Laptop <$2500 AUD

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Vasco

Vasco

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Hi all, another computer help thread. I will probably be ordering the custom build I put on here a few months ago later this year (as I found out 2nd gen DX10 cards and true quad cores should be around by then), but I am now looking for a laptop for university next year.

My budget is between $2000-$2500 AUD, and I would like the laptop to have the new Santa Rosa core 2 duos (Preferably T7500), a decent battery life (I guess around 4-5 hours is good for a laptop right?) and a 15" screen. I went onto Dell's website and the Inspiron 1520 seems like a great deal, I kitted it out to the T7500 and it fits well within my budget (a smidge under $2200). However I was wondering why this laptop is so cheap compared to other similarly specced laptops such as the Macbook Pro, the Asus G1S and the Lenovo Thinkpad T61. Is it of inferior quality compared to these?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as well, but please remember I live in Australia. If something worth waiting for (technology is always being updated I know) is coming up in the very near future I'd be glad to wait for it.
 
I can tell you one thing, don't go with Dell. I had a great offer as well, but all I have now are problems with Vista...Seriously, got for an Acer, Fujitsu, Apple or HP....
 
Hmmm...like what? If it is Vista problems and not the product itself I can handle that...are HP and Acer good? I've only heard bad things about them in terms of customer service so I haven't really considered them as of yet. And Fujitsu seems like it's a big premium for the name (similarly to Apple I guess).
 
I'm going to buy a dell via school. Win XP Pro will be installed, and the possibility to upgrade to vista.
Our teachers know Vista is still full of bugs, and a few of our programs at school aren't very compatible yet with vista.
 
If you're considering a MBP, you've got to really want it. And I mean really. Although Mac users might say it's the best laptop you can buy, let's face it: it's not. The aluminium casing is far from durable, the batteries have a habit of failing, the screens reportedly have a yellowish tinge, the way some things aren't well thought out (like the lack of USB ports) and the value for money hardware wise. That said, they are great. Apple usually fix most issues, and there are loads of little touches that just makes it seem... special, somehow. But, there's a premium for it, so if your heart isn't set on one, move on.

Head for the Thinkpad, the Asus or an Acer. The latter will be the best value of the 3, generally. Or the Apple, of course, although I'm still waiting for mine to ship from China... Acer make pretty great laptops, Asus are supposed to be great and IBMs (I refuse to call them Levonos) will just last forever. Everything but the Dell really, but that's just my personal opinion.
 
DustDriver
I'm going to buy a dell via school. Win XP Pro will be installed, and the possibility to upgrade to vista.
Our teachers know Vista is still full of bugs, and a few of our programs at school aren't very compatible yet with vista.
Click to expand...

My dad has a Dell Inspiron 6400 with XP, I have to admit it runs real sweet, I'm still thinking whether I should turn my Vostro back in for an Inspiron, or remove Vista and go with XP.


If you happen to buy a Dell, go with an Inspiron, and be sure to hae an ATI graphics cars with up to 256 RAM of dedicated memory :cheers:
 
We don't get to pick the laptop.
It's going to be a Dell Latitude D830 with a core duo T7100 processor,
2 GB of ram and a NVidia Quadro NVS 140M
 
Are you getting a discount by going through the school its self? (Presumably they buy in bulk, if you're all getting the same)
 
The laptop with all the extra services (including backpack and theft/accident insurance for 1 year + some other things) normally costs around &#8364;2000
We get it for &#8364;1000.
 
Well I uh, bit the bullet so to speak and ordered an Inspiron 1520 today. I had a look on notebookreview.com and the review there seemed pretty positive, and for under $2000 AUD it's a bloody great package (comparable specs to the $2800 Macbook Pro). Hopefully the build quality is as good as my 2407WFP...
 

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