New laptop for work. Need suggestions.

[ViPER1313]

Shrug. Personally I would never spend over $800 on a laptop because I can upgrade in 2 years to another $800 laptop that would kick the shit out of any $3000 computer on the market today, sell the old one for $300 and only be out $1300 overall. Repeat every 2 years.

....but if my company was paying for it and I wasn't guaranteed an upgrade every 2 years or so, my shit would be baller and have a kick-ass warranty to last me until the next upgrade cycle. Which in my company's case is a lot longer than 2 years.

[Apoc]

The company is footing the bill, ultimately I will have to pay them back though so I'm not looking for something outlandishly expensive.

[ViPER1313]

The company is footing the bill, ultimately I will have to pay them back though so I'm not looking for something outlandishly expensive.

Oops.....

[WRXtranceformed]

If I'm buying a work laptop I'm going to buy one that I don't have to replace every 2 years. Going to take your suggestions and make the final decision tonight, I held off obviously on the MacBook Pro... which would have been a lot harder if I had been into it in the first place.

[John]

If I'm buying a work laptop I'm going to buy one that I don't have to replace every 2 years. Going to take your suggestions and make the final decision tonight, I held off obviously on the MacBook Pro... which would have been a lot harder if I had been into it in the first place.

Laptops see a lot of abuse, especially if they're on the road often. In the past 2 years, I've had people pull my laptop bag out several times on planes and drop them, had a German airport security person drop it on the ground, gotten stuck in tropical monsoons, and had tons of sand and other things blown into it. You never know what may happen and having that luxury of replacing more often than your perceived standard fare is never one to turn up...

[ViPER1313]

It really is more cost effective to replace them every 2 years or sooner and save all that money on the warranty.

[WRXtranceformed]

Will those Dells support the addition of up to 8gigs of RAM in the future if I'd like to do it later to save money? Do I even need that much RAM? I know you said 4gigs should be fine.

[Apoc]

Will those Dells support the addition of up to 8gigs of RAM in the future if I'd like to do it later to save money? Do I even need that much RAM? I know you said 4gigs should be fine.

I'm not sure what that magical work application it is you're running does but I'm pretty sure you don't need 8 gigs. My wife is a graphic designer (Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Firefox [all memory intensive] all open at the same time) and she runs Vista on an Inspiron laptop with 4gb of RAM. Most people tend to think they need the latest and greatest or the most money can buy, but it's pretty much overkill. It would be hard to convince me that config I posted yesterday wasn't more than enough.

Determining which ones will support what all depends on the chassis and how many memory modules are used to make what's already in there. Even if there are no expansion slots, there's nothing to prevent you from pulling out the two sticks of 2gb and replacing them with two sticks of 4gb.

Consider John's words though... you should plan on replacing a laptop every 3rd year. You can extend life of anything by re-imaging the thing but the wear and tear of physically taking it everywhere and it getting banged around adds up. I've used laptops that are 5 years old with no problems, but I rarely take it anywhere and I'm very careful with my stuff. They're a lot like a car in that you upgrade because they physically get old, not because you need something faster to get to work every day.

[WRXtranceformed]

Will those Dells support the addition of up to 8gigs of RAM in the future if I'd like to do it later to save money? Do I even need that much RAM? I know you said 4gigs should be fine.

I'm not sure what that magical work application it is you're running does but I'm pretty sure you don't need 8 gigs. My wife is a graphic designer (Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Firefox [all memory intensive] all open at the same time) and she runs Vista on an Inspiron laptop with 4gb of RAM. Most people tend to think they need the latest and greatest or the most money can buy, but it's pretty much overkill. It would be hard to convince me that config I posted yesterday wasn't more than enough.

Determining which ones will support what all depends on the chassis and how many memory modules are used to make what's already in there. Even if there are no expansion slots, there's nothing to prevent you from pulling out the two sticks of 2gb and replacing them with two sticks of 4gb.

Cool I was just curious for the future, not necessarily for what I need it for now. The reason I ask is that I got some kind of error message yesterday when putting together a computer that said I think that the selected OS didn't allow for that much memory? I can't remember exactly what it told me.

[Apoc]

Cool I was just curious for the future, not necessarily for what I need it for now. The reason I ask is that I got some kind of error message yesterday when putting together a computer that said I think that the selected OS didn't allow for that much memory? I can't remember exactly what it told me.

XP won't recognize more than 4gb... that was probably the error you got.

I added extra crap to my previous post, in case you missed it.

[Mike]

4gb is all you need.

[CaptainHenreh]

Need 64Bit OS for more than 4 gb of RAM.

You should have one anyway.

I like to have lots and lots and lots of RAM.

[ViPER1313]

Right now the price of going over 4gb of ram in a laptop is not really worth it.

4gb of PC800 DDR2 memory from Newegg.com = $45
8gb = $330

For the price / performance, I can't find anything to match Apoc's config (although I also don't see how to load / order that system identifier code on Dell's website.)

I would steer clear of any "truelife" screen on a Dell (the one on my Vostro is OK unless you are in a really bright room, the one on my girlfriend's laptop looks like a mirror if there is any light in the room) and I would see if I could sub in a 7200rpm hard-drive.

[WRXtranceformed]

Pulled out some of the options, no Blu-Ray, less memory, etc.
My Components
Intel┬« CoreÔäó 2 Duo T9550 (6MB cache/2.66GHz/1066Mhz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit
Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 - Word, Excel + PowerPoint
3 yr In-home Service after remote diagnosis + Complete Care
Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)
320GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X DVD+/- RW(DVD/CD read/write) Slot Load Drive
ATI Mobility RADEONÔäó HD 4670 ÔÇô 1GB
Intel® 5300 WLAN Wireless-N (3x3) Mini Card
Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
Obsidian Black with Leather Accent
My Accessories
McAfee 36 month
Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year
My Software & Accessories
Also Includes
6-cell Battery
Integrated Gigabit (10/100/1000) Network Card
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9, Multiple Languages
Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
Windows VistaÔäó Premium
Intel┬« CentrinoÔäó 2
Dell Remote Access, free basic service

$2255, or around $1500 after discount. That's reasonably loaded up. Better deal?

[ViPER1313]

This is for a Studio XPS 16 optioned w/ all the warranty you want, all for $1567. Skip the processor and larger screen. Start by customizing the system on this screen:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/studio_great_deals/fs.aspx?refid=studio_great_deals&s=dhs&cs=19">http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/studio_g ... =dhs&cs=19</a><!-- m -->


My Components
Intel┬« CoreÔäó 2 Duo P8600 (3MB cache/2.4GHz/1066Mhz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit
Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 - Word, Excel + PowerPoint
4 yr In-home Service after remote diagnosis + Complete Care
Edge-to-Edge HD Widescreen 16.0 inch WLED LCD (1366x768) W/2.0 MP
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)
500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X DVD+/- RW(DVD/CD read/write) Slot Load Drive
ATI Mobility RADEONÔäó HD 4670 ÔÇô 1GB
Intel® 5300 WLAN Wireless-N (3x3) Mini Card
High Definition Audio 2.0
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
Obsidian Black with Leather Accent
My Accessories
McAfee 24 month
Dell Online Backup 10GB for 1 year
My Software & Accessories
Also Includes
6-cell Battery
Integrated Gigabit (10/100/1000) Network Card
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9, Multiple Languages
Edge-to-Edge HD Widescreen 16ÔÇØ WLED LCD (1366x768)in Black w/2MP Webcam
Windows VistaÔäó Premium
Intel┬« CentrinoÔäó 2
Dell Remote Access, free basic service

[Apoc]

Better deal?

Paying for stuff you don't need... I feel like we're going 'round in circles.

Just get a "Previously Ordered New" from Dell Outlet and get a new laptop for cheap. The deal I posted is exactly that.

[Ken]

Just throwing this in here, if you need any office products my brother works for Microsoft here in the city and has a 60% discount...

[.RJ]

Paying for stuff you don't need...

Its not good unless its the most expensive!111!!!11

FWIW, my Dell 12" mini with an atom processor and 1gig of ram does lightroom and firefox just fine at the same time - can slow up here and there but for the most part its fine.

If you're spending more than $1000-1200 you're just pissing $$ away. Even if work is paying for it, it sure looks like an excessive expense to have a $1500-3000 laptop.

[WRXtranceformed]

You guys who know me know I have never claimed to be the most frugal person :lol:

Went with my last configuration, $1500ish is reasonable to me to spend on a laptop that is well appointed visually and should last for ~3 years. It's important for the laptop to visually perform well and look really good for the wow factor when I meet with potential customers. When I need to replace my home laptop I'll definitely go for the refurb route, that site you were looking on is awesome Chris. This work laptop is getting written off 100% anyway since I'm a contractor.

[.RJ]

and look really good for the wow factor when I meet with potential customers

Sounds like its more important to you than anyone else - kinda like smoked tail lights?

I've never had a customer look at my laptop and say "wow, that thing looks old and crappy your company must suck!" The wow factor should be how you present yourself and your work... otherwise they may think you're just a wanker with a pretty laptop