Hello,


Any advice on purchasing Dell laptops, specifically an Inspiron 15R, or any other model? (My family has had a desktop by Dell, and it has lasted forever.)

In summary, it contains the following components (http://configure.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=ni15r2_f_3e&c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&model_id=inspiron-15r-n5110):

- 4GB Shared Single Channel DDR3 Memory
- 500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
- Intel HD Graphics/HD Graphics 3000 with up to 1.6GB Dynamic Video Memory *HOWEVER, I am thinking* AMD Radeon? HD 6470M (64-bit) 512MB (Dual) *+75$*
- 2nd Generation Intel? Core? i5-2410M processor 2.30 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz
- 15.6" High Definition (720p) LED Display with TrueLife?
- 48 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery --- How many hours does this get me (it appears around 4 on non-stressful tasks); its about 125$ more to upgrade to the 9-cell, and even that's just buying another battery

--- Additional Information ---

Its a good price, about 674$ without tax and 179$ off and free shipping.

I will be attending my first year of university starting upcoming September, and I have decided that I will purchase a laptop. However, I have not picked one yet.

As for uses, I will be either majoring in Mathematics and Physics or just specializing in Mathematics, but I will also be taking as many Computer Science courses as I can (3 for first year). I have decided that it will not be used for gaming, as I will just stick with my lovely desktop I already have and just have this laptop for university uses, but I still want it to be a decent laptop. Also, it will be used frequently, as I will probably use it over my desktop when at home and I will be undergoing a full course load.


Thanks for any help!

I'm gonna go ahead and advise against Dell. Mainly for this reason.

They clearly have a "Harrass" policy with DFS (Dell Financial Services). My wife and I have had a lot of problems with them in the past and currently. Mainly, they take the stance that the customer is a criminal and is wrong. They will not "talk" to you nor work with you. They will call you, non-stop, and when I say they will call you non-stop I mean non-stop and repeatedly in a very short amount of time. They call so often that both my wife and I know the number by heart. They will also call at all times of night and day without regard to your "best time to call" status. We've had calls from them as early as 7am and as late as 00. And we've had calls from them back to back within seconds of each other. They will ignore everything you tell them. Not to mention that if you authorize a one time payment over the phone they take that as a free license to wipe out your bank account with multiple withdrawls (sp?) of an ungodly amount several times a month.

My wife and I have resorted to refusing payment to them and we've obtained a lawyer to get them off of our back.

Dell is by far one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with and would not ever buy another Dell product again nor would I advise anyone to purchase a Dell. Not to mention their computers are garbage, we had a desktop from them that never worked properly and my company issued laptop is through Dell and its a steaming pile of crud.

If you do not believe me about their Harassment policy do a Google search with "Dell Harassment" as the search parameters; people have been directed to file complaints through their phone company, the Attorney General's Office to get Dell to leave them alone. In fact, Dell recently lost a law suit when someone sued them over their harassment policy. If there is one company I'd like seen out of business it would have to be Dell.

DO NOT, PULL THE TRIGGER ON THAT COMPUTER.

I wouldn't get a laptop TBH, to big to be really portable, and them seem to fail much more than desktops or netbooks.

EDIT: Oh, you already have a desktop. Then get a netbook.

This can be said about pretty much any retailer-ran financial service. You're best never using any of them.

That said, I agree with solid_moose. Laptops are from a bygone era. Desktop + netbook/tablet is superior in portability, battery life, cooling, and using various remote desktop tools, you can tap into the power of your desktop for any mobile heavy-lifting you need to do.

I'd have to disagree though. I've financed other products through other retailers and have never had the harassing calls and utter disrespect as I have with Dell. To name a few I was never treated this way with Kay Jewelers nor Chrysler Financial. Its only Dell that has treated my wife and I like crap.

It may be worth looking at Lenovo X200's.

I also had a Dell Inspiron when I was in school. I wouldn't recommend it. The killer for me was I had to call Dell to replace their failed hard drive, three times. I hear good things about Lenovo and the Sony Vaio, maybe look into those.

Kay Jewlers and Chrysler don't live on as small of margins as Dell does. Chrysler's margins are a lot worse... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/chrysler_financial.htm

You're also making the huge fallacy of anecdotal evidence from an extremely small sample pool (nothing you can really do about it)

In the end, though, A company isn't bad just because it has one bad part: most companies do. Financing through a retail company is something I would never recommend to anyone because it's just begging for a bad experience. You also lose out on a lot of the protections financial institution financing offers.

Blech, can't believe I'm defending Dell. But, in the end, they aren't nearly as horrible [anymore] as this forum spins them. They're no longer using proprietary parts, and are world-renowned for business product support (I know that doesn't mean much for people here who are using home products).

I'd say no, and yes. Which is confusing

No, because the Dell Inspiron 6400 I got never worked properly, ever. It was slow, cooked itself regularly, died a lot, rearranged itself a lot which included deleting my files and changing my background, froze...the list goes on. I paid $2600 for a laptop which barely had the specs to run Windows Vista. Even though it was built to have the 'best of everything' in it. So....meh.

However, it's...still going. At I think about five years old now, and it's had a rough life. I've dropped it, banged it into things, stood on it, sat on it...Now my brother has it, and it's practically dead, but the fact that it is still going is a miracle.

Also I say netbook if you already have a desktop and will be using it mostly for course work. Cheaper, and more portable if you want to carry it around with you as it'll be lighter than a laptop. My Dell was a freaking lump, it was so heavy...

These are the brands I'd stay far away from when purchasing a laptop, and indeed any computer at all:
HP
Compaq
Gateway
Dell

Pretty much anything else is better. It's the difference between buying a cheap Chinese made engine and having to do all kinds of maintenance and having all sorts of trouble, or getting a nice Japanese engine that runs forever without a hiccup. In most cases you can find better deals too. HP and Dell try to saturate the market, and that's why you see so many of them, but I can personally vouch for Samsung and Sony having good laptops that aren't too expensive.

Of course my favorite is Lenovo, because I've never had a computer like the X220 I'm using now and it's pretty much managed to be awesome in every single aspect possible...buuuut they're kind of pricy.

I'd also look into what DEFRON says about using the home desktop as a workhorse and getting a reasonable netbook for "field work" as it were. Not even my X220, which is tiny, is as small as a netbook, and they all come pretty cheap too. Just remember to stay away from the trash HP and Dell put out even more so on Netbooks. I'd rather spend money on quality than have the thing fry itself one year down the road.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad/x-series/x220

I can vouch for Dell on a business front.

Any problems whatsoever with anything and they ship a new one next day, then send UPS to come and collect the faulty equipment the day after.