What’s so bad about the laptop in that link?
As far as I can tell, you can get the same computer directly from DELL for $485. The one from “dealnews” (what the HELL is “dealnews”) is $570.
That’s not even a model Dell seems to advertise (you need to search to find it).
“Dealnews” some third party company I’ve never heard of – and whom I’d hate to have to deal with if it goes on the fritz.
So, dealnews is offering me a “free” inkjet printer? If by “free” they mean $85, OK.
Besides, you know how many free inkjet printers I’ve been offered over the past few years? They hand those things out like T-shirts.
And, everyone of them is a piece of crap with $12 ink cartridges.
I’m quite happy with my Toshiba Satellite A105-S4074 with the exception that the builtin speakers aren’t the best – they just aren’t loud enough. Does anyone know if the Altec Lansings in the HP 5000 series are much better?
CompUSA has specials at very good prices. I just got my Toshiba for $700 after a $250 CompUSA rebate. I signed up for the rebate on line, so there’s no chance of the rebate submission being lost in the mail. I ordered the computer on line for pickup at the store – good thing, too, as they didn’t seem to have this model out on the floor. This particular deal expired a week and a half ago, though. Now the Toshiba model they have on special is the lower spec S4054 at the same $700 price. They had HP5215’s for $600 at the beginning of the week, but they were out of stock at all Bay Area stores by Wednesday. I recommend checking their website for new specials on the weekend – I think the new specials for the week go up on their website at midnight on Saturday.
(For the curious, some specs on my new machine:
Intel Core Duo T2050 (1.6 MHz, I think)
512MB (I wanted more, but it’s cheap to add)
120GB 5400 rpm SATA
15.4" ultrabrite widescreen 1280x800
8x DVD/CD writes all the DVD formats
builtin 802.11abg (with external antenna switch)
6-way memory card reader
PC Card slot
XP Media Center Edition
Laptops involve some tradeoffs…there is no “best”.
If you don’t game, etc, trade for battery life instead of blazing performance.
If you don’t need a huge screen, trade for portability. 17" laptops get heavy really fast, and the larger screen needs more backlighting, and so uses more battery.
One thing with quickbooks: laptops don’t have a real number pad, and I’ve never gotten used to the “function” UIO=789 thing. so budget for a USB numeric keypad.
Toshiba laptops have a good reputation. I had one given to me (obsolete) that saw a kid through college etc. The fan had died at some point, but it rarely crashed.
If it has a DVD r/w drive, many do nowadays, be warned that matshita drives have,
shall we say “issues”. You’ll have to do some detective work to determine who sourced the components though.
If you have ambitions of working outdoors, you can never have too bright of a screen.
When reading on-line reviews, beware of any that don’t list bad points. As I said, laptops are all about trade offs. Many on-line reviews are written by new owners, and it is hard not to be excited about your new toy. In such cases, the new owner probably specifically selected the model for the features that were most important to them.
I’m not sure you’re loking at the same computers. The $485 model is a 14" screen with a 40GB HD, abnd the 570 one is a 15.4" widescreen with an 80GB HD.
Dealnews sends you directly to the Dell website if I am not mistaken. You are correct that the particular configuration offered by dealnews isn’t a “Standard” one, it’s one you get when you customize a standard offering.
But, buying one of those “specials” isn’t what I was advocating. Instead, look for a “take 10% (or 20%, or a dollar figure) off all Lattitude/Inspiron laptops of x price or higher” coupons. Then you go to Dell’s site, order what you want, and just input the couon code to get your money off. Works like a charm. I got my laptop that way, directly from dell but with a coupon advertised on gotpaex.com, and saved several hundred dollars off.
A Toshiba on sale (after rebate) at Best Buy or Circuit City is likely to be your best bet. Peruse the Sunday flyers for the best deals. You should easily be able to find a full featured unit in your price range.
I have a Toshiba also, and it’s been great. Very fast. My only complaint - and I’m sure it was fixed, was that the heatsink got dusty and made the processor overheat. It happened slowly enough so that I could back everything up, and it happened in the warranty period. Besides that, very nice and speedly. My daughter has one also, and she likes it too.
My speakers are fine, but I usually use headphones anyhow.