Ahhh..Computers

[shadowkat]

After three frustrating hours on the dell site, I finally bought myself
a lap-top today, just in time to save $429.25 on the system, $24 on shipping and handling, and get a free printer to boot. Don't really need the free printer, have a cheap Epson. But who knows, could always sell or give away the Epson and keep the Dell. I chose Dell, because every single solitary person I asked online and off suggested Dell. Three people at work, a friend, my landlord, my parents, you guys, it was getting ridiculous. Don't know what happened to gateway.

What took so much time was making choices. They give you far too many options in my opinion.

I picked the 6000m Inspirion, which everyone seemed to recommend. And had the best deal.

Intel Pent. M. Processor 730 (1.60 Ghz/2MB Cache/533/Mhz FSB)
15.4 inch W/XGA LCD Panel
512 MB Shared DDR SDRAM 2Dimms
Intergrated Intel Media Accelerator 900 Graphics (no choice given)
60GB Hard Drive (not planning on downloading movies or tv shows, but might do videos and music.)
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Intergrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem (comes with)
Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 (free didn't choose, comes with)
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive
Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 Internal Wireless (free, didn't choose it, comes with)
Musicmatch Jukebox Basic
Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition 15 months (free and with packet - you can also get MacAfee, went with Norton, may go with Avast once expires.)
9cel Lithium Ion Primary Battery (80Whr)
Dial-up and High-Speed = EarthLink
External USB Floppy Drive (since I have most of my stuff on floppies.)

Considered getting the program that switches everything from one computer to the other, but since I'm still keeping my PC and just discontinuing internet access on it - don't see as too much of a problem. Floppies and CD's should be enough.

Thanks for the help all. Mucho appreciated!

Also defragmented my hard drive this weekend. Plus cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen. Did laundry and saw the doctor. Yay me!

Comments

[graffitiandsara.livejournal.com]

Congrats! Looks like you made a really good choice on the laptop. I think it will have everything you need, and a nice feel to it. I've always liked the feel and screen quality on the Dells.

Don't know what happened to gateway.

They went through a period where they made really crappy machines. I don't know if their quality still sucks, but I'd never touch them again. The museum had about 20 or more Gateways when I first started there, all about 4 years old, and they all were going south in a big way. They should have held up better, and caused me major headaches.

So are you getting broadband access through Earthlink? And if yes, will it be DSL or Cable?

I hope you love your new pc!

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Gateway clearly had some kind of big trouble a few years ago, because they withdrew altogether from UK/Ireland - which was yeah annoying when I had the Massive Computer Crisis earlier this year and was unable to access any form of technical support (though part of the problem was my system was so old I had long since misplaced my customer number).

[graffitiandsara.livejournal.com]

If your system was older they wouldn't have helped you even if they were in the UK. One of the things that really turned me off of Gateway is that they won't answer questions without charging you once your computer is off of warranty. I found that totally unacceptable. I don't know if Dell still has this policy but when I was ordering from them they had free telephone support for the life of the machine.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

They went through a period where they made really crappy machines. I don't know if their quality still sucks, but I'd never touch them again. The museum had about 20 or more Gateways when I first started there, all about 4 years old, and they all were going south in a big way. They should have held up better, and caused me major headaches.

Thank god, I chose a dell back in 2000 and not a Gateway. Did it because Dell was cheaper and I could order online, the Gateway had a store in the city - used to be on 59th and Broadway. One of my co-workers also suggested Dell over Gateway - better support. (One of the brighter things I did computer wise.)

So are you getting broadband access through Earthlink? And if yes, will it be DSL or Cable?

Decided on Earthlink over Aol (because Aol makes me nuts every time I use it at my parents house and I can't stand the MSN I currently have, don't know how this will effect access of personal email from work...though.) Also decided to go with DSL over Cable - for many reasons, the main ones being: 1) what you said about Cable requiring an incredibly powerful firewall (something an offline friend told me a while back) 2) more pricey, and 3) difficult to hook up in my apartment with causing undue interference with my tv.

Thanks for your help by the way, between you and Bit, dlgood, onm, and the others I was able to make an informed decision on this one and not go too far over my budget. Kept it way under the 1500 mark.

[graffitiandsara.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you made a great choice, and got a really good deal. Excellent work! Buying a laptop can be very stressful, I know it is for me. I'm glad to hear you went with DSL. I'm not familiar that with Earthlink, but I'm sure it will be fine. I think you're going to be very happy moving to broadband. I think it would have been disappointing for you to have spent all this money and then still had the disconnect and speed issues. Your new set up should resolve all your problems very satisfactorily. I was happy to be part of your advisement team!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Buying a laptop can be very stressful, I know it is for me.

Oh god yes. Also took forever to do it - spent a total of 6 hours researching the website and trying to customize the system, nearly drove me batty. Yours and LittleBit's help - helped narrow down the choices considerably. Part of the problem is there are too many
choices - too many things you can add on or incorporate, which they tell you that you need but you don't, not really. Drove me bonkers.

[elz.livejournal.com]

Sounds good! Dell's been getting a lot of flack for its customer service lately, but I owned a Dell for five years and never actually had to call their customer service line, so I can't really complain. And the 6000M seems like a great buy.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

They do have ungodly wait times - I tried to call them for customer support recently on a Sat morning and was told the wait time was 10 min.
Gave up and came online to ask instead.

That said - they were quite helpful in the past. And haven't needed them much. Others I've spoken with, have no complaints. They'll actually try to help unlike MSN.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

It looks good!

[cjlasky.livejournal.com]

Well done. Looks like you got a better deal on a laptop than I did. I bought a Sony VAIO FS640, but I didn't get no free printer. Even if you're only on regular dial-up, you won't get kicked out anymore, and your response time on-line will be much faster. [Applause]

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It was tempting to just go to ComputerWorld or one of the places near where I work and grab a Sony, but my work colleagues talked me into going through Dell and having it sent to my workplace - which it turns out is actually doable.

I wanted the customer support package and to have more control over what into the thing - so that was the other reason.

At any rate, I think I made a good buy. Haven't worked on a lap since the 1990s.

[cjlasky.livejournal.com]

I see you're going for DSL. Let me know how that works. I might want to upgrade.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well we'll see if they can install it. Little worried about that.
Don't foresee too much of a problem - now that I actually have a computer that can handle it.

You're still on dial-up? I thought your internet was faster now?

[cjlasky.livejournal.com]

Still on dial-up. My old computer was so slow that it cut into my internet capacity. Switching to the laptop doubled my speed. But it's still less than nothing compared to DSL and cable. I'm considering subscribing to a "bit torrent" service so I can see some of those new Doctor Who episodes. (the ones with ASH) some time before 2025. But I'll need some REAL speed if I'm going to download a TV show in "real time."

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

You also need to ensure you have enough storage (GB capacity) and
Memory (RAM) - according to dlgood you need at least 60GB for tv shows.
I think you also need at least 258 RAM for it.

[cjlasky.livejournal.com]

80GB of storage and 512Megs of RAM. I'm set.

[atpo-onm.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good'un-- and I think you'll be very pleased with XP vs. ME.

BTW, you don't need to disconnect your old PC from the internet. You can't be on the net at the same time with both PC's (unless they're networked), but you can log off with one and then log back on with the other. I often use my older PC if I'm surfing sites I'm not familiar with, because if it gets hit with a virus, it's no biggee. (So far hasn't happened, but you never know).

One odd thing I did notice while reading your list-- Adobe Reader 6.0? If that's really the one it came with, uninstall it, go to the Adobe website and download/install 7.0, which is a) faster/better and b) optimized for XP. 6.0 is the last approved Reader for 98 and ME. That's why it seems odd that 6.0 would be on an XP machine.

(Adobe Reader is free, whatever the version. Just be sure you uninstall the previous versions before installing the newe one, or wackiness may ensure.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice on Adobe - don't use it very often, but good to know. I think we have 7.0 at work. Not sure. Am horrible at keeping track of those things.

BTW, you don't need to disconnect your old PC from the internet. You can't be on the net at the same time with both PC's (unless they're networked), but you can log off with one and then log back on with the other. I often use my older PC if I'm surfing sites I'm not familiar with, because if it gets hit with a virus, it's no biggee. (So far hasn't happened, but you never know).

Did not know this. I assume I can use the Earthlink for both. PC has to stay dial-up though, no ethernet card.