doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT-New computer

My two year old $3000 Sony died-probably charges of computer abuse are pending-and no one locally seemed competent to do the repair, so I looked for a disposacomputer. Found a laptop at Dell the 1501 for $600 tax title license and delivery included.It does not do everything the Sony does(its not a TV set for example) but it does everything I normally do-correspondence, email, web work, etc. just as well. Has a good looking screen,almost as large as the Sony's 17 inch, and is really a bargain. The computer geeks will bitch about the gosintoz and comesouzaz, but so what. I may have the Sony repaired by Sony, but we'll see. The moral of all this is not to treat computers as durable goods, They are disposable like shotgun shells or kleenex. Do yourself a favor and go for the cheapie computer. (mandatory dislclaimer, I do not own stock in Dell, but they are good folks with quick delivery and a quality product for the money. Kindest regards, your happy new Dell owner Dr. Dozier sends

While we're on the subject, I just brokered a Dell desktop XPS410 Duo Core superduper computer for a friend that is somewhat computer challenged. He wanted a large monitor and a double arm swing out wallmount and TV tuner. His goal was a internet surfer/TV so I got a 24" widescreen for him. I bought it from Dell and we immediately ran into problems 3 weeks ago when it arrived. The TV tuner wasn't recognized by the Vista OS/Windows Media Center program. 2 weeks of evenings on the phone with Dell and Microsoft (including them talking to each other thru two speakerphones) finally yielded a result...they both gave up. To Dell's credit, they offerred a full refund or reconfigure of a new system and were very nice to deal with.

For those of you contemplating a new computer, be aware that most PCs are now only being offerred with Windows Vista and that Vista still has plenty of problems. In fact, I asked if they would reconfigure the system with Windows XP. They said they could not.

My friend decided to keep the PC since we believe eventually, either Microsoft, Dell, or the HDTV card maker will solve the issue and the card was only a $100 option. For now, he has a Direct TV box plugged directly into the monitor that has a plethera of input ports.

I am the manager of the IT division for the corporation at which I work. Reference the current Dell 1501, I buy this model for our salesmen on the road, and put some high end personal management software on it as well as Microsoft Office Pro for their presentations, remote database access, and reports. These particular machines, without exception do all and more than we require, reliably, everyday.

I quit buying the $3,000 - $4,000 IBM Thinkpads a number of years ago and went to Dell's mid-line. We treat our computer hardware as near-consumeable, and no longer consider them as real property. Since I changed us over to an all-Dell shop 6 years ago, (servers, client stations, workstations, notebooks) our reliability time has gone way up, and our down time has nearly vanished insofar as hardware/firmware is concerned. The only exception is printers; there we are all-HP for both network and individual printers. I buy all mid-line units; top-of-the-line units have too many "bells & whistles" which sometimes conflict with the basic functions of our computer needs. Jim Haynes

I just bought a 1501 with 2 gigs of ram for $699. No more expensive laptops for this camper. I wanted something smaller and lighter to travel with but it's not worth paying more than twice as much. And at this price when the 12" lightweights go on sale I'll pass this to one of the kids in the family.

Al

PS: On this computer Dell offered a choice of XP or Vista ..... I took XP as none of the programs I run .... or any of my hardwear is Vista ready .....

Ya'll can keep all the MS crap and jump out the window with it. Apple all the way!

I recently had to change one of my computers. Having heard of the problems with the current Vista I opted for a "used" one that still ran the XP, but is upgradable to Vista when I choose. Couldn't be happier.

Just bought a new macbook laptop last week. 2ghz, 1gig memory, Wow. It doesn't need anti-virus software because macs just don't crash. It boots up and turns off instantly, is intuitive to use, and has so many features and cool programs that it makes me want to throw my old Toshiba pc laptop in the trash. Not only that, but it's beautiful and incredibly well designed. Apple truly does make a wonderful product.

Anyone that doesn't at least go to an Apple store and try a Mac, is selling himself short.

Cut your headaches by 90%. I have never had to run antivirus software in over 10 years with a Mac.

I also had to purchase a new computer and bought a PC because the price was good. BUY A MAC..BUY A MAC...I HATE VISTA! I'M SERIOUS! Of course I only have "started vista" WHO KNEW THERE WAS A STARTER VISTA?! BUY A MAC!

The computer I'm using most for this bbs stuff is a Dell Inspiron 1000 I bought a couple yrs ago for around $500. It sits on a laptop stand in our den where I can watch TV and blog with you guys. I've humped it thru airports across the country but at 6.5 lbs and 15" monitor, all the accessories, etc, it get pretty heavy in a hurry.

I recently bought a Toshiba 12" laptop with T7200 DuoCore, 2gig ram, Vista OS, 4lbs. ish. I also bought a wireless broadband subscription. The Vista OS is just a inconvenience at this point on that machine. But the portability is great and the broadband provides independence that laptops were made for.