Are Inspirons really that bad?

[konichiwa]

Dell has some truly great deals on their Inspiron right now...15% off an Inspiron $1499 or more and 20% off $1999 and more. I decked mine out pretty good

(1.8 Pentium M 745, 256MB to be upgraded later, 14.1 SXGA, 60GB, 64MB ATI card, 1 year Limited Wnty and 1 Year Onsite, 2 batteries, Intel 802.11b/g wireless, included mouse, etc)

So it's a $2000+ lappy that the discounts are giving me for $1628 with free shipping. Also includes $225 in mail in rebates for a total of about $1400, $600 off the retail price.

Are the Inspirons really that bad? For that good of a deal should I pass this up and get a Latitude or IBM for ~$500 or $600 more?

 

[Wuzup101]

Personally I don't think they are the best, but for that price I don't think you can beat it. Are IBM's nice... yes they damn well are... are they worth the extra cash... eh maybe... I don't know that you'd even be able to get an IBM T40 w/ those specs for $2k... i'm guessing it would be more...

 

[OdiN]

I've owned several inspirons and never had any trouble. I currently have a 600m and love it. I'd say go for it, but be sure to get the 3 year warranty....that goes for any laptop purchase.

 

[eriqesque]

You could check through your school and see if they offer any kind of a discount
on notebooks. Most colleges have a discount on IBM's.

 

[konichiwa]

Originally posted by: eriqesque
You could check through your school and see if they offer any kind of a discount
on notebooks. Most colleges have a discount on IBM's.

My school actually has a discount on Dell's, 20%, but the coupon I had for the Dell Home store was 20% and there is $225 in mail in rebates for this machine, plus I could configure it exactly how I wanted.

I got it

Now any recommendations on where to buy a cheap memory upgrade? Dell wanted to charge through the nose for 512MB so I figure I'll go to Crucial or Kingston and get 512MB for like $100 or so. Anybody have a favorite place?

 

[jdogg707]

I picked up some transcend PC2700 from Newegg a few weeks ago for my Powerbook. I bought two of them for $85.00 a pop for a 512MB stick, it is working great at 2.5-3-3-6.

 

[Bateluer]

I had an i8200 for a good 6 or 7 months. Never had a lick of trouble with it. Before anyone asks, it was replaced with a Voodoo Envy M855, which is leaps and bounds ahead of any other notebook.

 

[BlackMamba]

Inspirons are pretty much trouble free for me too.

 

[cy7878]

I have owned 5 thinkpads in the last 7 years and have owned/used Dell twice. The problem I have found universally with the dell is that some how over time, the start up and shut down become slower and slower. The Dell service usually blame it on software installed on the units, but my slower clock speed Thinkpads never do that.......

The material used on the Thinkpads are just more solid feeling than the hard plastic on the Dells I have used. Support is probably comparable, as I have stomped the Thinkpad service rep back when win 2000 first came out and I tried to find ways to install that on a Tp240. Later I posted my experience on the IBM forum and the method was actually adopted by IBM.

I think if I was strapped for cash and needed something, I would buy the Dell, as I can get a pretty loaded 600m with discount for less than $1300. But if cost no object thinking is involved then a fully loaded X31 is the way to go.

Actually I do have a X31 1.7GHZ, Dock, 2 battery setup, b/g Wi-Fi, 60G 5400 rpm HD and 512M RAM and a DVD ROM. I spent about $2100 total, as most components came from eBay and the notebook itself was $1535 stripped.

 

[slyedog]

i like my IBM,s. but when the 3 year warranty is up it goes on the sale block. i think they are too
expensive to run without warranty. but so are the DELL'S.

 

[jkresh]

currently deciding between and 8600 and a t42, dell is a lot cheaper (probably 5-600), but i have an ibm 770dvd that still runs. Pentium 233, 32megs ram (upgraded to 368), 8gig harddrive, 2meg video, dvd decoder card, 15 inch screen. Was about $5000 in 96, but to have a notebook that still runs (problem free, not that it gets much use, mostly just an internet terminal now), after 9+years, says something. Not sure they are still built that well, but ibm is a cut above the rest in terms of quality.