Laptop opinions

[Rob200sx]

Hi all,

Have been offered a Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop through work through some HCI deal, just wanted some opinions as to wether this is a decent deal or not.

For £800 here's what I would be getting
15.4 WXGA Screen
1gb DDR2 Ram 533mhz
Intel Pentium M750 1.86GHz 2mb L2, 533mhz fsb
80gb HDD
ATI Radeon X300 128mb
Wired NIC
802.11b/g Wireless
4x USB2
1xFirewire
1xSPDIF
8x Dvd/Cd Writer.
3 yrs onsite warranty
3 yrs Antivirus support


Any thoughts? is £800 about right for this spec?

 

[Otacon]

Price wise, yes, but be wary of these deals. You'll be paying for something that you'll never own, for 3 years. Do you really want to be paying for that laptop in 3 years time, when it will be wildly out of date?

I'm not a huge fan of the scheme. It all seems like they lost their target demographic somewhere along the line.

 

[valerian]

using a dell inspiron 1300 (a friends) now, just as capable for general use as my acer 1654
general-word processing, streaming music and videos, internet, typing this on it now,
obviously no good for gaming but does anyone seriously use a laptop for gaming for prolonged periods, i should have bought one of these in hindsight and saved 400 quid

 

[4T5]

Like Otacon says 3 years payment is way to long.
My laptop lasted me around 6 months before it was redundant. Also after 6 months goes by the specs for the same money are massively improved.
Theres no way you will be using it in a year let alone 2 or 3.
Having said that the spec and price is good.
A hundred pound a month would be a better option then in 8 months you can sell it and upgrade.

 

[Otacon]

A hundred pound a month would be a better option then in 8 months you can sell it and upgrade.

You cant sell it. This scheme isn't to buy - it's a lease.

 

[4T5]

My ignorance of normal procedures shines through.
Whats all that about then mate. 800quid not owning it. ???
Totally confused.
Explain to this fool.

 

[valerian]

thats why she felt like a virgin

 

[Otacon]

Eh?

 

[deSade]

I don't understand the point in buying Dell laptops. They are pretty good value at the lower range of the market (£500 - £700), but they get trounced above that. If you are willing to go up a couple of hundred quid, try the Toshiba Satellite A100-163 - very good spec for the money.

PS It was only recently that I was considering Dell until I saw the other options.

 

[ACESHIGH]

Id rather BUY this then ..

Asus AMD Athlon Turion64 MT30 - XP Home (A6KM-Q002H) (LT-087-AS)
The A6Km is the perfect game machine with discrete graphics for 3D video enhancement and 64-bit high speed computing capability. Wireless video conferencing is possible with the built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam. The 15.4” widescreen incorporated with ASUS’ exclusive Color Shine glare-type LCD technologies presents clear and sharp images in their true vibrant colors. Teamed with the next generation graphic, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300, ASUS A6Km delivers a groundbreaking suite of innovations to the notebook platform, including exclusive support for Direct X 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 for unparalleled 3D and 2D visual effects. The 3D performance is increased by 50% than the previous graphic solutions. Users can enjoy the unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for all video content. It turns your PC into a high-end home-theater. No need to carry an external webcam with you anymore. The A6Km Series, together with a 1.3 Mega Pixel built-in camera and microphone, provides a convenient tool for audio/video communications Video-conferencing and image recording are now easier than ever. This latest notebook also offers wireless connection right out of the box, linking you to the cyber world without knots and knots of wires. ASUS Audio DJ enables instant playback of your favorite CD without first entering OS. A control panel similar to that of a CD player features functions for play, pause, stop, fast forward, and rewind as well as volume control. The 16:9 touchpad perfectly matches the 16:9 widescreen. You no longer have to move your finger across the touchpad repeatedly to shift the cursor from one corner to another. A gapless design further eliminated the annoying dust accumulation around the touchpad rim.
- Athlon Turion 64 Mobile 1.6Ghz
- 1MB L2 Cache
- 15" WXGA Widescreen Panel (1024x768)
- 512MB DDR PC2700 DDR333 Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce GO 7300 256MB Turbo Cache Graphics Accelerator
- 60GB IDE 4200 rpm Hard Drive
- Internal 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
- Intel ProWireless 802.11b/g Wireless LAN
- Integrated Camera
- Integrated Speakers
- Bag/Case Included
- Microsoft WIndows XP Home SP2 Edition Installed and supplied
- Weight including battery - 2.85kg
- Dimensions - 354 x 35.2 x 284 (WxHxD)
- 2yr Asus collect & return warranty (Call 0870 120 8340 for Support and RMA request)
Note - All Asus laptops are built on demand, during busy periods this may cause a delay of between 1 and 3 days in despatching your order.
*
Full Specification

Price:**£624.95 **(£734.32*Including VAT at 17.5%)

 

[WJA96]

There is almost no benefit to you in leasing a laptop. For companies, there are tax saving opportunities, but for you the only benefit is that you only actually pay the depeciation on the device. The leasing company reap the rewards at the end as they can sell the asset and they have written off some of the depreciation against tax!

Get a short-term (12-18 months) personal loan instead. Interest rates are so low at the moment that it beats leasing hands down. And you can sell the device at any time as you actually own it from the outset.