle Vista well should he choose to use it in a year or two. This one actually came with 2GB as part of the sale price so the manual upgrade wasn't an option (doesn't that void warranty anyway). We considered the 9-cell but it does add weight to the laptop and the only time he uses it away from AC is on flights, where 3-3.5h is sufficient, he said he will buy a 9 cell after if he decidesd he wants it.

in the end though, if you're open to change, i would try a different brand. HPs are cheap and i like mine. i've seen many friends with apples and they seem pretty solid. my dad's thinkpads have always been reliable. even if you can't spec out a similarly configured system, changes are your dad just needs something that lasts. going from a 1.83GHz Core Duo to a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo won't show any visible performance difference if all your dad does is basic stuff. does your dad need a larger screen? if he's willing to go with a 13.3", the macbook (non-pro) would be good. get the base model and add your own ram and hdd. the ram'll cost you $200 and the hdd (120gb SATA 5400rpm) $110. that'll get you to basically the cost of the dell.

anyways just thought i'd get those things out there for you to think about

I agree, as I said above I have an HP at work and I like it more than Dells I've used. This was kind of a quick decision without much foresight as he wanted to order one that evening (just the way he is), we took a quick look at HP's site and it wasn't as good pricing for this type of performance. The Macbook non-pro is a decent deal but 13.3 is too small for him visually. Also I didn't want to have to teach him OSX, there is no gains to that OS for someone who uses MS Office.

thanks for the suggestions though, and I agree it is pretty funny to order the same brand that burned you last time (again he is getting the older notebook repaired free of charge).

 

[Adn4n]

You could've bought that on ebay for much less, Brand new and warranty included.

 

[alimoalem]

if going from $1000-1600 doesn't matter too much for him, what about going from $1600-1800? cause you can get a thinkpad for $1600USD (almost $1800CAD right?).

CPU: T7200
RAM: 512MB (add $90 for 1gb)
Graphics: X1400
Screen: 14.1" SXGA+ (1400x1050)
HDD: 100gb 5400rpm SATA
Optical: DVD burner Ultrabay Slim Drive
Battery: 9 Cell
Warranty: 3 year depot repair

it's $150CAD more than the dell ($250 more with the gig of ram) but if your dad decides to go with the 9-cell, it's another $100 for the battery so it's actually $50-150 price difference.

i just looked at the canada dell online store. there isn't much upgrading it on the site but the prices are good. basically what you're paying for the thinkpad is more battery life, 2lbs. less weight, and better support.

i just went back to dell...how'd u get $1644? i spec'ed it with the 9-cell and it came out to $1594...did i forget to add something?

 

[gramboh]

The dell is 15.4in 1680x1050 widescreen glossy, T7400, 2GB DDR2, 120GB, XP Pro license, 3 year warranty (default is one year).

That is a good deal on the Thinkpad though, would've considered it more but he didn't want under 15in and didn't want to do aftermarket RAM for warranty concerns (yes I know it's very simple to do).

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: gramboh
The dell is 15.4in 1680x1050 widescreen glossy, T7400, 2GB DDR2, 120GB, XP Pro license, 3 year warranty (default is one year).

That is a good deal on the Thinkpad though, would've considered it more but he didn't want under 15in and didn't want to do aftermarket RAM for warranty concerns (yes I know it's very simple to do).

alright then that dell is perfect. i'm used to US pricing and i have never seen any deals like that on a dell before. they never have the 2gb deal or anythign of the sort, just coupons. my friend's looking for a dell...maybe i'll have him find someone in canada to ship to him...hope your dad enjoys the laptop; it's a good buy