I'm starting Law School in the Spring and need to invest in a laptop. I've been looking at XPS and Inspirion, after building both of them, the Inspirions are signficantly cheaper. Even more so, there is an internet special that is giving an extra $325 off Inspirions. I built an Inspirion w/ a 17 inch screen for $400 cheaper than a XPS with 13 inch screen. I'll mostly use the notebook for note taking, writing papers, and internet. Can anyone enlighten me on why the XPS is so much more expensive and whether its worth it?
I got a Dell Inspiron notebook in February of 2004. Since then has needed to be serviced by a technician 11 times, with the latest time being last month. Do yourself a favor, Macbook. (Oh, and I had to purchase an extended warranty in 2005 that pushed it to 2009, since it broke so many times in the first year.. that was a cool 400 bucks I want back)
more processing power, better battery life. more compact, better design. i have an Inspiron. if you can get an XPS get one.
I'm a 2L have the XPS M1210 and have never had any problems with it. Don't listen to the people who will tell you "ZOMGZ Dells SUz0rZ!!" The XPS is great if you're also going to do some gaming as the huge difference is in the video card. As far as what you'll need it for academically, the Inspiron is a great option. Only go with the XPS if you plan on doing heavy multimedia work or gaming as that's what the XPS line is for. As far as a Mac, be weary about that because some of the exam software (that you will need if you want to type your exams instead of writing them by hand) was very buggy with the Macs last year. Some of the exams taken on macs didn't even get sent to the server causing a lot of sleepless nights and headaches for students with macs. They eventually got all of the exams by having the students whose exams didn't get sent physically come in and they had to find the save file from their hard drive. So all was well in the end but it definitely caused some stress.
Not only do you need to consider exam typing software support (at least when I was in school Examsoft didnt work on Mac) you also need to consider general computing support with a Mac. If you had a problem with a pc, the tech guys would work on your pc for free. If you had a Mac, you were sol.
I got an Inspiron 1420 when I started law school this fall, and it has worked well so far. I would recommend a smaller laptop considering you would have to lug around your textbooks also. Regardless of what brand of laptop you choose to purchase, be sure to always backup your data on mini-flash drives.
I've had independent tech support people, without an agenda (they have no ties to a particular company), tell me to stay AWAY from the Inspiron line from Dell. That the XPS and the Optima business lines both use better components than what Dell puts into the Inspirons. You might want to consider an Optima. Go to the business side of the Dell site, and just say you're a business. You are, right? In the business of getting your degree? You can call yourself whatever fits. I don't think Dell especially cares. They want to sell computers. Just my opinion.
WEIRD. I was just thinking about ordering one of those two for my wife last night. For those of you who have one... do you have wireless connectivity without having to insert a card on one of the PCMCIA slots? I have looked at the offers online... and I am wondering if my Gateway model is better about wireless than the XPS's and the Inspirons...
I would suggest you wait about another month for 'Black Friday' that is when all of the GOOD laptops go on some serious sells (maybe not dell but HP, COMPAQ, TOSHIBA) I have an inspiron myself and I had the warranty on it and even though I really did not need servicing i still got it done to utilize my warranty. I have had it for two years and just 2days ago I got a new keyboard (told them keys were getting stuck even though they were not) a new motherboard (the ethernet cable and power supply were not working properly (another lie) and brand new speakers (i said they came out staticy sometimes, another lie) oh ya dell customer service is da best (very nice plus they send a technician to your house for all repairs as opposed to shippin the laptop to them, like compaq/hp require) if you are just using it for school and are only picking a dell than go with the inspiron. If your options are open than I would suggest either the HP DV series (i think DV2000? or something, its a really nice lookin laptop and comes w/ alot of bang for your buck, $650ish) or a toshiba satellite btw how much are you trying to spend?
Law school is really rough on laptops. Most people end up replacing their machines by third year. Think about that before plunking down two grand on a blinged out XPS that's going to eat it in 18 months. BTW, service contracts are a blessing and a curse. A lot of machines never work right again after they first break. Laptops are fickle, and law students really test their limits.
what kind of stuff do they do that causes them to be replaced by the third year. or how exactly do "law students really test their limits???" (serious question btw)
has anyone ever bought a HP Recertified notebook? this seems like a great deal (though small screen), but don't know about recertified? http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=38673024
xps is better built. kinda like the old dells. i have an inspiron 15". i wish i had gotten the xps. it's a pain carrying this 15 around. my sister just got the 12" xps. it's nice. good portable size. and it doesn't feel so plasticy like the inspiron.
Recertified = refurbished. Refurbished = watch out. I used to work for Dell, and I can tell you that many of the systems (both laptop and desktop) that came in and were sent out again as "refurbished" had chronic problems that were never addressed. Sometimes, it would be something you wouldn't find out until years later. For example, several systems were sent out that had defective memory slots. However, you wouldn't find that out until you tried to add more memory. And you probably wouldn't do THAT until several years down the line. So you were sold an computer that couldn't be upgraded, and you didn't even know it. So sorry. Any time you buy refurb, caveat emptor. There's a reason it's so much cheaper.
dellauction.com I already bought more than 20 laptops and sold them somewhere in Hawaii. So far, no complaints.
