Originally posted by: Mojonba1
Originally posted by: Cheesehead
Especially if you're a masochist. I've opened up Dell laptops - they're usually a nightmare.
Great advice. Thats the same thing I tell everyone who is buying a Porsche 911. It is a nightmare to take the engine in and out. [/sarcasm]
Seriously the Dell Outlet has prety good deals from time to time.
Dells are a mixed bag. I've had nothing but horrible experiences with their tech support - corporate-level support, I've heard, is better. Often, the laptops employ shoddy construction - this is only a serious problem if you're schlepping your laptop with you everywhere, but then again, that's why students buy laptops.
As a side note, I can assure you that you'll be hating yourself later for buying a heavy laptop. The 1501 is about seven pounds, and the charger is anything like the other dell chargers I've seen, it should add another pound or two.
Having physically opened up and re-assembled Dell laptops before (a D600, my 9100, and one other I've forgotten the model number of) I can tell you that build quality is often lacking, and corners are cut. They're cheap, and you get what you pay for.
Originally posted by: Parasitic
Generally you can get a brand new Compaq laptop for under $600 that has everything you listed. It'd be a Sempron processor usually though, and without a battery upgrade you might get like an hour and half of battery life out of it, at the most.
Try compusa - from time to time they have $500 or $400 Compaq laptops on sale.
Good stuff. However, for $500 you can score a used Thinkpad T40 or T41 with a ~1yr Lenovo warranty. They're usually de-comissioned fleet laptops - and you sometimes will get in-house tech support for free.