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Vostro A860 - is it decent?

Discussion in 'Dell Latitude, Vostro, and Precision' started by Noctilum, Apr 7, 2009.

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  1. Noctilum

    Noctilum Notebook Evangelist

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    My wife has been nagging me to get her a laptop for scrapbooking. I see this Vostro is $399 but for one day only. Comes with:

    Bluetooth Wireless Wireless Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate)
    PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
    PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9. Does NOT Include MS Word
    MEMORY 2GB,DDR2,800MHZ
    OPTICAL DRIVE 8X DVD+/-RW
    VIDEO CARD Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
    HARD DRIVE 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
    WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Wireless Networking 802.11b/g
    MODEMS Modem, 3-1 Reader, 1394 Firewire, PCMCIA Included
    LCD Panel 15.6 inch Wide Screen HD LCD Display
    Primary Battery 6 cell Lithium Ion Battery
    Labels Windows Vista® Basic

    I may throw Windows XP on it depending if drivers are available but I don't think I will come across anything cheaper.

    Think this is a good bang for the buck? Any problems with this model that I should know about?
     
    Noctilum, Apr 7, 2009
    #1
  2. litkaj

    litkaj Notebook Consultant

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    Everything in that system is two-year-old hardware, that CPU is a dog compared to newer chips, and Vista Basic is less than worthless compared to Windows XP (except for media center PCs where you plan to use something like SageTV) but at $400 you really can't go wrong if "new" and "inexpensive" are the words of the day. Make sure they don't try and hit you with a +$50 shipping charge though.

    You might also take a browse through the Outlet as you can probably do a lot better over there for only a few dollars more.

    EDIT: Like this one.
    http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline.../online/en/InventoryDetails?systemId=FCVR6BT0

    EDIT #2: Here's another one, slightly cheaper than the first.
    http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline.../online/en/InventoryDetails?systemId=E67MX415
     
    litkaj, Apr 7, 2009
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  3. elijahRW

    elijahRW Notebook Deity

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    I once owned one of these. It can get scratches easily on the glossy lid. The touchpad and keyboard are fair. It runs pretty cool. It runs vista ok, and I had xp installed also with all drivers working except for the sdhc card reader didn't work 100% with the drivers installed.
    Overall I think it would work for your wife's needs.
    BTW check the outlet. They have lower prices and even lower with coupons http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=231526&page=89
     
    elijahRW, Apr 7, 2009
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  4. antskip

    antskip Notebook Deity

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    antskip, Apr 7, 2009
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  5. millermagic

    millermagic Rockin the pinktop

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    That laptop would work well for scrapbooking.
     
    millermagic, Apr 7, 2009
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  6. elijahRW

    elijahRW Notebook Deity

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    Yeh ^_^ is right;) The A860 is actually pretty parcy. You would be better off spending $50-$100 more for a new, decent, laptop;)
     
    elijahRW, Apr 7, 2009
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