laptop?

[nat]

Hey Guys,
just looking for a laptop and wondering if you could help me out?
i'm not too fussy, just something simple, for internet and word processing, but a decent quality. ideally i don't really want to spend more than $1200 ish. oh, and i really don't want anything bigger than the 14.1 inch. oh, and it has to be sleeek and styyylish -hehe. i know the little 13.3 inch mac would probably fit perfectly what i want, but i'm a little hesitant to go the mac route. any ideas?

find me a deal!
-NAt.

[Kenton]

Hi Nat.

Welcome here!

So, if you're looking for the $1200 range, I presume that's after tax?

Dell has a model called the Inspiron 640m which is their 14.1" model. I think that would be my recommended pick for that size. Check out this coupon (http://www.dealguild.com/forums/showthread.php?t=324) to save $100 on one. You need to first bring the price up to $1099, so I'd recommend upgrading to the 9 cell battery, which should get you around 8 hours of battery life, with basic use. It has an Intel Core2Duo T5600 CPU, 1 gig ram, 120gig hard drive, 8x DVD burner and WIFI.

640m:
http://img.dell.com/images/global/products/314x314/inspn_640m.jpg

If you're willing to spend a few $'s more, the XPS M1210 is closer in size to the Mac you mentioned. It's also $1480 after using the $100 off coupon. But, it's got a 12" screen, and would be in that "ultra portable" range. If you're lugging it around quite a bit, that might be a great benefit. The technical specs are otherwise the same as the 640m (Processor, Ram & Hard drive).
XPS M1210:
http://img.dell.com/images/global/products/314x314/xpsnb_m1210.jpg

If you order before October 22nd you'll also get 1% cashback from DealGuild.

If you want to go the Apple route, I wouldn't blame you. They look slick, and you don't need to worry about Viruses... Plus if you're mostly word processing and internet browsing, compatibility with games and other programs isn't an issue. The Mac has a built in camera, but only comes with a CD burner/ DVD player.

If you go through DealGuild, you'll get 0.75% cashback on your 13.3" Mac. at Apple Store (Canada) (http://www.dealguild.com/apple-store-canada/) they have the MacBook for $1249.

http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/2041/1131/store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/mb_step1_hero_060509.jpg


In the end, your best bang for the buck is going to be the 640m, in my opinion. All would fit your needs, and then some, but the 640m has a faster CPU vs the Macbook, (Intel Core2Duo vs Intel 1.83ghz CoreDuo), has more ram (1 gig vs 512meg), and has a bigger hard drive.

[Tom]

Though I'm not sure about the quality of them or how they compare price wise, I have seen them on the shelf and thought the new Compaq laptops looked pretty sleek. Like I said, not sure how good they are, anyone have any experience with them? Otherwise I was also going to recommend the 640m that Kenton already suggested, it might not look the best one out there, but you get a lot for your money.

Hope you find what your looking for, and welcome here.

[enkidu]

You should be able to get the Macbook for cheaper than $1249. Here's what to do, sign in and click on the DealGuild Apple link. At the Apple Store site scroll down and click on the education link on the right hand menu and then go to the Apple Store for Higher Education. This will give you 10-20% discount on all the prices (as you are going through a university link) plus you should also get DG cashback (worked for me anyway). Plus I think they should all come with a 3 year warranty instead of the standard 1 year warranty. I can't find the info about this on their site though so you might have to call to check if they still are doing that.

The price for the low end is $1199 and next up is $1349. They must be getting tight with their discounts on these products as they're too popular.

[Kenton]

Enkidu, you must be a Mac guy! :) I sure didn't know about that.

[enkidu]

Yup have had a few macs now and highly recommend the mac laptops. Don't forget also that on the new macbooks you can boot into either Windows or Mac OS so it's not like you have to make a clean break away from Windows. Technically you could just boot into Windows and never even run Mac OS on the macbook.

If you want a superslim good looking laptop though check out the Fujitsu Lifebook Q2010 although it is far out of your price range :D It even has a built-in fingerprint reader hehe

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3027&review=Fujitsu+Q2010

[Evan]

Dell has a pretty good deal on right now for a Core 2 Duo Inspiron 640m for $999.

It has 1GB of memory which should be more than ample for the average user, 120GB hard drive, Dual Layer DVD writer, and a 14.1" WXGA+ screen with "TrueLife" (Dell's glossy-screen lcd).

And if you click through from DealGuild's store listing you can get in on the 1% cashback from Dell while it lasts.

[Kenton]

Just added a new Dell Deal: DealGuild (http://www.dealguild.com/forums/showthread.php?t=338)

- Intel Core2Duo T5600 CPU
- 512megs ram (Upgrade to 1 gig for $50 more)
- 14.1 inch WXGA+ UltraSharp TFT Display with TrueLife
- 120 gig hard drive
- 6cell battery (upgrade to 9 cell for $40)
- 802.11g WIFI

Once you pay to upgrade the ram, you're at $949, so you're saving $50 off the price of the old deal.

[nat]

hmmm you guys know your stuff eh.
yah with the apple education discount the cheap macbook is $1200, and it's just a one year warranty. too bad i missed the free ipod promotion by a few weeks. i must say though - i'm starting to lean more towards mac than before - it even comes with a remote! hehe
i haven't really looked at any dell models yet, are they any good?

still undecided...
-NAt.

[enkidu]

That dell deal is probably the most bang for your buck and yeah they are pretty reliable.

Personally I would go for the mac :D but I"m biased.

You should be able to get the DG cashback on the educational price also so that's another bit off. Where did you get the 1 year warranty info from? Did you call them up? It would be good to know for sure :)

[roberto]

Found great laptop, older Apple, on e-bay for ----- get this----$5.25!!! Okay, it was US dollars, but still. And it works and came with extra battery. Love it. Check out e-bay and look for something old, but that works and if it has a cd drive you know its got all you need.
good luck.

[jsmiles]

My other half is really happy with the Toshiba he bought at Best Buy. But no matter where you get your laptop in the end make sure to get a service plan. Most laptops will run into problems eventually, and the basic warranties never cover the monitor, where most of the problems will take place.

[leonardo78ca]

I'm considering getting a Mac laptop too. I've been a PC guy my whole life, and one of the reasons was because I thought software was easier and cheaper to get for a PC. I've had my Dell 600m for the last two years and it's wearing down. Lots of problems and it's crashed maybe 3 times now. I'm pretty diligent with anti-virus software and keeping my computer clean and running smoothly, but just too many problems with this thing.

So do I still have to buy Mac-compatible software nowadays, or does most applications come working on both PCs and Macs? I need to get stats software like SPSS and others, and some computer programming stuff like ColdFusion Studio... any idea if getting that stuff is possible/more expensive on a Mac?