Dell Laptops...any good ??

[Rougvie]

I'm pondering getting the missus a Dell Inspiron 1000 laptop for her birthday, she has been going on and on about getting a laptop for ages, but.....

Does anyone know if its worth £570 ??

I dont really want to spend anymore on it, and its obviously their most basic model, but she is only going to use it for the internet and maybe a few documents.

Advice ?

 

[Barnet Seagull]

£570?

I'd say for that, it's worth it. What's the spec?

 

[Schrödinger's Toad]

I have a very similar one, and it's very good. So, yes.

 

[Hungry Joe.]

Having a similar dilemma myself. Have previously been warned off Dell due to them having poor after sales service and have been recommended IBM Thinkpads. However, other techie people I've spoken too think Thinkpads are rubbish and Dell ones are built better.

 

[Rougvie]

Knowing diddley squat about IT, I really wanted to know if by spending, say £100 more, would I be getting a lot more for my money.

 

[Deano's Right Foot]

Dell are quite good value for money as they sell direct, cutting out the retail margin. And I've had three Dell laptops and they've all been pretty reliable. My current one is three years old and goes up to London with me three days a week, and still (touch wood) works perfectly.

 

[Superseagull]

My company now purchases all its laptops and workstations from Dell and we find their service, quality and price to be excellent. I guess there are always going to be a few bad reports about them - no company is perfect.

My advice if you know a bit about computers is to keep an eye on the dell outlet site where they sell returned or discontinued products. From time to time they have a clearance and you can often get some bargins from there. I picked up a top of the range laptop with a 40% discount a couple of months back, and with 3 years on-site warranty thrown in for an extra £50 (not that I hope ever to have to use it!).

If you buy brand new from Dell then keep an eye out for some of the special promotion codes that are listed on internet sites and magazines. They sometimes offer some good deals like free delivery, double memory, bigger hard drive, 10% discount, etc.

 

[REDLAND]

We brought a job lot of the cheep Dell stuff a little while ago, MOST of it has either packed up or has been fixed, or is crap !!

THERES ALWAYS A REASON WHY STUFFS CHEEP !!!

 

[Raphael Meade]

i always heard VERY good things about their customer service, etc and thats why a lot of people and companies i know go with them.

 

[GUNTER]

I have a dell desktop and it is superb.

 

[Barnet Seagull]

We've just ditched 6000 Dell units across the company in favour of HP Compaq Desktops (which are solid as is after sales) and IBM laptops which are pretty indestructable for regular travel use. However, £570 for a new laptop is good, depending on the spec.

 

[aftershavedave]

what barnet said

 

[Cian]

Go for it. I'd always get Panasonic if I could afford it, but I'm "stuck" with a second hand Vaio ultraportable now. However, the Dells (two) it replaced were indestructable.