Ah hah! The glass was half empty after all.
I went ahead and ordered a new Dell laptop. They're having a $500 off special this week, along with free shipping, and no interest for 90 days with Dell credit, and a $150 gift certificate. This required me to configure a fairly high end setup before they would kick in the $500 ($1,400 gets you $500 off). I found the $500 off coupon on a laptop review site.
Rather than buying a re-furbished solid business laptop that was only slightly better than my current dying model, for a hundred bucks more I got a screaming machine that should last for years. I think the only way to go with a computer is to buy (or build) them pretty close to state of the art, so it irked me that I wasn't finding something significantly better than what I have. This is significantly better:
Inspiron 1520
Espress Brown
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
120GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Intel® 3945 802.11a/g Mini-card
Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)
High Definition Audio 2.0
Here's a link to a cool Dell commercial featuring the various colors.
Nice new toy - can't wait to see it. I'm going to be getting a new system in a few weeks myself.
ReplyDeleteI see that you got one of the systems with the colored shells - why brown? I like the specs; I'm still debating if I actually want to customize mine, since I won't have a nice $500 coupon (except that I get a student discount).
Hope you have fun with the new toy! =)
What can I say about color? It's a personal choice. My first choice was yellow, but then I changed my mind. Brown should be a little less flashy, but still kinda classy. Black is standard. White looks like a Mac. Red, blue and green were too bright for me. I've always liked yellow though. I really want a yellow car someday too. But brown it is.
ReplyDeleteLast time I checked Dell offered a "no fault" warranty on their laptops. It covered pretty much anything that happens, even if it's your fault. It's pricey, but after my coke-meets-notebook experience, I would probably get it if I was getting anything priced over $1000.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's my obsessive-compulsive nature, but I've never damaged a machine like that, although I've changed out my share of Coke soaked keyboards when I was in IT.
ReplyDeleteMy big unknown is when I'll get the new laptop. I ordered a Dell for my last laptop, but they mis-delivered it and it was lost/stolen. Their solution was to build me another laptop; another 6 week wait. I bought a pre-build Thinkpad and got it a few days later.
I also have to say I spent about 3 hours total getting this thing configured for the $500 coupon, chatting with their support online to look up my account (they couldn't find it after a LONG chat). Then I had to re-apply for Dell credit, even though I have an account with them (or I thought I did). I wanted to use Dell credit because it said I would get 3% off, then when I placed the order, the 3% wasn't there and they gave me 90 days of no interest.
Experiences from "end-users" are similar. This was easy, and a little fun in a way, for me, but imagine if computers intimidated you? Many people have a hard time with this process. It's almost like buying a car.
noob! it has vista! its gonna eat all your pewter!
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