Hey people, I'm buying my first laptop soon and I need a little advice. All I really need is wireless internet and Microsoft Office. I'm looking at a rebuilt IBM Thinkpad for $600 or a new Dell Inspiron 600m for $800. Can anyone give me recommendations on those two or any other really good, relatively cheap laptops? Thanks
bump. come on, there has to be somebody on the board with a modicum of computer-knowledge.
Give us some specs about both computers. The brand name and model do little if not to allow people to tell you what "brand camp" they are in.
I got a 600m about 2 months ago for $799 and this includes shipping. It has a 60G drive, 512 memory and a Pentium M 725 Chip and a dvd/cd writer. I'm very happy with it. I primarily just do some work (MS Office), surf te web and edit some pictures (Photoshop). Based on your requirements of MS Office and wireless internet, you can go with either model Dell or IBM, as long as the IBM has a wireless card. Both computers should handle those tasks. I can't tell you much more because I don't know what your getting with the IBM (speed?, memory?, cd?, DVD?). From the info you've supplied, you should go with the cheapest choice.
don't buy a dell; pieces of crap with problems. They're just what everyone buys because they're over advertised and people don't know what to look for. IBM makes good laptops and has great service, but that comes with a price. I picked up an amazing laptop from powernotebooks.com. the same spec laptop (1.7 M, 1gb ram, 40gb, cdrw/dvd, wireless, ATI 9700, 15") was 300-400 more on Dell and IBM. definatly look around online, but make sure the company has some history and is stable.
I haven't had a problem with my Dell. True I've only had my laptop 3 months, but I spoke with the IT guy here at work before I bought mine and he's on his second (he upgraded not because of problems) and swears by them. I don't know much about the IBMs but I do know there is a lot of uncertainty with the sale of their PC division to the Chinese company, Lenovo. This may or may not have an effect on their service. Lenovo plans on cutting cost out of IBMs PC division and it may impact the service to their customers.
I have the 600m--excellent notebook.
I have a larger Dell notebook at home (it only travels around the house).
No problems with either one.
I have an old IBM Thinkpad 390X running Win 2K and the damn thing just won't die. So you should be fine if you go with a refubished Thinkpad.
FWIW - I'm the IT guy for my company. Toshiba makes a real good range of laptops, I rarely have any trouble with them except for the super thin < 2.5 lb Porteges. Satellite and Tecra models seem to be robust ... knock on wood, nobody has broken one yet.
Have owned 2 toshiba laptops. Were good while they lasted. Average useful life was 2 yrs . Latch problems on one and bad videocard -motherboard on the other. Just bot thinkpad on ebay for less than $400. HAs better specs than computers that I spent $1500-2000 on
I bought an Apple iBook over the summer for $1000 (brand new) and am extremely happy with it. I had some extra memory installed, plus Office. That's it. It came with all the wireless doodads. But I'm unusuall in that I'll probably keep it for 10 years, as I kept the 1994 PowerBook that preceded it. So initial cost wasn't as much of a factor. Great product, though.