Latitude OS and Warranty

Going to purchase an E6500 and am wondering which OS to go with. This laptop will need to play well with the other machines on our home intranet in terms of file/printer sharing and such. Two of these machines have vista home and two with xp home.

The options are:
vista home basic - included in price
vista business - +$50

1. What are main differences between vista home and vista business?

2. Are both the vista home and vista business 64 bit? If not, how important is the whole 32 bit, 64 bit deal?

In addition, some clarification on the warranty options would be appreciated. I did read the description but am still a little confused.

The options are:

3 year limited + 3 year mail in - included in price
So this means 3 year warranty total, possibly no understandable English speaking phone support, and you must mail in the machine for repair?

3 year basic limited + 3 year NBD on-site service - $99
This is 3 year warranty total, possibly no understandable English speaking phone support, and somebody comes to your house/business to repair the machine?

1. What is the difference between "3 year limited" and "3 year basic limited"?

2. What is NBD?

3. For those of you who have the on-site service, has it been a good experience? Do the techs carry a good supply of replacement parts on their service vehicle or is it one those deals where it ends up with multiple visits because they did not have this or that part?

How would you rate the skill level of the on-site techs? I know in my industry the higher skilled techs are the ones that get sent on services calls because they must be competent and fully able to work on their own with no supervision. In other industries I am aware that the field service people are often the newer people (because the senior people don't like to go on service calls). Sending less than seasoned techs out can be problematic in this type of situation as they tend to get flustered while working under pressure at the clients site which can sometimes lead to mistakes.

How do they usually handle the scheduling for these on-site visits?

Thanks
Andy

 

1) You can get an excellent rundown of the differences between Windows features here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/compare-editions/default.aspx. Note that Home Basic does NOT include the aero "glass" interface makes up most of the eye candy of Vista.

2) Unless dell says "64 bit" right next to it, it won't be 64 bit. Their site has very odd ways of letting you choose a 64 bit system. You can find the page for the 64 bit E6500 here
If you're ordering with 4GB RAM, then 64 bit is somewhat nice to have. If you're ordering 3GB or less, then stick with 32. A nice article of the advantages of 64 bit is here: http://gizmodo.com/5133771/why-you-should-go-64+bit-with-windows-7. Keep in mind that some programs/drivers/etc may not play nice with 64 bit. That's why I stay with 32 bit, even with 4GB ram.

Warranty Questions

1) I think "basic" is just superfluous and the same thing as normal limited.
2) NBD is Next Business Day
3) I don't have on site service, but I feel that it's a waste of money. If you're not comfortable with making any repairs yourself, Dell will let you send in your computer to the depot. They send you a box, overnight. You send them the computer, overnight. They fix it and send it back to you, overnight. You're without your computer for about 48 hours. Not too bad. However, the depot people are often careless, so if you have the expertise, try to do it yourself. Scheduling is easy - they're usually pretty flexible.

One thing to note though. You say "possibly no understandable English speaking phone support". However, part of the premium price that you pay for a Latitude model (over, say, an Inspiron), is actual, real, helpful, US based support. They speak real, understandable English, and are usually very helpful. They're also pretty quick to authorize a repair, too. I requested one twice, both for things that would have been just fine not fixed (but I'm too perfectionist to let that happen), and with minimal explanation, they agreed to send me a new part.

In short, Latitude tech support is great.

 

Whenever Dell has shipped a laptop back to me, it's always shipped Ground. I have had to send in laptops for my job on numerous occasions. That being said, I stick to on-site service, as it is included with most Latitudes (at least when you order through a rep). Now, it all depends on where you live how well this works. There are people that get screwed and wait a long time for a tech to even come. Since I live outside of DC, I have always had good techs.

A few weeks ago I had my touchpad replaced, which requires the entire palmrest to be replaced. This isn't something I feel like doing, and I had a tech come out. He was extremely friendly, and did it in no time. I always watch when the techs repair, since if they break something, Dell will cover it. If I break it, Dell may not cover it.

So in all truth's, it just depends what you feel comfortable with. I'll fix a laptop myself, no problem, but I'd rather have it done for me and not have to worry about breaking things. I also had a $20 difference between on-site and mail-in service, as I went through a company rep.

 

100 dollars for the on-site service is worth it, IMO.

 

Thanks very much for the replies, they have been very helpful.

If I choose to get a Latitude from the outlet do they carry the same warranty?

 

I've never ordered from the outlet... always new (as I'm picky.. and demanding).

It looks like if you add one to your cart you can select your warranty (Next day business).

 

Yes, they do.