detail = ideal
As you can see, I’m typing “on the fly”.
See if the schools has any deals on campus. Any schools bookstores have students discounts,
All the Dells I buy are refurbished, they are considerably cheaper and come with the same warranty, I always upgrade that and buy the complete care guarantee with next business day in home service. I have never had a problem that they did not fix fast.
Just bought a nice HP, and they’re having a sale on their “Quick Ship” models right now.
I would never, ever, ever consider, nor recommend purchasing a refurbished laptop, or any computer or peripheral.
Reliable and computer is a relative term. You can have it fast, cheap or inexpensive, but you can only pick 2 of these.
PC windows is probably the most versatile, but the MAC is probably better in some regards like video editing.
Mac is more expensive, but most MAC users swear by them.
MAC is more expensive to upgrade, but my experience is, unless you upgrade in the first year, it’s not worth it to upgrade. You can most likely get what you want from the upgrade and more with a new purchase for just about the same cost.
Computers, like mattresses and underwear, are consumer products that should never be bought used.
Is your child using the computer to compose music as part of his/her college course work? If so, I would suggest you check with the school’s music department. They may have specific requirements or recommendations. My son’s school did (Architecture Department).
Also, you may already know this but Mac has the reputation of being superior in the fields of art and music. When we bought one for my son, they were offering special pricing for students and a free printer and/or i-pod (which we sold on e-bay to recoup some of the $). They have not started this promotion but probably will late May/ June.
Why do I know this? I am about to send *another* one off to college and she needs a laptop.... sigh.....
Good Luck!
He replaced the motherboard all three times, once because the HDMI port stopped working, once because the AC adapter port stopped working and once because th new palm rest he had installed was defective. All visits and parts were covered. He also replaced all missing rubber pads. The notebook is like new even though it is 2.5 years old.
This is for a formal music education? It might be wise to talk to some juniors and seniors in the music program to see what they recommend. There should be some music student organization on campus and the music department office probably has contact names and emails.
The primary thing I recommend is comparing Apples to apples. Don’t compare a cheap Inspiron to a Macbook Pro.
If you compare comparable models, the cost difference is about $250. Look at the Dell Latitude models.
The real issue is, “What software will your kid need to use?” If any is Mac software, the answer is clear, since it is easy to install Windows on a Mac, but the opposite isn’t true.
I think if it has a good fast processor (name brand like Pentium or Mac), good video card, good amount of Ram it will most likely serve them well.
I would check deals found on slickdeal.net under hot deals for good prices that come in almost daily.
People may disagree, but in general, refurbished laptops are superior.
The reason is, the refurbished laptop has to checked four times and the component that failed has been replaced. Statistically, the likely hood that the laptop is going to suffer another component failure is lower than a new unit selected at random. (yes, there are exceptions, but they are few and far between. Like the root cause of the component failing was another component not replaced. Isn’t it great to have a warranty? )
Refurbished laptops include the full warranty and full support just like the new unit. If your refurbished laptop says these aren’t included, it isn’t refurbished.
Refurbished isn’t the same as a lease return, many sellers don’t clarify this, they just call them all refurbished.
Lets take an example:
New $986, Refurbished $786, Lease Return $280
Personally, Lease returns are good for me too, most are <2 years old and still have a good 3-5 years depending on the model of heavy use in them. Most failures on computers happen between new and 2 years and in excess of 5 years (used to be new and 90 days, thank the environmentalists for ROHs). At 2 years, the electronics have just been broken in.
For lease returns, things not to expect:
1. Operating System
2. Support
3. Warranty
4. Returns after 14 days
I’ve had a few Dell desktops, a couple of iBooks (white plastic), and one aluminum unibody MacBook. The Dell desktops - with one notable exception - were reliable.
The one that was not reliable came with the notoriously bad IBM 75GXP hard drive which crashed, and it’s two replacements crashed as well. Dell always sent someone out very quickly who replaced the hard drive. I ended up taking the last 75GXP (Deathstar) out and installing a Maxtor in it’s place, until I had to return it (it was a lease).
The white plastic iBooks were crap, not fit for use as a doorstop. The plastic was so soft, and the design so poor, that they’d flex and end up with mainboard problems.
The aluminum MacBook was Apple’s last chance with me, and it’s a winner. The thing is solid in every way. Worth every excessive penny I paid for it. Had it not worked out, I would have built a Hackintosh and farted in the general direction of Cupertino, CA.
FWIW, I use computers all day, every day, to write software. I built my main development computer from parts.
Several posters have mentioned this (as I did in my previous post) Does your child need the computer for classroom music composition? At my son’s college - not only did he need a Mac - but he needed one with very specific capabilities, certain software, etc. He didn’t need all of this until his junior year, but we knew we didn’t want to purchase another laptop in 2 years.
Just adding some things to think about.....
One more thing. If you intend on buying a refurb MacBook, do it over the phone, and ask (and expect to get) a discount on AppleCare.
Some on this thread seem confused, the sellers profit from this confusion. There is a big price difference.
Beware of dishonest sellers. A real refurbished unit isn’t anything to fear.
“Refurbished isn’t the same as a lease return, many sellers don’t clarify this, they just call them all refurbished.”
My Dell XPS is a beast.
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!