Dell offers the XP Pro upgrade installed for about $80 more
than the standard Home.
| In article <
[email protected]>,
(e-mail address removed) says...
| > In article
| > >In article
| > >
[email protected] says...
| > >> One point to consider is which version of Windows
comes with the
| > >> computer you purchase. Many Universities require
students to have
| > >> Windows XP Professional on their machines in order to
get full access
| > >> to the University computer network. You need to
check this out before
| > >> making the purchase as getting one with XP Home and
then having to
| > >> purchase an XP Pro upgrade is a considerable
additional expense.
| > >
| > >Not one of the 275+ computers we've worked on at OSU
has needed XP
| > >Professional for the students to access resources on
the school network.
| > >
| > >--
| > >--
| > >
[email protected]
| > >(Remove 999 to reply to me)
| >
| > First, check with the University to see if they have any
deals with a
| > Laptop manufacturer, or if the are (gasp!)
Apple-centric, or run NT
| > domains, which would require XP/Pro (I've heard of at
least one
| > university that does.)
|
| I agree, and encourage people to buy Pro, but not everyone
can afford
| it, and you don't get a discount if you tell them to ship
a laptop
| without the OS from the large vendors (they won't ship
without an OS in
| most cases).
|
| Once you get to school you can buy the bundle and have one
of the school
| support people help install it.
|
| > IMO, always get the 3-year warranty, and always from the
manufacturer,
| > never the big-box store.
|
| The three year Dell warranty is not worth much unless you
purchase from
| the business section (you can be a 1 person company and
still purchase a
| business system) and make sure that you get the GOLD
Warranty with
| onsite repair (or you'll be without the laptop for weeks
if a repair is
| needed). Gold support from Dell often comes with American
support center
| access also.
|
| > If you buy from a store, look at the fine print and see
that you have
| > a 30-day refurn privilage with 100% refund. No
restocking charges.
|
| This is actually the BEST advice I've seen posted from
anyone. I had to
| return 3 Toshiba 17" laptops to get one that didn't have
dead/stuck
| pixels, Circuit City has a unconditional return policy -
made it simple
| to return the ones with bad pixels.
|
| That brings up another issue - bad pixels: Almost every
laptop seller
| has a policy about XX bad pixels being ACCEPTABLE and not
covered under
| replacement or warranty - they even allow ones in the
center of the
| screen to be defective! Always make sure that you get that
100% return
| policy and return anything with even a single bad pixel.
|
| > These days IBM and Toshiba and Apple are top on my list
| > Dell business-grade machines are good.
|
| Just don't get the 12" display ones where you have to
connect all the
| dongles just to use a mouse or CD drive.
|
| > Sony machines are slick but service and support are
horrible when
| > you have a problem.
|
| I have a client with a 12" Sony, it's a nice unit,
although I would
| never buy one, and he's not had to use support once (they
pay me for
| that).
|
| If I were going to buy a name brand laptop, it would be
another Toshiba,
| from a local store, open and inspect the LCD IN THE STORE
(no matter how
| much they complain), and then wipe/reinstall from scratch
when I got it
| home.
|
|
| --
| --
| (e-mail address removed)
| (Remove 999 to reply to me)
