I'm getting a laptop for college and I want it to be good for 4 years, meaning i don't really wanna add a bunch of crap. Prob go with the Dell D820 though still thinking about the Dell D620, if anyone has had either notebook please leave your opinions. My main question is is it worth $100 bucks to upgrade the processor from 1.67ghz to 1.83, and is it worth 120 to have 2.0 GB, ddr2-667 sdram 2 dimms compared to 1 gb ddr2-533 sdram 2 dimms....
I don't think you want Dell if you expect it to last for four years...you might want to try Toshiba instead. Because inevitably you'll probably need service on a laptop for it to last that long, Dell has average service and fairly cheap parts I suppose (in price and quality-just look at their cheap LCD displays on the laptops), but their labor is kind of ridiculous. Toshiba parts can be found easier and you can work on the laptop yourself in case it's out of warranty.
If you do want the Dell, the processor upgrade probably isn't worth it, but the RAM upgrade definitely is.
The dell has a three year limited warranty plus 3 year NBD on site service and complete care. I was under the impression dell made good laptops, them and toshiba. Is it only toshiba ? Who else make high quality laptops ? thx specner
Toshiba has the worst reliability of all the laptop manufacturers. (no offense jexx) Go with an HP or a Sony. Toshiba has really declined in recent years and are not worth the money.
Hp's have AMD chips in them which make them really nice in my opinion and are super fast for a cheaper amount then the competeing Intel chips.
go with a AMD turion 64 based laptop, a three year warranty and get Office through your school and you should be good to go. Also get the 14" model because it will be more portable.
After repairing hundreds of laptops I can safely say Sony and HP are not very good. Toshiba has not gotten worse, their components are all high quality, that's one of the reasons for the higher cost on their parts. Admittedly, the M35X, A75 and a few others have had minor engineering problems that turned out to be major. That has all been fixed now, however.
Sony parts just aren't high quality. They look nice, but that's where it ends. I see Sony keyboard problems quite often now with keys popping off, not to mention they use cheap plastic that breaks easily. The quality of their mobos is subpar as well, unfortunately.
HP is all right, but there's much better out there. They have minimal software and the paint on them rubs off easily...plus they're relatively thick.
well all I know is that I've working on a couple thousand laptops and honestly 1 out of every three was a toshiba. And most of them had MAJOR issues. thats why I made the remark.
Personally not a huge fan of Sony but if you are going to go Intel I think its your best option.
And the new HP's just keep getting better but I do realize your point. Toshia used to be an awesome brand but I don't know what the hell they are doing these days but its nothing good. Just the other day I got three of the same model with motherboard issues. The power supply would mess up and overload the motherboard causing the capacitors to blow.
Heh, good point, most of them do have major issues, I never realized that. And the motherboards are so expensive, the customer usually doesn't want to go through with the repair=waste of time.