Aldi €729 vs. Vostro 1700 €859

Rowley Birkin QC

BASE Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English edit
HARDWARE SUPPORT Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support edit
LCD 17.0" UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WUXGA (1900x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife™ edit
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Matte Jet Black with 2.0 mega pixel camera edit
MEMORY 2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024) edit
HARD DRIVE 160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive edit
GRAPHICS CARD 256MB nVidia® GeForce® 8600M GT edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software edit
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr) edit
Services & Software
ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE SUPPORT No Accidental Damage Support edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English edit
Accessories
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English edit
BLUETOOTH Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3Mbps) with Enhanced Data Rate edit
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe

€859

VERSUS

Intel® Pentium® Dual-core processor T2130, 1.86 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache and FSB 533MHz

15.4" TFT WXGA Widescreen Display
1280 × 800 pixels. 16:10 widescreen cinema format for optimized DVD playback and more desktop space on screen.

2,048MB DDR II SDRAM

160GB Hard Disk

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
128MB shared memory based on PCI-Express technology.

8 × Multi-standard DVD/CD Burner with DVD-RAM and Dual Layer support
Watch DVDs and even make your own. Reads and writes: DVD±R/±RW/±R DL/DVD-RAM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM.

Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g
Connect to the Internet without plugs or cables with Wireless LAN technology. Data transfer speeds up to 54Mbit/s (requires WLAN access point).

Integrated VGA webcam
Great for messaging programs and video conferencing. CMOS image Sensor. Video resolution 640 × 480 pixels, 30 frames/second.

€729


Opinions please? gonna order it or pick up today. need it for college but always prefer a bit extra performance. Sorry for flogging the same old reccomend me a laptop horse but confusion reigns!!

subway

if you have the extra cash, that dell is light years ahead of the aldi machine.
just order it over the phone and get home premium instead of business.

gunsofbrixton

think the vostro is a no brainer to be honest maybe the aldi has three year warranty which some people wouuld like but i reckon the aldi one is old tech, it has a 2 generation old proccessor since CoreDuo there has been Core 2 Duo and now the new Santa Rosa platform, crappy 1 generation old GFX card the new intergrated GFX options are much better and the Vostro's 256mb nvidia just blows it out of the water for the extra 120 alone the better graphics card is worth it

majiktripp

Aldi's Processor is an outdated Pentium D compared to the Dell's Core 2 Duo, Better graphics processing in the Dell compared to Aldi, an WUXGA Screen on the Dell which is fantastic (I have one) compared to a probable lower spec on the Aldi machine and too top it all off Aldi tech support is ridiculous and while Dell's has its moments at least you know where you stand.
Very simple Really Dell FTW!

Ghost Train

Yeah the dell is a much better spec

negitives with the dell will be it'll be on the heavy side and the warrenty is only for a year

the ultra sharp screens are really nice to have

subway

the dell support will be next business day onsite replacement.
the aldi will likely be retrurn to base.

thats a big difference in terms of downtime.

AlmightyCushion

No competition here. The dell wins hands down.

The processor is much better. It has a higher clock speed, more cache and a higher FSB. It's also a core 2 duo which is a much more powerful and energy efficient processor than the core duo.

The screen is much better on the dell. It's a hell of a lot sharper.

The graphics card isn't worth mentioning on the aldi. The dell beats this hands down. If you plan on playing games on this then stay away from the aldi one.

The warranty on the dell is only a one year but it is a next business day so that is sweet. Like said above the aldi warranty will most likely be a 3 year return to base. I'd take a 1 year next business day over a 3 year return to base.

The hard drive and ram are similar in each.

This is a no-brainer, go with the dell.

christophicus

Did you remember to add vat and shipping onto the dell, that seems like an amazing laptop for that price!!

Redisle

That dell with the exact same specs as that comes to € 1,063.09 incl vat and shipping for me, using the evalue code 999-N1017002 and changing it to match what you have there..

Where did you get that price? Ex vat and del?

AlmightyCushion

If that dell is without delivery and vat get this one. It has a similar spec but is a 15.4" and works out at €800 with delivery and vat if you drop the warranty down to a one year.

TerrorFirmer

It's not a Pentium D it's a Pentium Dual Core. It's the same as a Core 2 Duo but less l2 cache. The average user wouldn't notice any difference.

Rowley Birkin QC

Yeah it was without VAT and del, sorry bout that. I didnt get a chance to read this thread and went with the Aldi one, simply because I could walk into the shop and buy it there and then. Mainly because my 3 old inspiron became completely unreliable during the week and I needed a replacement sharpish. I won't be using it for gaming at all tbh so thats not really an issue.

However I have decided to give it 2 weeks trial, I can return it within 30 days and get full refund, no questions asked, to see how it performs and if I'm not happy I'll be going with the vostro. That said, I used it for a while last night and was happy with its performance.

Once again apologies for creating another highly annoying reccomend me a laptop thread but cheers for the opinions lads.Also if anyone else is looking for an aldi machine I got mine in Mitchelstown, the store opened a week late so they have all last weeks offers in the warehouse, bout 5 left the manager said. Cheers again.