Recommend me a laptop please

dulpit

Hey, boss is looking for a new laptop, asked me to look into it. He uses it mainly for stuff like word & excel and also checking emails (a lot of them) through outlook. Speed is a bit of an issue as he generally will have a lot of windows open at same time, and patience can be an issue with him (:rolleyes:).

The one major thing he said is that it needs to be as small as possible, he does a fair bit of travelling, needs something light and compact. I had a quick glance at the dell site, those new Vostro laptop things look alright, are they?

Oh, and when it comes to an OS, he doesn't have a preference, but it must be the Business Premium edition thing of it (be it Vista or XP)

It needn't be top-end, but it shouldn't be crap either... Durability & size (as i've said) are important...

I'm gonna go look around the various sites but any suggestions would be much appreciated.

dulpit

I've seen one on Dell, it's a Vostro 1400 Laptop:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache
O.S: Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Memory: 1024MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2*512)
Hard Drive: 120GB (5400 RPM) SATA Hard Drive
Graphics: Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Drives: Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW
Battery: Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Security: McAfee Security Centre 8.0 - 24 Month Protection
Software: Microsoft Works 8.0

The screen is a 14.1" Widescreen WXGA, it's the model most suited to portability. Total cost is €649, and that includes free delivery (didn't count VAT - it's being bought by a business)

Good deal? bad deal? is there better deals?

Cionád

dulpit wrote:

Software: Microsoft Works 8.0

You'll have to upgrade that, it does not include Word, excell etc, need MS Office.

dulpit

Cion&#225 wrote: »

You'll have to upgrade that, it does not include Word, excell etc, need MS Office.

Nah, thats ok, we have that in office...

Cionád

Cool, apart from that looks nice to me, might want a bit more RAM, 2 GB maybe cause Vista can run sluggish sometimes, that said it wont be being used for games or heavy processing so id say it'll be fine.

dulpit

Cion&#225 wrote: »

Cool, apart from that looks nice to me, might want a bit more RAM, 2 GB maybe cause Vista can run sluggish sometimes, that said it wont be being used for games or heavy processing so id say it'll be fine.

Ya i was thinking that alright about the RAM, i'll see what he says tomorrow...

Any other opinions out there?

DarkJager

Vostros are not very light In fact they are quite heavy, but are extremely reliable and efficient from what I've seen in action.

Have you looked at any of the IBM (Lenovo) Thinkpad range???

Timmins

The Thinkpads are renowned business laptops, robust and portable. Out of interest - would he consider a macbook? Microsoft Office or even better, OpenOffice is available and the 13.3" model is very portable

dulpit

Timmins wrote:

The Thinkpads are renowned business laptops, robust and portable. Out of interest - would he consider a macbook? Microsoft Office or even better, OpenOffice is available and the 13.3" model is very portable

Nah, i don't think that a Mac would be much good, he's not great on the old computer as it is, just knows how to do the few things he needs, nothing else...

On the Dell, are they excessively heavy? Or what?

-TK^Creator

nah dells aren't that heavy in general but it should lsit the weight of the alptop in the dimenostions ection also get the 2gbs if ur going for vista. my boss told me to upgrade his laptop and its so annoying going thru the hassle, he should have jsut got it sorted first time by dell then to try upgrade l8r

dazguy

personal favourite right now is the Toshiba P200-156
Its got a 17" Truebrite screen and 2Ghz Processor and 2 GB Ram. Its pricier that the dell but the support for them is 10 times better if something does happen.

http://www.bms.ie/toshiba.htm

Soundman

Take a look at the Lenovo 3000 range of laptops. Just as good as the Thinkpads but a wee bit cheaper. Just got myself the N200 and am not regretting it one bit!

dulpit

Ok, after talking to him about functionality etc. and price range here's what i've come up with:

Dell Vostro 1400 NB (N0714001)

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 Processor (1.8GHz,800MHz,2MB L2 cache)
O.S: Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Memory: 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2*512)
Hard Drive: 80GB (5400 RPM) SATA Hard Drive
Graphics: Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Drives: Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW
Battery: Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery
Software: Microsoft Works 8.0

It's basically the same laptop as first one i looked at, with faster processor, twice as much RAM, got rid of the McAfee (it was free with other offer) and got smaller Hard Drive.

Cost is now €788.59 (including delivery but not VAT (cos company))

This seem good?

Edit: Oh I ment to say, ruled out the more expensive laptops (the IBMs etc.) because my boss was saying that for the use he'll get out of it, he doesn't want to spend too much...