Any DUers have an opinion on the Dell Inspiron 640M w/dual core Intel?

[roseBudd]

I am thinking seriously of buying this little over 1 year old laptop. I am a power user that often has multiple Adobe products open at a time. Would also like to install Avid & After Effects. I would likely upgrade it myself to 2 GB RAM.

LIKE NEW Dell Inspiron 640m Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66GHz, 1GB RAM, Huge 100GB 5400RPM Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW/CDRW Combo Drive (Burns DVDs & CDs), Nice 14.1" WXGA Glossy Widescreen LCD (1280x800), Windows XP Home Edition SP2, 56K Modem & 10/100 Ethernet, Internal Wireless A/B/G, 5-In-1 Memory Card Slot, Laptop

UNDER DELL WARRANTY UNTIL 7-13-2009!

[Confusious]

1. Dell sucks

I have one of their laptops. The power supply keeps going out on me. $50 to replace. Will never buy another Dell.

[End Of The Road]

2. I agree Dell sucks

Had one at work that went through hard drives like I go through M&Ms. My boss went through several Dell laptops -- all were crappy.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Look. Really.

Go here: http://tinyurl.com/3aq76p

Costco is also a refurbisher. HP lappies are very good machines and these prices are excellent.

I have to admit that I have very little faith in anything Dell anymore. I have just seen too many problems with everything but their servers, and you don't want to be lugging one of them around.

[Old Codger]

4. dell

Had a dell laptop, sold it fast, you are stuck with proprietary hardware for several things, you can add RAM ok, but you cannot use ready off the shelf plug in WI-FI cards (unless they have changed recently).. most of the co's like sprint make specials for Dell but that is about it.... I sold mine right away and got a Toshiba and am pretty happy with it so far.

[Speck Tater]

5. I've heard it's WAAAY better than the Commodore 64. NT

[roseBudd]

6. HP 530 Core2Duo T2400 1.8Ghz 1GB 100GB ?

HP 530 Core2Duo T2400 1.8Ghz 1GB 100GB

Processor - Intel® Core™2 Duo T2400 / 1.83 GHz

· Multi-Core processor technology - Dual-Core

· Display - 15.4 in TFT active matrix 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) Brightview

· Memory - 1 GB / (2 GB max)

· Hard drive - 100 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm

· Optical drive - DVD±RW (+R DL) / DVD-RAM Lightscribe

· Video graphics - Intel GMA 950 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0

· Wireless LAN - 802.11 a/b/g

· WLAN : Bluetooth 2.0 USB # K33348B 2.4GHz

· Battery - 4-cell (32 WHr) Lithium-Ion battery- long battery life

[kattenstoet]

7. yes

buy a Mac

[roseBudd]

13. price matters, I have an iMac at work I run Parallels, & I am a digital designer

Web specific

[elifino]

8. We use Dell in our company

We have 100+ servers, 2000+ desktops and 150+laptops. I work in our IT Dept., desktop support. We are very happy with the performance and reliability of their product. Sure with that many units installed, there will always be some problems. Dell had been and still is the only units permitted to connect to the network.

[sarcasmo]

11. Dell always takes better care of Corporate clients.

[roseBudd]

14. I respect IT opinions, & ? is specific to Inspiron E1405 Dual Core

http://reviews.dell.com/2341/459/reviews.htm?pageNumber=2

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. Unless its less than $250 forget it... there is no separate graphics card

which won't help you with Adobe graphics/video work and its a Dell.

Get a
HP, IBM or Apple



Dell
Republican company with major shareholders from the LDS church

[sarcasmo]

10. Terrible customer service in the public sector, hope that helps.

[roseBudd]

21. I don't need customer service I'm a PC geek

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

12. I have had 4 different Dell laptops, and they were all junk

1 of my own, and 3 through work. I must have gone through 8 or 10 power supplies because they kept failing. The screen went out on my personal laptop right after the warranty expired, so now my $2000 laptop is a doorstop. The work laptops were supposedly the more durable line, but they all had other problems, too.

I haven't had similar problems with the Dell desktop computers I have had at work, but I would never buy anything else from Dell.

[justiceischeap]

15. Buy a Mac! ;) n/t

[Xenotime]

16. Yup. If you want to be progressive and green mac is the way to go.

[rpannier]

19. Not sure I agree with the green part

http://www.greenpeace.org/apple/about.html

http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/2006/08/more_on_apples_.html?entry_id=1547528

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/news/2006/04/70739

[alfredo]

23. Since the Greenpeace criticism, Apple has been working to make their

products and methods more green. http://www.apple.com/environment/

[justiceischeap]

25. Plus they put a lot of money into the No on Prop 8 campaign... Just saying. (eom)

[alfredo]

28. Good for them.

[Poiuyt]

33. Yes, buy a Mac -- You can run both Mac OSX and Windows on them.

Best of both worlds

[roseBudd]

41. Price matters. I have an iMac at work running Parallels, it is very flaky

and getting worse.

The Mac IT guy thought I would love Mac & switch. He was wrong. I do occasionally use my Mac side for an app called Visual Hub, or an occasional font I don't have a True Type version of.

I am a HTML/CSS hand coder & I still use Allaire/Macromedia/Adobe Homesite for the speedy keyboard shortcuts and in app browse feature.

I only use Dreamweaver for advanced debugging.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

37. My Mac was the worst computer I ever owned

I don't care how great Mac OS X is supposed to be - it isn't worth shit when your computer is unusable. Every iBook Apple ever made was defective and they just kept repairing it with the same defective parts and ultimately replaced it with another defective iBook. One time I took it too the Apple store and there was a whole mob of people with every varient of iBook made after the turn of the century waiting to talk to the multiple-pierced Mac Fucktard about their broken iBook all with the same problem.

[DeSwiss]

17. Dell = Mormons.

Bleeh....

:puke:

[CRF450]

18. If your a power user, I'd suggest something more in the mid range specs.

That computer would barely do you any good. One question though, how much are you willing to spend for a good computer?

[roseBudd]

20. I am right at the low end of 400+ on either the Dell or HP dual core on Ebay...

Because realistically I could just throw a new motherboard/CPU, RAM and HD at my giant tower.

[Old Codger]

34. Be better

If you are looking for power and speed from a laptop forget it, they are made to do what they do, that is be portable, if you think that you will get desktop speed and power from a laptop you ar ein for a huge disappointment, you will be way ahead going to a new MB, CPU and ram in your tower these new quads are super, I just went to a q6600, 4gigs ram and a new MB and video... with that q6600 (2.4ghz) overclocked to 3.36 this thing screams and with the quad core it is damn hard to overload it.

[CRF450]

35. Yeah, as far as new computers go, $400 aint gonna do you any good.

It'd be more realistic to find a custom built computer that was considered high end (more like for gaming) from about 3 years ago at that price range. What you listed is only good enough for internet/e-mail use but not much else. You'd have to spend at least almost twice that for a good all around computer except for playing the latest games. They do come with Vista now, but I dont really see any problems with it. It runs pretty good on $600 desktops, and and pretty much all newer software programs are compatible with no issues. Unistall all the preloaded crap and your good to go.

[MrScorpio]

22. Dell: Major suckage

Believe you, me

[Jed Dilligan]

24. Buy a Dell Inspiron if

you don't happen to care about any data you might be saving on its hard drive, and have unlimited funds to replace its hard drive.

[gravity]

26. I really don't think the brand of the computer matters much

Unless you are really care about the customer service. What matters is what is inside the computer.

If you can get it for a cheaper price than the alternatives, then buy it. Dell might not have the best customer service, but it will be adequate.

[roseBudd]

27. It's either a new motherboard/CPU, SATA HD & RAM for my tower or a used laptop...

I don't need a laptop, I just thought hubby would see me more if I had a laptop.

If I get a laptop I'm going to turn my tower with existing MB, 80 GB HD & 1 MB RAM into his iTunes, DVD burning, email, web surfing machine.

[jules1962]

29. Michael Dell is hugh repug supporter

I would never buy anything from his company.

[entanglement]

30. I heard it's made by teh Mormons

:evilgrin:

:hide: :hide:

[MazeRat7]

31. I can not comment on that product, but I was a Senior Software Architect for Dell for 12 years....

That being said,

From my inside knowledge, they are done. They basically build toasters, They do no R&D, they try to bully all their component suppliers, and they certainly don't have a "model" to move the "computing" platform forward. Why do you think they started selling printers? A: to get the markup on ink. And the list goes on and on.

Just this week they are asking for voluntarily severance or not-paid vacation. Why? Because they bring no innovation to the market.

They are hurting.

They dont invest in technology development, they dont invest in in application development.

Basically, they buy cheap components, make them into a "PC", and sell then to you.

Oh and did I add that they do this "overseas" so skip the US tax rates.

Yeah, I actually worked on that project for them.... How to keep the profits outside the US so they could increase the bottom line by not paying US taxes....

And on it goes...

Stay away...

Go with IBM or HP or anybody else....

Seriously.

They don't give a S**t about you.

Peace,
MZr7

[Dem2theMax]

32. Buy Dell if you want:

Bad equipment out of the box
Breakdowns
WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE on the planet

Enjoy.

[johnaries]

36. Dell reached major market share, and then cut costs. They suck now.

Used to be great machines but no longer. HP is working hard at restoring quality and reputation and is probably one of the better machines right now. Compaq seems to be a good choice, also. Personally, I like my cheap little eMachines, which is actually a Gateway in disguise.

[Greyhound]

38. Until recently I was with HP notebook division (yet another layoff, ain't IT wonderful).

In my experience it makes little difference which of the major brands you buy.

All of the customer service is beyond awful, criminal (fraudulent) IMO, so there's no difference there. The unit was made with the cheapest parts available that week and are 100% Chinese, so it boils down to this;

If you get a good one it will last 3 - 4 years before things start to really suck, if the used unit you are considering has had any problems and was serviced (you can find out through Dell with the number on the bottom) it is already a paperweight and you should save your money since it will constantly fail until you are tired of shipping it back & forth to the service center that will keep it for a week and send it back unrepaired. Now, if you are really persistent and have hours and hours to spend on the phone, and you never mention that you bought it used, and the moon is waning with an ascension of 14 degrees, you might get a new or refurbed replacement (I'm not sure which way Dell is doing it right now and it changes frequently).

It may be too small for what you're looking for but, the only exception to this scenario I'm aware of is the Asus. Customer service still sucks but the system is very high quality (Japanese condensers make most of the difference) and inexpensive, especially with their Linux OS (you said you were a geek and not paying the $200 M$ tax really helps). A very durable and reliable appliance, but may not have the horsepower you need, check it out.

:hi:

[roseBudd]

39. So a new MB/CPU, SATA HD & RAM from Tiger Direct for my 4 bay ...

tower?

I honestly have never owned a PC with a name on it. I built my 486 in a 286 baby AT case, then it became a 686.

My current PC was not built by me, but I have put in new HD, RAM, Fan, DVD/CD RW myself.

Every year I flirt with the idea of a laptop simply because I think about going to another room in the house or the front porch. If I had a laptop hubby might see me more.

That being said I have an iMac at work I run Parallels on, which is very flaky and I still have my 5 year old Dell Optiflex, which has had zero problems.

[Greyhound]

42. That's what I would do. Unless you need mobility, in which case I'd go with the $400 Asus. One thing

from my POV and time in the business(?), I work with 'em all day and get all my news & info & most of my entertainment from them and want to reduce the amount of time I spend staring into a display, and increase my time IRL, so as soon as I've got some income I'm getting one of the little Asus'.

Oh, and I find the solid-state drives fascinating, thinking of going that way in the future.

For cost, reliability, mass storage, and performance, you just can't beat a tower and building them yourself, you know exactly what goes into it. Of all the dozens (hundreds?) of systems I've had over the years, the only one's that have died are the "brand name" systems. All of my self-built systems still run and have simply become obsolete. If you are interested, http://www.pcusa.com/default.asp">I've found these guys to deliver solidly tested systems, very cheap, built to spec and shipped w-w/o OS including LINUX if you lean that way.

Lastly, if you run windoze you're now stuck with Vista ® (Ballmer says, "it's craptacular!") which could bring a Cray to it's knees, so there's another good reason to build your own.

[dkofos]

40. Dell = SHIT

Made in China SHIT

[TWiley]

43. Dell sucks .....

[rucky]

44. Use a cooler.

the fans are unreliable, and I literally fried my HD. Cost me 1200 to recover the data.