Is that a decent Laptop

Rocker

Hi

I'm in UCD and I want a buy a Laptop for College. My budget is about €1,000 I was on the Dell because I was told they are the best and through talking to them I got this, which costs 1,061 with Microsof Office.

It's an Inspiron 1520

Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish without camera
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display
1024MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
nVidia® GeForce™ Go 8400M GS with 128MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)
Accessories
Free Nylon Carry Case
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe
Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English
Services & Software
1 Year Base Warranty - Collect & Return
No Accidental Damage Support
No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English
Also Includes
List N1015206 - Inspiron 1520 (2)
Inspiron Order - Ireland
English Documentation with English/Irish Power Cord
Resource DVD - (Diagnostics & Drivers) - Vista
90W AC Adapter
56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter - Ireland/Spain
Internal Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
1 Year Base Warranty - Collect & Return
Dell Internet Order.

Is this a good laptop? Do I need anything else? Are they ripping me off? Like so many people buying Laptops I'm not an expert on this, so I’d love any help.

worded

Hi,

MS office is a good idea - BUT you can get student office that will go on 3 PCs for approx 150 Euros - sometimes 120 in sales or if you shop around.
FYI - you can get a 60 trial of MS office on the web - or free "Open Office" at www.sf.net

So how much is it minus the office?

Student / home anti virus is free - so dont pay for macafee or nortons.

Consider - XP rather than Vista - most people prefer XP, dont dwell too much on it though (google for reasons to choose one rather than the other)

Get 3 year accidental damage (loose office). Everything will be covered bar theft then. A cracked screen will cost you a huge amount if not covered by warranty.

Spec of PC - its 100 times faster than my first one.
Stick with Dell for service there is second to none.

worded

Oh ask for free delivery at the end - say a friend got that done.
Less $ for the sales rep - but hey its better spent in the pub by you.

Rocker

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 is costing me 192.00, so it is a fair bit and it's 869 without that.

Can you explain what the story with the Anti-Virus software is in more detail? Right now it doesn't have anything.

worded

Some excellent Anti virus is free for home / student use - Fee for businesses.

If they are charging you for any anti virus - remove it from the list.

Choose the free one here Millions of people think its great:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-virus/us/frt/0

MS Office - if in doubt get the 60 free trial from the www. That gives you 60 days to find 2 other that will share a 3 license student pack with you.
You may find that you can get it from your students union contacts?
Dont apy for MS Office off Dell is my advice.
BUT <<<<<<< get a 3 year accidental warranty for sure instead.

timmywex

hi, drop the office,

go to www.software4students.ie

its an official irish site that sells everything(microsoft software) at huge discounts, its all legal as this is microsoft trying to ensure students will go on to buy their software, you just have to pick your college (ucd) and register


look at a vostro 1500 aswell, i just got one similar to yours but with 2gb ram and the upgrade of the graphics card, and bluetooth for 830 including vat and delivery.

dulpit

Right, I'd look at the Vostro, it's also a Dell but it's on their small business site...

I configured one (here) and comparing to yours:

Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB) Same
Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English Different, but if you ring Dell they can change this to home premium, if you wish
Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish without camera Same
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display Same
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024] Twice as good
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive Same
nVidia® GeForce™ 8600 M GT GS with 256MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory A lot better
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software Same
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr) Same

Accessories
No Carry case You can add one for about €50
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe Same
Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English Same

The rest is all the same

This comes in at €845.79 without Office, which you don't need as you can download OpenOffice (linkage) for free, and it does the exact same stuff as ms office...


Hope this helps...

Rocker

Thanks for that.

Ok I'll get Microsoft Office separate, there's no problem with that.

One thing is, according to the link you gave me it costs €858 rather then €845, but either way it is a lot cheaper then my earlier option and I think I will go with that.

lovetwix

Rocker wrote: »

Thanks for that.

Ok I'll get Microsoft Office separate, there's no problem with that.

One thing is, according to the link you gave me it costs €858 rather then €845, but either way it is a lot cheaper then my earlier option and I think I will go with that.

2GB Memory and 8600M GT are big difference here...

Definitely go for 8600M GT, it won't cost too much extra.. but give a much much better gaming experience over 8400 (nearly 80% better)


For memory.. you can buy it off dabs.ie or somewhere like that.. Dell charges too much for upgrading memory

TheDriver

try 305-n1015017, got 2 gb ram, AMD turion x2 tl60, 160hdd, free case, vista premium etc for 697 (thats with a 3 year warranty)

and go for open office, as good as ms office and its free

TheDriver

dulpit wrote: »

Right, I'd look at the Vostro, it's also a Dell but it's on their small business site...

I configured one (here) and comparing to yours:

Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB) Same
Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English Different, but if you ring Dell they can change this to home premium, if you wish
Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish without camera Same
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display Same
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024] Twice as good
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive Same
nVidia® GeForce™ 8600 M GT GS with 256MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory A lot better
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software Same
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr) Same

Accessories
No Carry case You can add one for about €50
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe Same
Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English Same

The rest is all the same

This comes in at €845.79 without Office, which you don't need as you can download OpenOffice (linkage) for free, and it does the exact same stuff as ms office...


Hope this helps...

Its ex VAT and Shipping for me?

lovetwix

TheDriver wrote: »

try 305-n1015017, got 2 gb ram, AMD turion x2 tl60, 160hdd, free case, vista premium etc for 697 (thats with a 3 year warranty)

and go for open office, as good as ms office and its free

office 2007 student version (word/excel/powerpoint..etc. ) is cheap enough..around 70 Euro.. and it can be downloaded from torrent as well if you don't really want to pay anything

Tom Dunne

lovetwix wrote: »

office 2007 student version (word/excel/powerpoint..etc. ) is cheap enough..around 70 Euro.. and it can be downloaded from torrent as well if you don't really want to pay anything

An lovetwix takes a break from the laptop forum for two weeks for this and the other thread.

Discussion of illegal stuff is not allowed around here.

worded

Nice spec - good work there spec originator - dulpit

Consider XP rather than Vista?
Consider 9 cell battery + 20 euros- last for 4 hours approx
Lastly - Is there accidental damage cover? Its well worth it - Ask for it.

dulpit wrote: »

Right, I'd look at the Vostro, it's also a Dell but it's on their small business site...

I configured one (here) and comparing to yours:

Components
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB) Same
Genuine Windows Vista® Business - English Different, but if you ring Dell they can change this to home premium, if you wish
Jet Black Colour with Matte Finish without camera Same
15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display Same
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024] Twice as good
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive Same
nVidia® GeForce™ 8600 M GT GS with 256MB DDR2 dedicated graphic memory A lot better
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software Same
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr) Same

Accessories
No Carry case You can add one for about €50
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g Mini-Card - Europe Same
Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English Same

The rest is all the same

This comes in at €845.79 without Office, which you don't need as you can download OpenOffice (linkage) for free, and it does the exact same stuff as ms office...


Hope this helps...