Lenovo Ideapad is what I have but I liked it less once I learned it was from China, still it is pretty good, know nothing about a Dell
I bought a notebook with Windows 8. Upgraded to Win 8.1. Spent another $118 and upgraded again to Windows 7. Very happy now.
My $.02 worth, my bride of 36 yrs enjoys a Lenovo tablet. She’s online with a straight talk wireless hot spot.
The Loenovo tablet is well built, and appears durable. Time will tell. I’ve had good reports from family members on the the quality of the Lenovo products.
I have an IdeaPad — It’s been really good so far, no complaints.
If it’s a 3 or 4 hour trip [or less], I’d say the expense is probably worth it. (I really don’t like to travel, so consider that.)
It came with McAfee, office and a three year extended warranty and I had no disks to load as the basic SW comes on the hard drive. Setup was VERY easy.
Windows 8 is frustrating though.
FWIW, I’ve owned two Lenovo desktop machines and a Lenovo laptop. All have been super stable and I’ve never had any hardware issues. It just works.
Lenovo also has USA based tech support and their support folks don’t have those stupid menus and decision tables they have to use.
IMHO, Lenovo.
I tried with Google to find the Ideapad that you mentioned and could not. At Lenovo, however, they do show some other models in the $400 ballpark, including another Ideapad on sale.
Windows 8 in 64 bit is the big news for both of these. In principle, this enables better performance out of big-crunch applications like games. It’s also, unfortunately, a technical challenge if you want to install a version of Linux to coexist with Windows or take its place. A feature which Microsoft at least says is meant to virusproof hardware that runs 64 bit Windows, makes it difficult or impossible to install the Linux.
Check what processor you get with the Ideapad you have in mind. Google the processor number and you will find out its characteristics. An i7 in a Lenovo is better than the Dell’s Celeron but I don’t know if you get the i7 with the model you mentioned, which I could not find on Lenovo’s website. If that’s a clearance model the support on it might be limited.
I got a Dell Inspiron 17R and a Venue 8 pad after Thanksgiving. Waited in the box a couple of weeks before I set it up. Within a week the Inspiron had to have its hard disk replaced. The Venue8 went out a week later when it would no longer power up or take a charge. They are replacing it but not my data.
I have a Dell at work but no more purchasing of Dell for me
Dell .
BTW - Michael Dell is a GOP supporter .
I used a computer first in 1978 and my boyfriend had a “laptop” bigger than carry on luggage. I try to keep up with what the current decent models are, but I’m not an expert. Initially I would have said to go with the Dell, all things considered, since the tech advances so quickly and laptops tend to be replaced within a year or so, and having to make the trip. Having read Marsh2’s reply, I’d go with the Lenovo. I clocked 14 hours of phone hell with an HP under warranty and if someone here is reporting a problem, it’s not worth the risk and I’ve heard pretty much only good things about Lenovos over the years. I bought my daughter a laptop for Christmas from TigerDirect with Windows 7. No one in our house will touch an 8. I’ve used many versions of Linux since 2000 and have been frustrated with all of them as they developed so I won’t use it, but that’s only because I have used so many and just got tired of it. There are good distros now though. It just lost it’s new car shine for me. I want ‘no brainer’ Windows. I’m too old any more and all I do is read FR and game.
I buy a new PC about every two years. Just bought a Lenovo to replace a Dell. The only difference I can tell is that the Lenovo is a little noisier.
I’d go with the Dell -it’s much easier to work on.
It would be helpful if you provided links to the sellers to compare prices, but what i found was the Lenovo specs are:
Windows 8
Technical details:
3rd Gen Intel® i5 64 bit Dual Core Processor
Max Turbo Frequency 2.7 GHz;
Chipset Intel HM76;
27” display;
6GB memory; 1TB hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 620M 2GB
Special features: Touch screen; built-in wireless networking; wireless keyboard and mouse; voice recognition; webcam
Note: DVD/CD drive not included
1,299.99 at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883265528
See reviews (4 eggs)
Dell Inspiron 11.6 is too ambiguous to know what it exactly is, but a Dell Black 11.6” Inspiron 11z i11z-4698OBK Laptop PC, was $348.00 at Walmart, but is a much lower class laptop;
Intel Celeron 743 processor- 1.2GHz, 1MB cache
160GB SATA hard drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-Black-11.6-Inspiron-11z-i11z-4698OBK-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Celeron-743-Processor-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium-64-bit/15779810#Specifications
We own a company that provides IT support for small and medium sized businesses. I always carry a Dell Latitude laptop because they have proven so reliable. My partner finally gave up his attachment to Toshibas because he was buying two laptops for every one of mine.
Lately Lenovo has developed a good reputation for some parts of their product line, i.e., the traditional laptops are garnering good reviews by users along the lines of what it was when it was IBM. I haven’t seen anything either good or bad about the IdeaPad.
My experience with the newer “tablet/combo” technology is that they are not nearly as robust as laptops and ultra-books. The technology is too new. All of my customers who have invested in this technology have had some issue. This is typical with new technology.
The Inspirion is Dell’s consumer laptop designed for home use and not quite as expensive as the business models.
A note on hard drives. Last year there was heavy flooding in Thailand that took out most of the hard drive manufacturing facilities in the world. Once the immediate stock of “good” hard drives was used up, then what was/is on the market could be classified as “B” grade. There is still a lot of that in the pipeline, because it was many weeks before they could even go in and start a clean up and repair of the manufacturing facilities. There are still certain types of hard drives that are back ordered and delay shipment of your computer.
Also hard drive replacements in laptops are fairly common. Especially if the laptop does NOT have the “shock resistant” technology. A laptop is subject to a lot of “drop” stress even if it is not actually bounced off the floor.
I stick to Dell for my business clients for the simple reason that they have a robust support structure in the area in which we live and their online support and phone call support is much easier to navigate than for other brands.
I am also a Lenovo vendor, they simply do not have the purchase and after purchase support of Dell in this part of the south.
Not sure this is helpful. For the type of device you are talking about, I’d say it is a matter of personal preference and which vendor has the most local support options for you.
I’ve been a Dell OEM VAR for 15 years and like their products and their company. Their Latitudes are reliable for the most part. Some early releases of models and upgrades can have issues, but so does every company out there. Dell does everything it can to stay American...and remain competitive.
Not sure if this will help you as I have old IBM Thinkpads.
I think it was eight years ago I bought the R51e (a Lenovo). It is a work horse and has survived much physical abuse. It has been in extremely dusty situations when my house was being renovated. Thinking it was going to bite the dust due to the abuse, I bought a back up Thinkpad, a Lenovo T60 about 5 years ago. When Irene hit, the area was filled with mud dust everywhere. There was no escaping it. It was on everything. I’m still using the R51e and have no problems whatsoever with it. The T60 I started using last summer just so it wouldn’t feel neglected. Both work fantastic.
For durability, I would recommend Lenovo. It has survived through a lot of abuse.