Posted on 05/09/2011 9:41:48 PM PDT by This Just In
Good day. We are on the verge of investing in a laptop for our child. Our child will be heading off to college and will be using this tool especially for composing music. We are not particularly concerned about the gaming capabilities.
Our family's considering either a Mac or Dell. If money were no object, we would purchase the MacPro, but that is unlikely. Here are the main issues were are concerned about:
1. reliability 2. customer assistance 3. durability 4. expansion options
Would any of you recommend purchasing a refurbished laptop? If so, why? If not, why? Is there any other brand you would recommend (Lenovo, HP, etc.)? If so, why?
Have I failed to consider other important issues/specifics?
Any further recommendations or advice would be deeply appreciated.
If its’ a Dell, would you recommend the XPS?
I like Windows 7, too. I got mine from Best Buy for $299. Not bad for my needs.
Latitude is the line focused at heavy business users. Better construction and good technology. More or less, the flagship line. Intel Core-i5 and Core-i7 processors.
Inspiron is aimed at home users. Lesser construction quality, but decent tech. Intel Core-14 and Core-15 processors.
Vostro is aimed at low end business users who need good construction but lower performance. Older tech standards, but robust. Older Core2-Duo processors.
I have bought desktops and laptops from Dell Outlet since 2004 or so. I have been working in Iraq all that time. I generally keep my laptops two years and then give them to our church. I travel with them and they are exposed to the dust and heat and other elements here. I have never had one fail. I have bought them for 3 kids in college and for my wife’s business. We have never had a problem with any of them that was not fixed quickly. I have personally never had a problem with any of mine. The Outlet machines come with the normal Dell warranty but I always upgrade to the complete care. I do not see any difference between the outlet pcs and the brand new ones except for the price. I am an IT professional here and the Army uses Dell, so I do get to evaluate and pick the models I like before I decide which one to buy.
XPS is what I’m considering. What kind of an XPS do you own, if I may ask?
Good deal!
Go to CNET (www.cnet.com) look at the reviews, look the the customer reviews. Don’t look at the praises, look at the bad reviews.
That’s what I do when I spec one out at work. Especially when one of my bosses, just has to have “this specific one”.
Thank you for your service to our country.
I appreciate your advice. Judging by the advice provided on this thread, I will most likely purchase a XPS. Do you have any more suggestions? What about spills?
Praying for your safe return home.
TJI
Which would better serve our college student as a Music major, the Latitude or Inspiron?
The best advice I can give is get a netbook, preferably one with a N450 or higher dual core atom processor. The battery life should last them most of the day, wifi is everywhere on campus, and it’s powerful enough to let them use the netflix account to stream movies while studying.
They’ll thank you for it soon, as they’ll soon watch everyone with the big bulky laptops start leaving them behind while they still easily carry theirs. And by the end of the first semester, they’ll know what they really want for the rest of their college career.
Don’t worry about support, there’s hundreds of budding computer techs on campus. Just get light and small to begin with. And if they really want to, they can plug the netbook into a large screen monitor and plug in an external keyboard and mouse for an in room dock station. Plus, the power bricks on them are tiny for those extra long study sessions.
Whatever you buy, get the best warranty they offer. If you get a Mac, get the complete Apple Protection Plan. I had two major issues with the iMac I bought three years ago, in one instance they gave me a brand new machine, in the second instance, they replaced the LCD.
Neither cost me a dime.
In the name of God, stay away from Dell!
Is he going to be composing music because that's what he's majoring in, or will he be doing it purely as a hobby?
I have a child who dates a music major, and I know the software that they use at her conservatory is MAC-based. She had to buy a MAC, and I think she actually purchased it through her program, and it came with some specific software pre-installed.
I put it together on Dell’s site. It’s a 17” core i7 w a 2gb video card, 8gb of RAM and Blu-Ray burner. It’s overkill for Photoshop work, but I can also play Fallout: New Vegas at full spec.
I recently took my 3.5 year old (out of extended warranty) MacBook Pro in for service and learned how many Apple computers become “refurbs”.
I asked if a loaner was available and they said “no, but you can buy a new one and return it any time before two weeks are up.” I told them I didn’t think this was very good for them, I would be making a new computer into a used one, and they replied that this is how they get most of their refurbs.
So, I plunked down my credit card on a brand new 17” MacBook Pro, and returned it a week later. Full refund. I wiped the hard drive clean and reinstalled the system on it. And off it went to refurb land.
After this experience I would have no hesitation to buy a refurb laptop from Apple. You want the 3-year Applecare policy anyway — three years of warranty and free tech support by phone are very appealing. And the technician will be located in the US or Canada and will be a native english speaker. No tech support from lower Botswanaland here, like with a Dell. A friend bought a Dell and his required 3 or 4 home visits by a tech with very limited english. And the original support call was to someone in India, speaking very non-standard english which was very difficult to understand over the phone.
The only downside I can see is that the only ones Apple does this with are the “standard” ones on their website. As soon as you want to customize in any way, a refurb is going to be one returned for a defect.
Your son should probably do the research in terms of the best platform for his needs. If you’re going to finance it, you may want to get a new machine with a decent warranty. BTW, creative folks tend to favor macs.
My Dell refurb served me very well, bought it in 2003, on its last legs now. So I don't know why I bought a mac, think it was my photo forum, and moved over to that (had it here ready). I needed more memory for my photos which use a lot.
Anyway I've been going nutz over this garage band it has installed. At first I didn't think much of it because it's got a guitar icon, but apple had an article about a guy who never could play music in Texas and just loved garage band (an easier version is on ipads).
So I downloaded the rest of the piano lessons (free and learned long ago but doesn't hurt to review), and started watching videos to see what could be done with it. Looks like any kind of music. And another very steep learning curve. The keyboard still has a pro interface I can't afford right now, so I got a call from my granddaughter in LA and was asking if her bf had gotten my keyboard working again when they borrowed it (B4 they left), said yes. It's an Alesis QS8 with weighted keys.
So in about 5 minutes I get an email, she bought me a different interface with connector cables at amazon for 5 bucks; it's on its way, hope it works.
I don't know. My family seems to lean toward macs, think they are easier. I sure didn't at first; everything was bass acward compared to my pc. But I made a YT video already and am finally getting along with it very well.
I was advised if I get another pc (in the best of all worlds I want both), get a Vostro. A tech told me it's a business model, and they tend to last longer than the home pc's.
If you can manage the money, I'd recommend you get her a mac, a Macbook Pro if you can afford it. But first go to the apple site and YT and look for garage band tutorials and see what you and she thinks. Something for everyone with those, mixing tracks, editing, adding loops, picking other computer instruments.
You can interface some guitars with it, too. I don't know what instrument(s) she plays and if the record feature would work without a cable, must be some way to do it.
Not a hobby. Music Composition major, and our child has already composed several pieces (using our PC music software, as well as composing music by long hand).
Would this be overkill (heavy, bulky) for a college student?
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