quality laptop

My friend going to college is looking at laptops. She only has $1,000 to spend. she does not care about gaming and does not need much power. She is mainly interested in quality and wants to know what the main things to look out for.

She is looking at both dell and lenovo business class laptops. my older siblings both have lenovo business laptops and like them. she is mainly worried she would be paying for unnecessary stuff on the lenovo because they are more. She is looking at the t series.

She will probably need an external hard drive to back stuff up with. So that needs to be added to the grand.

My vote goes for xps 1330 or 1340. I bought my refurbished xps 1330 in siggy for $700.

She is smart to look at business class machines. Better quality and support. That thing will take a beating and she is starting off on the right foot.

My choice would be a Dell E6400. To get one well equipped she would need to up the budget by a couple hundred unless she would be happy with a more base machine.

Here is the set-up I would go with with an eye for the most machine for the dollar:
P8700
160GB HD
Hi-res LCD
Backlit Keyboard
DVD Burner
Intel 5100 wireless
Bluetooth
Fingerprint reader
Vista Business upgrade
Upgraded warranty with next business day on site service for three years.
Total will be $1194.
Leave the RAM at the measily 1GB and upgrade it yourself. They want $40 for 3GB and you can spend that at newegg and get 4GB.

An equal build on a T400 would run $1466. The big differences in cost is the upgrade to an LED LCD that comes stock on the Dell and the warranty is a good bit more expensive.

They both also offer accidental damage coverage. That coverage for the duration of the warranty makes it $1596. For the Dell it would be $1343. Again the Dell is the cheaper option. Depending on her life style that can be a nice investment.

When I was in school I had a Dell Inspiron that I can't remember the model that died an early death due have a beer spilled on it while playing the juke box at a party. Kind of sucked but I learned how to completely tear down a notebook and replace the motherboard and keyboard.

I do highly recommend the next day service for a full three years. She will not able to be without her notebook for two week while they are shipping it back and forth.

I went and took a look a HP's Elitebook for a set-up that as close as I could to the above with 3yr next day warranty is $1575. Add accidental dagamage and it does to $1665.

I still say your best deal is with the Dell but the Lenovo is certainly a very close second mainly related to price.

I've got a Dell XPS 1530 and brought it based on bang for the buck however I must admit it does get the thumbs up from me, great qualify and feel.
I really like the XPS products a lot

Any of the laptops mentioned I'd recommend, too.

However, one thing you should also recommend when buying is to get an extended warranty! I would say a 3 year extended warranty plan instead of the standard 1 year THROUGH the manufacturer. Dell, Lenovo, & HP all do this even after you buy the laptop.

I just bought myself an HP DV4-1225dx laptop. I love it. Paid $600, has 4gigs of RAM, 250gig HDD, e-SATA, HDMI output, DVDRW drive with lightscribe, battery life is average and better than earlier models of this series. It comes with a remote control, too, that allows you to turn it on and simply use ti as a media player. I will soon get the extended warranty on this.

i like the suggestions but the price really has to stay under $1000.

Have you checked any MSI laptops? They are very cheap compared to competition, like my laptop cost £1,100 ($1,600), and came with many more features than the similarly priced dell, faster memory, overclockable, better cpu, gpu, large HD etc. In the UK things are more expensive with higher VAT and tax...

kevlar93 said:

i like the suggestions but the price really has to stay under $1000.

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Go take a look at the Dell outlet. I was looking around earlier and they have some great deals. They have an E6400 with P8600, 4GB's RAM, and Intel 5100 Wifi for $789. Add $99 for NBD On-Site service, tax, and shipping and you are still under $1000. Dell's business outlet items still come with the standard 3 year warranty with all warranty upgrades available.

Tell her to go on ebay and buy a second hand IBM T42/T43 thinkpad. For $200, you will not find a better machine. If she spills beer on it, who cares its $200 for a new one.

If she wants something new, MSI/CyberpowerPC are very good for a power to money ratio. IMO they lack quality on the housing and screen, but they have good parts where it counts. For the "laptop enthusiast", such as myself, THE BEST business class machines are made by Samsung and Asus. I highly suggest something from the Samsung X460 series, they are exquisite. The X460-41S is on sale at the egg for $999.99 with free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834131030

ou_phidelt said:

Go take a look at the Dell outlet. I was looking around earlier and they have some great deals. They have an E6400 with P8600, 4GB's RAM, and Intel 5100 Wifi for $789. Add $99 for NBD On-Site service, tax, and shipping and you are still under $1000. Dell's business outlet items still come with the standard 3 year warranty with all warranty upgrades available.

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I was looking and they have good deals. I will tell her.

Something I should mention is that the listed price isn't the price you necessarily have to pay. I had one of my client's call before she bought her laptop and try and sweet talk the sales person into giving her a bit more off. the rep she got at Toshiba wouldn't budge. The Dell rep however threw in all sorts of freebies. Upgraded hard drive, extra memory, the biggest (and I still have a hard time beliving it, even though I have seen the order), free 3 year extended accidental damage warrnaty.

CrystalMethod said:

Something I should mention is that the listed price isn't the price you necessarily have to pay. I had one of my client's call before she bought her laptop and try and sweet talk the sales person into giving her a bit more off. the rep she got at Toshiba wouldn't budge. The Dell rep however threw in all sorts of freebies. Upgraded hard drive, extra memory, the biggest (and I still have a hard time beliving it, even though I have seen the order), free 3 year extended accidental damage warrnaty.

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lol that is great. hope that works

CrystalMethod said:

Something I should mention is that the listed price isn't the price you necessarily have to pay. I had one of my client's call before she bought her laptop and try and sweet talk the sales person into giving her a bit more off. the rep she got at Toshiba wouldn't budge. The Dell rep however threw in all sorts of freebies. Upgraded hard drive, extra memory, the biggest (and I still have a hard time beliving it, even though I have seen the order), free 3 year extended accidental damage warrnaty.

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Wow, that is really hard to believe. Considering they don't make that much on the notebooks but really on the warranties being cash cows I am shocked they did that. Good for your client though.