Laptop?

upmeath · 10-09-2005 12:15pm #1

I went to the IT Induction course in Daedalus on Thursday and the instructor told us a little bit about the laptop offers, where/who do we go to to avail of the deals, how big are the reductions and how long must one wait to receive their laptop?

Syth · 10-09-2005 12:48pm

upmeath wrote:

I went to the IT Induction course in Daedalus on Thursday and the instructor told us a little bit about the laptop offers, where/who do we go to to avail of the deals, how big are the reductions and how long must one wait to receive their laptop?

The reductions are usually rubbish. UCDD have a deal with Dell to provide 'subsidised' laptops. You can usually get a better laptop for less direct from Dell.

themessiah · 10-09-2005 12:59pm

to my knowlege the best reduction is a maximum of 15% off rrp.

anna20 · 10-09-2005 1:28pm

i'm in B&L and have to say i am really pleased with my laptop. going into third year at this stage and the laptop is still in great nick. i looked into getting a laptop on my own before i started 1st year and the dell offer was way better as u got software at a lower price than in the shops. u shud get the laptop within two weeks, not sure who u shud tlk to about it though, quinn school sorted it for us

Syth · 10-09-2005 2:56pm

Ah I'm just annoyed because the school of computer science and informatics department, has taken away some of the 4th eyar labs (so I hear), so they really really want us to have laptops. They said they'd be subsidised. Instead they got some Dell laptops and threw in some extra software. All you get is fancy software for 'free'. Hmmm what software will we give final year computer science departments? I know Microsoft Office! Fidiots.

The actual computer they give you will not be of low quality, but you can get it for cheaper.

upmeath · 10-09-2005 4:26pm

so should i ask within the school of architecture for further info on this or should i call around to comp sci, or the su?
im better off getting it thru the uni in the end though, aren't i?

Shoota · 10-09-2005 7:17pm

I saw the offer myself and decided to look into the system reviews etc. In the June edition of PCAdvisor I found a review for the most expensive of the three on offer, the Latitude D610 and it was 1,057 pounds. which is at the moment 1,563 euro. The review wasn't very good, it got 6/10 for build quality, features and value for money based on the british price. The review was really based on the fact that they thought it was 300 pounds too expensive, it also said that battery life wasn't very good, "ten minutes short of two hours isn't what you want from a notebook that is primarily a worktool." It had a worldbench 5 score of 73 which isn't very good apparently.......
It then goes on to say "Things get worse when you dig a little deeper."

Apparently 60GB hard drive is standard, not the 40GB your given, also for copying purposes there is only CD-RW not DVD format, which is also standard, the graphics set-up is rubbish and the TFT screen "has a max resolution of a pawltry 1,024x768"

Its good points are its bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilitys and it has a good selection of ports....... and thats it.

I think if you upgrade to a 1.86GHz processor,
512MB RAM (2x256),
ATI Radeon X300 Graphics with 64MB DDR Video Ram,
and a DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
this would correct all the things that the mag said was bad about the original
you get 1552 euro as a total which converts to 1,048 GBP which is less than the the badly reviewed original spec notebook.

You can work it out for yourself but I reckon the deal we have at the moment is probably pretty good!

rainbow kirby · 10-09-2005 7:19pm

upmeath wrote:

im better off getting it thru the uni in the end though, aren't i?

Only if you want to be ripped off tbh. The deals are pretty bad. You'd be better off looking in the Dell outlet store or getting an iBook.

HappyCrackHead · 10-09-2005 8:03pm

DONT BUY A DELL LAPTOP!!!!

They're over priced and peices of JUNK trust me.

if you want a good laptop you can get really really good ones with cool graphics cards, big hard drives, and tonnes of memory for anywhere between 800 and 1200.

If u want to play games on ur laptop, DEFINITLY dont get a dell, their graphics cards dont support games like Half Life 2, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Rome Total War. AND if you do want a decent graphics card they tag another 200 bucks onto the price (slight hyperbole).

just dont waste ur time, go to dixons or even shop online. just dont get a mofoing dell from ucd.

p.s. do u think they'll rename daedalus the "Dell-screws-us building"

p.p.s. I have a packard bell, cost 1400 nine months ago 3.2ghz processer 512Ram 4xdvd RW nVidia 5100 graphics card and 60gig HD... the things a monster and in a fight would kill any dell.

arbeitsscheuer · 10-09-2005 8:10pm

But anna20 got a dell 2 years ago and she says it's still grand.

Maybe, just MAYBE, you have an irrational hatred of Dell, HappyCrackHead?

HappyCrackHead · 10-09-2005 8:15pm

SebtheBum wrote:

But anna20 got a dell 2 years ago and she says it's still grand.

Maybe, just MAYBE, you have an irrational hatred of Dell, HappyCrackHead?

sounds like me

i shopped around for a month last november for a laptop, i was disgusted by the prices charged by dell and the lack of any quality.... but different people have different experiences.

Ruskie4Rent · 10-09-2005 9:30pm

rainbow kirby wrote:

Only if you want to be ripped off tbh. The deals are pretty bad. You'd be better off looking in the Dell outlet store or getting an iBook.

I'm gonna get an iBook. Would I be right in thinking there's some sort of iPod deal woth one?
Also, is there any person who could give me a reason why i shouldn't get one?

Syth · 10-09-2005 10:05pm

rainbow kirby wrote:

getting an iBook.

We'll get 'em yet, curvy!

Ruskie4Rent wrote:

I'm gonna get an iBook. Would I be right in thinking there's some sort of iPod deal woth one?
Also, is there any person who could give me a reason why i shouldn't get one?

Yes you get €150 off any iPod (except iPod shuffle). You have to cut the labels off the box and send them in within 45 days, they will send you out a check. I sent mine in this week, haven't heard anything yet.

rainbow kirby · 10-09-2005 10:24pm

Ruskie4Rent wrote:

I'm gonna get an iBook. Would I be right in thinking there's some sort of iPod deal woth one?
Also, is there any person who could give me a reason why i shouldn't get one?

The iPod deal is only on the 14" iBook... the one Syth has. I have the really cute 12" one. There's absolutely no reason *not* to get one... and plenty of reasons to get one

Mac OS X is *fantastic*, so nice to use, and no viruses or spyware

The battery life is great on the iBooks compared to pretty much any Dell laptop (I get about 5 hours out of my iBook when I'm not online).

Red Alert · 10-09-2005 11:27pm

Well if i was buying one again i'd get an ibook, i like the Mac OSX interface. I like the "slave disk" mode too, looks very handy.

Dell using Linux beats windows battery life by the way! Some of the hard disks dell use are a bit dodgy - two laptops i know of failed in a very short space of time (my own included). The 'extended support' is utter crap, they missed two appointments for which i took time off college to repair the drive before finally coming.

upmeath · 11-09-2005 1:09pm

I'm not too pushed on playing games, I'm not seven years old... I'm looking for something that will do CAD and support all sorts of graphics programmes as I'm studying architecture, so the verdict is no to dell? who do i go to then, I like my windows so an iBook is out of the question, HP the best alternative?

Stabshauptmann · 11-09-2005 7:56pm

Please read this before buying a laptop from UCD

I bought mine from UCD and since only a few weeks later Id to buy another one for a friend which Ive been servicing since I think Ive some helpful advice on the subject.

If you are buying a laptop and are in quinn school wireless internet capability (which makes up a huge chunk of the costs of latitude laptops) is useless. You wont use it.
However there are 43 wireless hotspots on campus and wireless internet is availalbe around the south side for free.

The specs givin out as a min standard are lies. You do not see a lot of ram or powerful processing speeds unless you want to play games an IMO laptops will never be as good as PCs when it comes to games.

You wont need a floppy drive and prob wont need a cd burner. Get USB memory sticks, you will need them.

Whats important if you want a laptop for music/videos is a big harddrive. I filled 60gb very fast, infact ive about 200gb of stuff atm. However, you wont be able to use limewire, bittorrent or any other stufff like that in ucd. mytunes works though

However, most ppl I know have gone to ILTG for support/help/repairs during the year with their laptops. The dell warrenty is brilliant, if you buy one of their laptops you NEED it

I spend 2 grand on my laptop, if Id to do it again Id prob spend about 7-800 euro.

rainbow kirby · 11-09-2005 8:01pm

Or if you want to stay on the right side of the law and get some good office software... OpenOffice.org.

There's also open-source alternatives for a lot of the software you'll use on a daily basis.

Waltons · 11-09-2005 8:09pm

Pirated software?! *faints*
I was having a look at some of the Packard Bell stuff last night and they're doing some nice small ones for a good bit less than the Dell prices for something similarly sized. I'm not overly bothered about getting a lappy with great specs to play games because I'd agree with Kap Redeye in regards to a PC being better for that.

Stabshauptmann · 11-09-2005 8:10pm

SebtheBum wrote:

But anna20 got a dell 2 years ago and she says it's still grand.

Maybe, just MAYBE, you have an irrational hatred of Dell, HappyCrackHead?

South side girl, or heavy gamer. Using my steriotypical mind I straight away decide whos opinion to give more weight to.

Damn me and my cynicism. The specs happy has supplier are far superior to the laptops ucd subsidies from dell and are cheaper.

m1ke · 11-09-2005 8:46pm

I got a dell laptop err just after christmas I think.... it's working out fine and is good for all the usual stuff. Works like a gem in games like half life 2 and rome total war, it runs CAD well too and all the rest as it has a nice 17" screen. It's an inspiron 9200.... I find it's only bad point to be that it is quite heavy to carry around, even for a hulk like myself - but if you have to have a machine to replace your desktop it does it.

Jorinn · 12-09-2005 2:50am

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

South side girl, or heavy gamer. Using my steriotypical mind I straight away decide whos opinion to give more weight to.

Damn me and my cynicism. The specs happy has supplier are far superior to the laptops ucd subsidies from dell and are cheaper.

Actually the base specs off the UCD Premier page are just lower than what Dell offers to regular consumer. I configured too laptops to the same spec and the UCD preimier page came out MORE expensive for the exact same piece of kit. If I was to hazard a guess I'd say the stuff on offer is gernerally consisted of EOL parts as they aren't available as an option to regular punters.

Also from what I've seen the hinges on those inspirons seem to end up with serious issuses, though I've seen the same thing on the Samsung designed x300 Latitudes as well.

Laptop?

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