I need advice for buying a computer!

[LauraleeH]

Right now I have an older Mac, but it's getting slower and slower. I can barely get to my favorite sites on Safari and Firefox browsers.

I was looking into a Dell Inspiron Laptop. It says there is a 2GB memory; 120GB hard drive. I have no idea what that means, I'm definitely not good with computers and technical stuff.

Basically, I need a good computer for internet surfing (I stick with my basic sites...Intercot, Myspace, Facebook, Yahoo, Ebay), iTunes (I have about 3,000 songs and videos) and iPhotos (I have thousands of pictures and I need plenty of room for more). I'd also like to get photoshop or something like that eventually.

So would the Dell be ideal for what I need? Any advice is appreciated!!

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

If I were you I'd look into a laptop instead of a desk top. Best thing I ever did. Have someone at the store tell you how much memory you'll need for your songs and pictures. And if you start running out of memory you can always save them on a memory stick which might not be a bad idea in case your computer crashes. That way you won't lose everything.

[LauraleeH]

Well the Dell I want is on sale online for 2 days only...it's a great deal. I won't be able to talk to anyone before the sale ends, so I figured I would ask here. It is a laptop, though...so that's good.

I was actually thinking about a memory stick for all of my stuff I have on my Mac (It has burned up before and I'm afraid it is getting ready to do that again) but how does that work? Do I get to choose what it saves when I plug it in?

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

To be honest I have even used mine yet but I think it's just file save as then select the disc drive option.
And you can always add more memory if you find you are using it all up.
Definitely do it for the old MAC before it crashes.

[DizneyRox]

I recently picked up a Dell laptop. I wouldn't worry too much about any sales, Dell has sales ALL THE TIME!

I ended up picking one up from the Small Business section, I like the size and feature set better than the Home site. It's a Latitude D630. Size, weight and features were right there. My previous laptop was far from a laptop at close to 7.3 lbs and as big as a house. It's what I would call a desktop replacement, not a laptop. Depends on what you're looking for.

You don't actually need to be a small business, I used my personal information and everything worked great.

[LauraleeH]

Thanks for all of the replies! I'm going to see if I can get credit and get the laptop that they are advertising for back-to-school. It's perfect for my age and I love the idea of bringing it with me to Disney and Atlanta. I can always take some computer classes at the local college if I need to.

[DizneyRox]

If you're talking about the 1525 ($599), really think about this one:

a. The 2 gig of memory is a shared memory, meaning it's shared with the graphics "card". If this is coming with Vista, that's barely enough to run Vista alone, never mind share it with any graphics stuff going on.
b. That's a fairly large laptop to use with only a 6 cell battery. Battery life could become an issue.
c. Weight is probably in the 6.5 lbs range. Seems light now, but give it an hour in an airport.

Honestly, that $599 ain't the best deal I've seen by any means, there really isn't a need to jump on this before it goes away. If you need one quickly, then sure, it' not a horrible deal, but if you have time, others will come around surely.

[garymacd]

I was actually thinking about a memory stick for all of my stuff I have on my Mac (It has burned up before and I'm afraid it is getting ready to do that again) but how does that work? Do I get to choose what it saves when I plug it in?

The hard drive you have spec'ed out on that machine is fairly small, but that is what your external HD is for. Try to keep only the operating system and programs on the internal drive and store everything else on the external.

Memory sticks are great for portability, but they can become expensive and are prone to dying. They can also get expensive. I looked at an 8 GB stick a week ago and was going to pay about $100 for it (I think) A better solution for backing up your music, videos, movies, data files, etc. is to get yourself an external hard drive. These have come down in price recently. I just bought a 160 GB hard drive for under $100. This has doubled my storage capacity, and given me a great place to back up everything in case of a catastrophic failure - which I just recovered from. And you can take it where you want.

I have four or five Dell's sitting around here, all ages and they have rarely given me trouble. Spend the extra money on the complete care package and LoJack. That way if you lose it, or damage it, or the cat chews through the power cord, you are covered.

Definitely upgrade your RAM memory. The more memory, the better your computer will perform. If you can afford it, also upgrade the sound and video card. Better performance.

As others have said, Dell always has deals, either free shipping or free upgrades of hard drives, more memory, interest free for a year. Don't worry about this one getting away from you. Next week, that unit you are looking at on sale may even be cheaper at regular price.

[LauraleeH]

I did end up ordering the Dell because I got credit and I don't play games or go to sites that would slow my computer down. I called my uncle who is great with computers and uses a lot of space, and he thought 120GB hard drive was great, but I did upgrade to a higher hard drive and memory, I got all kinds of anti-virus packages and a printer/scanner/fax/copy machine and warranties and PHOTOSHOP!! I'm really excited about that one :D
I don't remember what else I got, but it will be here in 3 weeks or so.
I'm used to my mom's laptop which is HUGE, and I really don't travel much, so it's mostly going to stay on my desk.
And yes, I am impatient, but I also needed to get it now because I'm going to start selling my photography and I needed a better computer.
It's going to be weird getting used to it, though...I'm so used to my Mac!
Thanks for all of the replies!!

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I just talked to my IT guy and he also said the flash drives are not a good permanent solution. He said it would be a good way to get your old files backed up then put them on your new computer. He also suggested a portable hard drive as a backup/expansion solution.
Good luck with the new computer!

[Flower]

Good luck with Dell - we had a bad experience with Dell and I will not get another. We have had our hard drive replaced twice and our motherboard replaced once.

The other thing to really look into is the credit fee they are actually charging you. When we got ours it was advertised as 9% and they ended up charging something ridiculous like 27%, we paid it off within a month to avoid to crazy interest fees.

My Dell printer/Scanner/copier now only prints in black or red:( . I will replace it when I go back to work in January, for now it serves it purpose and if I need photos printed I get them done thru a store.

[LauraleeH]

Thanks for letting me know...I will be returning/fixing anything that doesn't work, but for now, this should be fine for me.

And yes, the interest charges are insane! I'm trying to pay it off in 2 payments, and the only reason I did that is because I am putting my Disney trip on my regular credit card, so it's almost maxed.

[jonahbear2006]

I dont recommend Dell either, though back to school sales are a good time to shop. I like the sony vaios. They seem to be a good deal, though a bit more than what you are looking at. I second the external harddrives. We have 2 and one is just for my pictures and I love it. You always have the option of taking it with you, along with the laptop, too, and it is nice to be able to put it in a safe or something during vacation, so that you don't have to worry about losing it to a break in, if it has important stuff on it, and it isn't in the computer that can eventually become damaged either. My pictures are very important to me so the external hd is the best bet for me.

[DizneyRox]

I don't like to hear people relying on portable hard drives as a backup solution. Moving parts are BAD!

Not that my solution is the greatest, but I do think it's better than using a mechanical device. I routinely backup my files to a burnable DVD. Every year, I also refesh the DVDs I've already burned. Everything goes bad at some point, and if something does happen to the disks, I should at the very least have another one, HOPEFUlLY stored in an offsite location. Find a friend and swap disks with them, think FIRE!

[DizHawk]

I'm on my second Dell laptop and I love them. Have had some issues, but their support has always been top notch, and it's usually fixed by the next day.

I would be concerned about moving files on a flash drive between a PC and Mac. They aren't exactly compatible. I've never tried it, but the file systems are different and most likely the PC won't be able to read some of the Mac files.

People rely on portable hard drives as backups quite frequently. Yes, they do sometimes go bad, but that's why they should be tested periodically.

I picked up a 4GB flash drive last weekend for $20. Works great.

[DizneyRox]

I believe most flashdrives use the FAT16 file system. Same filesystem used by many digital cameras, etc. FAT16 is out of copyright protection (or was never copyrighted) which is why it's often used for removeable media. It's a standard and I doubt there will be any issues with transferring files.

Yes, hard drives do go bad and often there isn't any notice. That's why they call them hard drive crashes. They can go bad just like the hard drive in your laptop, etc. Just a warning, I like to see that poeple at least are attempting to use some sort of backup process. I get PCs all the time in to repair, and before I take it, I ask the users to supply we with their most recent backup as well in case I can't recover anything. I have yet to receive a backup tape/dvd/hard drive, etc.

[LauraleeH]

I backed up my entire iTunes on 2 DVD's! It was so easy. It took about 30 minutes, but I was doing other things so it was fine. I just have to do my pictures and I'm good to go. Thanks for the advice!

[hokies4life]

I backed up my entire iTunes on 2 DVD's! It was so easy. It took about 30 minutes, but I was doing other things so it was fine. I just have to do my pictures and I'm good to go. Thanks for the advice!

2 DVDs?!!? It took me like 5 to back up just my iTunes! lol. For a laptop it sounds like a good comp, but I'm still a desktop person..able to fit more storage space into the one box. But I do still have a laptop also, and looking into an external drive, and have everything backed up on dvds.

:chipdale:

[LauraleeH]

Just an update...DON'T EVER BUY DELL!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't say that enough.

[IloveDisney71]

We bought my DD a Dell laptop and in less than a year the hard drive crashed and the charger/plug cord thing went bad. The good news is they replaced them with no problem. The bad news is I decided that I should go ahead and buy the extended warranty (since we've already had problems with it). They double billed me and I have had a HORRIBLE time getting any help from the customer service about this. I was on hold for 32 minutes before I decided to hang up and call my credit card company so they could dispute the charge. I won't buy a dell again.

[LauraleeH]

We bought my DD a Dell laptop and in less than a year the hard drive crashed and the charger/plug cord thing went bad. The good news is they replaced them with no problem. The bad news is I decided that I should go ahead and buy the extended warranty (since we've already had problems with it). They double billed me and I have had a HORRIBLE time getting any help from the customer service about this. I was on hold for 32 minutes before I decided to hang up and call my credit card company so they could dispute the charge. I won't buy a dell again.
Oh, that's not good. I hate waiting on the phone. Three of us spent the entire weekend on the phone and they STILL didn't want to take the darn computer back.

[DizneyRox]

Just an update...DON'T EVER BUY DELL!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't say that enough.I'm going to need more info to go on with this one...

[crazypoohbear]

What happened in the last two months???

[LauraleeH]

It's a really long story so beware!

I finally get the laptop on a Monday and hooked it up in my room, no problem. I had a hard time getting internet service, though. So my mom spent the afternoon on the phone with Dell while they tried to tell us how to do it. We did what they told us (Which is what we had been trying all along) but it still didn't work. So the guy told my mom that he would have to transfer her to the repair line and there would be a charge of $70. My mom asked why there would be a charge because we paid to get the repair line (Whatever it was called) for a full year. She never got a straight answer so she just got transferred. SO the lady in repairs wanted to talk to me. She helped me set it up, and a couple hours later, I had internet!!
So I put all of my pictures and songs on and started enjoying it, and then wanted to go to the kitchen to get something to eat.
That's when I lost my connection. (By the way, the kitchen is right next to the room with the router)
So after four days of my internet being unpredictable (Sometimes I'd have it, and then I'd lose it) it was completely gone. We called back and they said there'd be another $70 charge. My mom refused and the guy transferred her to someone else. We told him our problem and how they wanted to charge us again, even though we were supposed to be protected for a year. The guy thought that was the weirdest thing that they tried to charge and gave us an immediate refund. Then he connected us to "someone that could help"
So after I talked to the person for a while, we finally came to the conclusion that it was our router. Ha. So we went out and bought a $70 router at Best Buy. We got the deluxe range router and asked the lady how far it would reach. She said anywhere in the house...doesn't matter where you are. We asked if it would work in a 200 sq foot house (Which is much bigger than what we have, but to be safe...) and she said definitely, no problem.
Here's where the fun begins...
We hooked it up and I only had connection if I stayed in the same room as the router! The room is actually like a laundry room so there's no way I'm using my computer in there. After being on hold for 30 minutes, my mom talked to the guy for a while and passed the phone to my dad. My dad couldn't understand a word he was saying so I took it and he tried to start all over with the connection process. I told him, "We've tried it many times with many people, is there anything else we can do?" and he told us we had a faulty router! Um, no, the router actually made my mom's laptop faster! So I told him, "We just bought this tonight, it will work in a 200 sq foot house" and he said, "No ma'am! There's not a router out there that goes further than 20 feet. You must be too far" and I said, "So basically I have to keep my LAPTOP in a different room...what's the point of it, then? I could have had a regular old computer" and he said something I couldn't understand. I said, "Excuse me?" and he said, "I SAID FBDFGJHBDF." Still didn't get a word of it. So I asked why my mom gets perfect connection from anywhere in the house and he asked if he could connect himself to my computer. I said yes. He tried the same thing I tried (I can see everything he's doing...I didn't take my eyes off of it because I was still signed on my credit card website) and he still claimed it was my router. I told him it was impossible and I asked if he could transfer me to returns. At this point, he gets very angry and starts yelling "MA'AM, JUST CALM DOWN, I AM TRYING TO TRANSFER YOU BUT YOU MUST BE PATIENT AND CALM AND STOP YELLING!!!"
I start wondering if something is wrong with the phone connection, but I just politely thanked him.
So he puts me on hold, gets back on and says, "I am now connecting you to returns, you will hear music for a brief moment and then everything will be silent. Don't hang up, stay on the line, it may take a while. Thank you for choosing Dell...oh, and there is NOT a router that will reach more than 20 feet" and hangs up. Nice, right? So I hear music and then it goes quiet, just like he said. 45 minutes later, I gave the phone to my mom because I had to use the bathroom, and that's when we discovered that he had HUNG UP THE PHONE ON US!!! He purposely lied to waste our time. I go and check my computer and he was still logged on! He could still do anything he wanted to my computer and I couldn't log him out. At this point, my dad is turning red and my mom and I start crying.
So we calmed down and my parents called returns and I called repairs. It took about an hour but I got through and told them that someone had been connected to my computer to work on it and never logged out, and he was still on it. The guy was amazed and told me to completely shut everything down and he'd automatically be logged out. So I did and it was fine. My dad talked to someone in returns and they didn't want to take it back because they said it sounded like my internal card was bad or something. They said that they could have someone out on Tuesday to fix it. If it didn't work, I could return it for a brand new computer. Well, I only had 21 days to do that, and that begins when they ship it, not when it gets here. SO guess when my 21 days were up?!
Yeah. Tuesday. So after 1 1/2 hours, we said no and we wanted to completely get rid of this problem, and he was nice and understood and sent someone on Tuesday to pick everything up.
This was 2 weeks ago and they still haven't processed the return or taken anything off our credit card, so looks like we will have to fight that as well.

Went to Best Buy the next day and bought a nice Sony. I was amazed at how well the speakers sounded. The guy looked at me funny and said, "Ma'am, all laptop speakers sound like that" :blush:
So the Dell speakers were broken.

I literally hooked my computer AND internet up in under 2 minutes :number1:

Haven't lost my connection once, even with this "20 foot devil router"


Oh, one of the biggest things was when I put my SD card into the Dell, it deleted them and I lost every single photo (I had over 2,000) so that was a horrible afternoon I spent crying over my lost photos (The number 1 reason for buying a new computer...out of fear I'd lose them from my MAC)

[eas423]

Oh no.....now my stomach is in knots, my dell 1525 is coming tomorrow. :( We didn't have a lot of $$ to put towards it, so it definitely has the basic memory, etc.

[LauraleeH]

I wouldn't worry about it...I obviously had a bad computer (And printer...ha, forgot to mention that) but you will know right away if it's bad and you'll be able to return or exchange it before the 21 days are up. My mistake was waiting too long. But what are the odds of another bad computer? I'm sure it will be fine. My main problem was how Dell handled the problems!

[crazypoohbear]

It's nice (:() to see that in the four years that I purchased my Dell their customer service hasn't improved. It's about time for me to replace my computer and I will NEVER buy a Dell because of the poor customer service.
When I was making payments on mine I increased the amount I was paying from like $25.00 per month to $100.00 per month and they jacked up my interest rate because of it.
I was told that "maam, we can charge what ever we want"

[LauraleeH]

It's nice (:() to see that in the four years that I purchased my Dell their customer service hasn't improved. It's about time for me to replace my computer and I will NEVER buy a Dell because of the poor customer service.
When I was making payments on mine I increased the amount I was paying from like $25.00 per month to $100.00 per month and they jacked up my interest rate because of it.
I was told that "maam, we can charge what ever we want"
Wow. I don't know why that surprises me after everything...but wow.