Anyone have any experience with Dell notebooks?

[PlinKing2392]

My wife is getting ready to go back to school for her masters. We both have large pc's, but they are both at least 5 years old. We went to Frys yesterday and priced some notebooks. She fell in love with this little Dell. I was wondering if 275 was a good deal or if we should go elsewhere. I'm not sure of specifics as far as memory and performance go. I just didn't knew if Frys is the place to shop. I'll appreciate any input. Thanks.

 

[hooky]

Without the specs, it's hard to tell you if it's a deal or not. I can say that I've had Dell's in the past and I'm on one currently. They've been good values.

 

[IndySSD]

I have an E6400 and it's a workhorse. Looks sharp but not flamboyant and works every time I turn it on with a quality display...275$ would be a heck of a steal on my laptop.

 

[mrjarrell]

If you're going to shop local then Fry's is the place to go. Avoid Best Buy like the plague. I'd also suggest you check out the same model at Dell.com or other places online. You might just find a slightly better deal from someone who doesn't have to pay for bricks and mortar.

 

[04DarkShadowGT]

$275 is cheap for almost any laptop really. Even most basic computers now have pretty much everything most people could want.

 

[jblomenberg16]

I've had Dell's for both personal and business use. All in all they aren't too bad. Our home laptop lasted nearly 6 years before needing a full blown window's install. Our work laptops survived daily hard use for 3 years and were generally pretty decent.

The downsides that I've seen:

Cheap is cheap regardless of the brand. Entry level laptops generally lack the features you really want and you'll notice it based on performance.

Batteries aren't all that good. They last long at first, but over time get to the point they are more or less useless and your machine ends up turning into a low profile desktop.

 

[hooky]

I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but I've had good luck at Newegg.com - Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, HDTVs, Digital Cameras and More!

I bought my son a reconditioned laptop for christmas for $175. So far it's done well for school work. He's bummed because games don't scream on it, but that's his problem.

 

[Suprtek]

I've been pretty well sold on Dells for years. My last 3 home computers were Dells. The only reason I replaced them is because they were so out of date they couldn't be upgraded anymore. We have Dell laptops at work also. It survives well bouncing around in a work van all the time, not to mention the temperature extremes it gets.

I'm sure there are others out there that are good. I just can't talk about them because I haven't experienced it.

 

[PlinKing2392]

My wife got her full sized dell laptop for college 5 + years ago, and the thing won't die. Believe me she tries her hardest... Let's just say she's not the most graceful. Anyway, I also have one for work, but with any fleet model, regardless of it's age, still has issues. We erl definitely check out dell's website, and I completely forgot about newegg. I'll see if I can get the specs from her, but I'm glad to know frys is the way to go. I love that store.

 

[a.bentonab]

My wife and I both had Dell's for undergrad. One was an E1405 and the other an E1505. These were the regular consumer laptops, not their Dimension line of business ones.

We hated them. Neither one of their batteries lasted more than 2 months after the end of their (very short) warranty period. The replacement batteries were very expensive. Her computer was reformatted 3 times or so and the hard drive had to be replaced. I had better luck with mine and never had a hardware failure besides the battery. Also, after a few years of use the paint was wearing off where you'd rest your palms.

My friend who does repairs for a computer shop and has a degree in computers recommended we check out Asus and we've never looked back. Check out my other started threads to see my great experience where Asus repaired my laptop after I broke it and shipped it back to me all for free, even after the warranty expired.

No matter what you get, I think you first have to define what you want out of a machine. My first computer after the Dell was a Sony Vaio which had a blu ray drive. I ditched it not necessarily because it was a bad laptop, but I realized that the short battery life wasn't worth the blu ray drive and battery hog processor. I returned it and got this Asus UL50A laptop which is powerful enough to do anything I will ever need it for and has a battery that lasts 7+ hours on a charge.

If you're looking for a video editing and online gaming machine, get all the processor you want. If it's long battery life, make that a priority. If you want something cheap that you can type up a word document on, well there's plenty of those around too.

 

[Fenway]

I use a dell everyday. Works great

 

[Yukon227]

I'm on a Dell right now, use it everyday. I also use it for school, usually whatever college you attend provides a lot of extra programs like office, and photoshop. Go to Dell.com, sometimes they have deals that are better, and you can choose the options you want and they build it to your specs.

 

[spasmo]

I have a Dell Studio 17 laptop since July of 2008. I had to have the battery replaced and they also replaced the mother board just in case that was the problem since it was under warranty at the time. Since then, I have had no hardware issues. Granted, it was $1300 when I bought it then so it's not a "cheap" notebook but I like Dell. Most all of my personal desktops have been Dells.

So is Dell a good company? Yes, IMO.
Would I recommend Dell? Absolutely, for now.
Is that a good deal? Don't know since we've seen no specs

Make sure it has the hard drive space and memory for whatever she needs to do. If she needs it to run Adobe CS 5 applications, you better make sure it's powerful enough. If it just needs to run Microsoft products, then off the shelf is possibly ok. I can't stress memory and hard drive enough as well as USB slots.

 

[cburnworth]

for that price it sounds like a mini. it all really depends on what she will be doing with it for school. I would look in the $400 range. As with any company dell has it's up & down times

 

[Caleb]

Honestly, dells customer service is at it's best with the flagship model

 

[rbrthenderson]

My wife is getting ready to go back to school for her masters. We both have large pc's, but they are both at least 5 years old. We went to Frys yesterday and priced some notebooks. She fell in love with this little Dell. I was wondering if 275 was a good deal or if we should go elsewhere. I'm not sure of specifics as far as memory and performance go. I just didn't knew if Frys is the place to shop. I'll appreciate any input. Thanks.

For $275, it sounds like you are looking at a Netbook. They make the terminology difficult for some reason. Netbooks are different from Notebooks because they usually don't have a CD drive and have lower amounts of speed and power.

When I sold computers at the Big Blue and Yellow, I would usually recommend a computer with at least 3 Gigabytes of Memory (RAM) and at least a 250 Gigabyte Hard Drive. That's going to be plenty of speed and power for any type of school work and can handle all of the big programs like Microsoft Office and Photoshop. You can find these computers in the $300-$400 range at any retailer (Internet or Brick and Mortar.)

I personally have always recommended Dell for their customer service and parts quality, although I have noticed a severe drop in quality across the board with laptops from all manufacturers.

After working on computers with the Nerd Herd for 4 years, I can tell you honestly that all type of computers come in for repairs (Even Macs) and that I really wouldn't recommend one brand over another. Everybody has their own opinions about them. Compare the specs and prices. All manufacturers are using parts from the same companies anyway. (Hitachi, Kingston, PNY, Seagate and Western Digital...etc.)

Kind of like how some people won't buy Glocks because they blow up, or XD's cause the grip doesn't fit them, or Hi Points...because...well just look at them...

 

[Hop]

I've used Dell at my company for nearly 10 years and they are pretty tough. I'm in the IT Dept. The most recent E6400 & E6410 and their smaller brothers the E4300/4310 have been pretty bad though. Lot's of failed motherboards, lots of failed HDD controller / HDD issues. The next version E6420 have been redesigned & I've heard are greatly improved. These will be our new standard notebook.

 

[spasmo]

3GB may handle Photoshop CS4 or prior but CS5 is requiring a lot more resources on my computer than prior releases. I have to run Photoshop and Illustrator and After Effects sometimes at the same time. 3GB does NOT cut it.

but like I said before, it should be plenty for Microsoft products.

 

[joslar15]

My wife is getting ready to go back to school for her masters. We both have large pc's, but they are both at least 5 years old. We went to Frys yesterday and priced some notebooks. She fell in love with this little Dell. I was wondering if 275 was a good deal or if we should go elsewhere. I'm not sure of specifics as far as memory and performance go. I just didn't knew if Frys is the place to shop. I'll appreciate any input. Thanks.

As others have said, without specs, it's hard to say. Now, regarding Fry's, it's a great place to shop. They will price match print and internet.

 

[PistolBob]

Before you buy anything...have your wife check with the school. Most colleges have awesome direct purchase deals for their students now. They usually have to buy via the campus bookstore but they can save hundreds and get MUCH better systems. I have had two dell laptops and my last four have been from HP. I won't ever buy a Dell again. I had such nightmares from their service department.