Dell, Toshiba, etc.

Ok,

First, I really would like to say what a great service that this site is providing. No where else have I been able to find answers to questions like. . . Which CPU is better Pentium M or Pentium 4M? Intel site as well as Dell's is confusing on the topic. I am shoping for a computer for my father in law. He is a physician and teaches at a university outside Brazil. His main use of the computer will be for internet and presentations in Powerpoint heavily laden with photos and integrated with excel stats etc. I was wavering between the Inspiron 8600 and the 5150. As well as considering the Toshiba Tecra S1, or the fujitsu. I am looking to spend as close to $1500 as possible. I think I have definitely decided to go for a pentium M atleast a 1.6M. First, I was wondering if anyone noticed that the price you get for a dell computer can vary widely depending on how you go through the dell site. 2nd, I noticed that you can buy 512 RAM for the dell for just under $100 (dell charges like $500). If I get 512 1 Dimm do I still have to replace the original chip if I want to max the ram buying 4x512 or will 3x512 surfice.

 

first of all, here's a $25 coupon code for Dell in case you go with them.

$25 off $500+ on any systems: B036FDAB63CA, exp 2/29/04

Not only will the price vary on Dell.com depending on how you enter the site (for instance you can enter an E-value code from their magazine to jump to a suggested configuration and price, or manually configure the PC for the same specs and end up with a different price) but you'll also find varying deals on different days. Waiting for the right deal can be frustrating, but it's usually worth waiting, I hate it when they give you a free PDA or digital camera because they're usually really crappy devices that are worth much less than say a $150 rebate. So when buying from Dell look for special coupon codes (we feature them here on the site when available), rebates or E-value codes in magazines and it's usually best to configure the Notebook with a good processor, good internal wi-fi card and good hard drive but then skimp on the memory and buy it seperately in the software & peripherals store (they usually rip you off when you add memory during the configuration phase of buying a Notebook, sometimes they offer free upgrades though so take advantage of that). You'll definitely want a 512 1 Dimm, just figure out if it's cheaper to configure the notebook that way or just accept the default 256MB and then buy the 512MB separately (meaning the 256MB chip you get will be kind of useless, but you could sell it on eBay or something)

Toshiba has some good deals on their notebooks and the advantage is you can go into stores and try them out. In general though, I've been a little diappointed with Toshiba's offerings of late. Fujitsu offers a very nice line of well designed and extremely portable notebooks, so even though they're not in the top 5 for notebook sellers, they are highly recommended and make a good product...not sure which notebook you're looking at in particular from them though. I'm using the S6100 Fujitsu notebook right now and it's solid.

 

On the memory front, most notebooks have two memory slots. So if you want 512MB, then you can get the default 256MB from the manufacturer and toss in another 256MB yourself from someone like Crucial. If the notebook comes with 512MB (2x256) and you want to upgrade, you'll have to toss one of the existing chips.

Brian

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

Thanks for the insite (and the coupon). I can't tell you how long I have spent on the dell site comparing prices for the same model (8600) and specs(1.6M 512 1DIM 40gb). Probably where some of Dells bad service rep comes from. I think I finally got them at around 1700ish. I will have to see if I get an even better deal with the 256 throw away option. Also, a follow up question. Is the difference between WXGA, WSXGA, and WUXGA in the screens really that significant? I have noticed a couple of posts that talk about the great screen of the 8600. Is this at the WUXGA level? Also, I have been trying to sell the fujitsu to my wife but she is worried about the lack of tech support in Brazil. (I have her writing fujitsu and am waiting for a reply) Oh and for the recycling thing I was wondering about the 50% off on a new system. Maybe I misunderstood that. thanks for all the help.

 

Dell is known as a pioneer in the realm of providing high screen resolutions. Each step of the way they offer higher resolutions. With my old 8200, I loved the 1600 x 1200 res, but that's not for everyone. They're also much more expensive.

Fujitsu has pretty good international support, I'd be a bit surprised if they don't offer anything in Brazil.

Lastly, I'm not sure what you mean about the recycling program.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com