yet another plea for a laptop recommendation

lostinsuperfunk

Hi laptoppers,
I'm in the market for a laptop for work and was hoping to draw on your collective wisdom.

My main requirements are that it be compact and light. I'd like a reasonable HDD, 80 GB or more, preferably 2 GB RAM, and wireless networking of course. It'll mainly be used for office stuff, web browsing, maybe some photo editing and programming.

Although I'm not mad about Dell, I'd still prefer to deal with them if possible as it makes ordering a lot easier from where I work. So this is what I found on their corporate site : is it any good?

• Dell Latitude™ D430
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo U7500 (1.06 GHz)
• 3Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day
• 2.0 GB DDR2-533 SDRAM, (1 x 1 GB + 1 GB integrated)
• 80GB 5400rpm IDE Hard Drive
• 12.1" WXGA LCD (1280 x 800 resolution)
• Genuine Windows Vista® Business 64bit WITH Media (English)
• No optical drive
• Price From € 1,225.00

It seems a bit low spec when you compare with the larger, cheaper models. But is this the price you should expect to pay for portability? The warranty is non-negotiable (required by work).
Thanks in advance...

is_that_so

I am a confirmed Toshiba fan, although the 3 year warranty can be a bit steep.
Take a look at their home page. Would recommend the Satellite Pro or the Tecra range if you want to spend more. I find they have a decent spec and are very reliable. I have also bought from one the dealers listed, BMS, and have found them easy enough to deal with. Payment is by cheque/Laser/Visa.

Hugh_C

I'm a Mac fan and would recommend a MacBook for your needs. I have a MacBook (not the Pro model) and find it good for all the things you've listed.

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory
160GB hard drive
Double-layer SuperDrive

The price for this model is Eur 990.91 ex VAT

Runs Mac OS X plus Vista or XP if needs be ...

Hugh

lostinsuperfunk

Thanks for the recommendations. The Toshiba Satellite Pro range looks very nice and not as expensive as I expected (always used to think Toshibas were overpriced) and we have an account with a reseller so it can be done. The Macbooks look good too but we don't deal with any Apple resellers.

Dell, for all their faults, have really nailed the large corporate market. They've made it very easy to purchase, and my experiences with other resellers have been terrible. But the Toshiba product certainly looks like it's worth taking the trouble to escape the clutches of Dell.

AlmightyCushion

You could go with the dell xps m1330. It's a 13" as opposed to the 12" of the lattitude above and because of this it'll be a bit heavier/bulkier but will have a lot better spec for the money.

This one has a pretty sweet spec (much better processor, bigger hard drive, built-in optical drive and better graphics) than the one you link to above.

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
3 Year Business XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-site support)
Tuxedo Black & 2.0 mega pixel Camera for CCFL Display
13.3" UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) CCFL Display (220nits) with TrueLife™
Biometric Fingerprint Reader
2048MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
160GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
128MB nVidia® GeForce® 8400M GS
Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load Drive, including SW
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)

The link doesn't have the warranty as standard but the price with it is €1078 excluding del and vat. There is a thread in bargain alerts dedicated to dell laptop deals and sometimes 10% off coupons are posted up. You can also look at dells outlet store. There can be some serious bargains there.

lostinsuperfunk

Thanks for the Dell suggestion, Cushion, I might just go with that as the damn Toshiba reseller doesn't even bother returning phone calls and has no online shop. How do these people ever sell anything?