Are Dells the only choice right now?

riddlermarc

riddlermarc

riddlermarc

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I'm looking at spending £500-600 on a lappy, heavy reading on this forum suggests it has to be a Dell (1500, 1525, 1700) etc.. does nothing else touch these at the moment?

I'm assuming C2D is the way to go, which galls me as I've always been an AMD man but bang per buck it's C2D?

I don't know what other manufacturers/suppliers are good right now, the last time I bought a system was from Mesh (I can mention them but not link?)

Realistically then should I go Dell?
 
Other manufacturers are definitely worth a look, it's just that Dells tend to be pretty good machines, and they're generally very good value for money.

By all means look around for better deals from other companies, there might be something out there. But I tend to find I recommend Dells a lot these days because they work out to be very cheap for what you get.
 
I went with Dell because I wanted a 8600M GT 256mb and 1440*900 res screen for as little as possible, and I didn't see anything that got near the price of the Vostros. I paid £551 total for-

Vostro 1500
C2D 2.4 GHz cpu (3mb cache)
3GB ram
15.4" 1440*900 screen
250GB 5400rpm drive
8600M GT 256 mb
6 cell battery
XP Pro

..which should be here early next week :)

What's yours going to be used for riddlermark? If you don't need any 3D capabilities then there's tons of laptops under your budget.
 
I think i paid about £550 for my Inspiron 1520..

T7250 Core 2 @ 2ghz
2gb DDR2
15.4 @ 1440x900
160gb HDD
8600GT 256mb
Vista Premium 32
 
badbob said:
Why do you think Dell are good? If I had the money I'd get a Rock or Sagem laptop.
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Sorry, that's not qhat I meant - read pretty much any post in this forum that asks for a recommendation and chances are you'll get the reply "buy a Dell (Vostro/Inspiron etc)" and I haven't seen any other recommendations.. that's why it seems Dells are the way to go, judging on the posts here.

I'm not looking at playing any heavy games, maybe a little light, old gaming but I'm not at all into FPS and recent games etc. I need 2Gb ram and a fast processor as it's going to be used for a lot of Visual Studio 2005 work and that loves a beefier system. I'm thinking a 2GHz C2D, 2Gb ram, 120Gb+ hdd and preferably non-integrated graphics but that's fine if that is what I have to have. Actually, it sounds like fish99's new purchase would be ideal :p

Can I ask if the Turions out now for laptops are actually any good? I know when AMD started producing chips for laptops they were hot and power hungry :/
 
... and Dell are very hard to beat for value for money, but I think HP are strong on value too, and I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro which I feel has a better "quality feel" than a Dell.
 
I scoured the net for a good value laptop that I could use for work ( web design and dev ) but would also be able to play the odd game here and there.

Eventually settled on a Dell XPS 1530 as I simply could not find anything to compare to the spec and value for money.

Dell are certainly hard to beat as far as VFM goes, especially if you pick the right time to purchase and use a voucher code to get free delivery for example. :cool:
 
Dell, in my experience, are considerably more customisable (is that a word?) than any other laptops I've seen.

Makes it easier to get exactly what you want for your money, maybe?
 
you can spec a dell vostro with a 7200rpm drive instead of the more common 5400 one.

could make a very noticeable difference for Visual Studio type work.
 
radderfire said:
I have the feeling they are a lot better now because AMD has been refining their laptop chip designs. Generally speaking I think AMD are well worth considering.
Click to expand...

Agreed...got an AMD in my Acer Laptop and I have no complaints at all. In fact the whole laptop is excellent and I highly recommend it (Acer Aspire 7520).
 
dont forget to keep checking Dell Outlet... last time i was on there for someone there was numerous bargains i have to say. I'll probably buy my next laptop via there.
 
the HP Compaq business range of laptops are pretty good imo. Unless you're doing some heavy gaming they'll take care of everyday needs. The 67xx range are good, as was the range (nx7700 i had) before that. bought a bunch for work and they were much better to use than any dell or acer laptops we had. keyboards felt really good and price was competetive. definately would recommend one.
 
yeah i did notice a 20" HP lappy on a competitor website with a Nvidia 8800m ! for a dang good price (not a dell) but im not in the market to buy yet.

But if i was i'd be going for that.
 
After I did a long weekend of researching both online & specialist mags, I came to the conclusion that the DELL machines are about the best you can do right now in terms of performance & the price as well.

Because I fancied both general stuff & also gaming, the XPS M1530 gave me all of the options and at a very good price that nobody anywhere could seem to match, espedially when you take into account there ongoing special deals, the 10% off discount codes & 5% off via Quidco!

Where else can you find a T9300 Penrym & Geforce 8600GT 256mb DDR3 for only £719!?
 
What are these discount codes? Also, do you have to specifically apply and choose the special deals on their website, or are they all automatically applied?
 
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