So this morning I’m off to the third day of the four-day “Intro to Statistics” course that I started last week (it wraps up tomorrow). I have to admit, having the break in the usual routine is nice, and today should be more enjoyable than last week since I won’t be running a fever or coughing up a lung. As usually happens with these things, I do still have a slight residual cough, and probably will for another week or so. This led me to get up at 2:15 AM to take some cough syrup, and I couldn’t get back to sleep until 3:30 AM. Ugh.
So I did finally pull the trigger on buying a new laptop. I went with the Dell Inspiron 1520 (2 GHz Dual Core 2 processors, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB hard drive) and picked up a very nifty discount through takaza‘s employer. Plus, it’s a color I suspect pinkleader will drool over:
Of course, I’d have felt better if I hadn’t read two scary pieces about Dell in Consumerist right after ordering, but I figure that’s pretty much life in the consumer laptop market these days. And I look at it this way: if anything goes badly wrong, I always have someone I can call. Hey kellicjtiger, would you be OK with exchanging laptop service for dinner at a fancy restaurant? 🙂
So following today’s exciting class, it’ll be over to the Westin to have dinner with MFF’s salesman there. Hopefully we’ll nail down a few important items, and maybe get some pictures of some of the suites that we’ll be offering soon, as well. But now, I’m off to class.
If you’re looking for service from someone a little closer/more convenient, I also am Dell certified for warranty parts repair on notebooks and desktops. Just thought I’d mention.
Good to know 😉 And hey – since you’re local I’d be happy to provide a gourmet home-cooked meal!
Consumerist?
One of us.
ONE OF US.
Aw heck, I’ve been reading Consumerist for a couple of years now. I’m a whore for the Gawker Media websites.
No I’d be OK just helping you out…I don’t charge friends for computer support. :x)
Well, I look at it this way: if I have to bring the laptop all the way to Minneapolis, there’s enough wrong with it that it might take an investment of time. I would feel bad about asking for that for free, y’know?
Ooooh… SHINEY!
PS- Get the warranty. Even though I can install the parts the hardware is still expensive. If something breaks, not saying it will happen, you will be very happy that you got the warranty over a $300 motherboard, or a $600 LCD display.
PPS- Nuke the OS when you get it and install from scratch. Dell’s OS image has a metric ton of crap on it.
PPPS- My last post the other day made is sound like the xx20 series sucks. They don’t. They are really solid laptops.
Hmm. I didn’t get the warranty, but I assume I can buy that any time in the first year. I’ll probably see how things go the first few months before making any decision (and let my credit card heal up!)
I assume that the laptop ships with install media – hopefully it doesn’t replace all the installed crap with the same installed crap 🙂
The laptops that we get from Dell come with a CD with Dell’s factory image. However, since these are corporate machines, the image doesn’t have a lot of extraneous crap like consumer models. It wouldn’t have all of your drivers on it, but if you’d like a copy from me, I could arrange that. The OEM license key on your box will let you install from any OEM media. In fact, the Dell image may actually be close enough to your hardware that it installs in an activated state and doesn’t require you to put the key in. I’ve seen that happen on some of the system I’ve brought home from work. Do you have XP or Vista on there? I have Dell OEM media for both XP and Vista Ultimate. If you have a different flavor of Vista than that though, I probably can’t help you….
Heh. This is XP all the way – I’m not quite willing to dive headfirst into the murky waters of Vista just yet.
I do have to wonder if it’s worth the hassle to nuke-and-repave out of the box, particularly if I’d have to start on the Great Driver Hunt. I’ve had to do that before and it’s a tremendous pain in the ass!
It is. Trust me on this. Dell puts so much shit into their OS that even if you strip and uninstall most of the extra crap, the OS simply isn’t that stable out of the box. As Ripley said…..nuke it from orbit….its the only way to be sure.
I can ship you a Dell Windows XP install CD. I know I have one floating around here somewhere.
It doesn’t always ship with install media. I think on checkout you need to select OS CD or all it will ship with is an image on the hard disk that you reimage with.
Tip. call up Dell a week after you get your laptop. Assuming you don’t get a Windows CD in the mail. Tell then you are getting a BSoD on boot, and tell them you want to redo the image on your system. They will have you hold down a set of keys on boot that will drop you into dell’s image partition. They will walk you through this. Pick an early % say 18% and tell them while they are on the phone that it freezes at 18%. After a couple times ask them for the install CD and Drivers CD. They will send it free of charge to you. A bit of work but they will send it to you.
Ugh. That doesn’t exactly fit my idea of a plug-it-in-and-it-works.
I did double-check; other Dell laptops give you the option for installation media for your OS, but with the Inspiron 1520 they just give you the option of WinXP Home or Professional – no mention of install media. I’m assuming that I can just download all the drivers I need from the Dell website? Or is it that the Drivers CD is a simple click-and-install kind of setup?
I’ll definitely take you up on the WinXP Install Cd, though. Do you have my mailing address?
Edit: Takaza just pointed out to me this item from the itemized order list “Item #313-5812 – XP DELL RESOURCE ,BACK-UP DVD 1520”.
I confess, even though I’ve got a laptop from work and a mac around the house, I’ve lusted after the pink Dell laptops just for the color statement alone. Then I remember that my pink chucks were $20, and a pink laptop is, well, more than $20 and therefore the urge subsides.
Did you get pink because it was available, or cheaper? I’d have pegged you for the blue personally.
Well, the options were black, brown, blue, and pink. Black and blue would delay shipment by a week, and brown was just too…boring. Pink was available at no additional charge and wouldn’t delay shipment, so there ya go.
Plus, it’s FABULOUS! 🙂
Hee hee hee!
Ever seen this place?
http://www.colorwarepc.com/
It looks less pink in person… at least the two that a couple of programmers here recently got are.
It’s still very cool looking, though!
Congrats on the laptop.
I would concur with the other as well on the warranty, and not because its a dell…but just because its a laptop.
I am currently seeking applecare for my MBP through ebay…
I’m hoping we can make it! Will let you know soonish!