Dell Inspiron 11.6 vs Lenovo IdeaPad W210 (Windows 8)

January 8, 2014 | This Just In

[This Just In]

Good evening,

I'm seeking your opinion/advice on these two laptops. If given the choice which would you choose and why?

Our child has been given a gift: a Dell 11.6, but we may be able to exchange it for the Lenovo. I'm just wondering whether or not it would be worth the exchange. I'm inclined to think it is, but trading one for the other presents a little bit of a challenge. We must travel out of state in order to exchange the laptop. I'm wondering if it would be worth the wait and travel.

Thank you, as always, for your time and comments.

TJI

[theneanderthal]

I’m posting from an ancient Dell Latitude D610 with issues.

Who really knows? It’s a crap shoot on the hardware reliability.

Software is an issue! Support for Windows XP is ending in April. There are numerous questions as regards purchasing a new puter.

Should I take this dinosaur to Linux? Pitch it into the recycle bin?

[This Just In]

Thanks, sickoflibs. Perhaps I’ll hit you up for some advice once we get the laptop running.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”I’m posting from an ancient Dell Latitude D610 with issues.
Who really knows? It’s a crap shoot on the hardware reliability.
Software is an issue! Support for Windows XP is ending in April. There are numerous questions as regards purchasing a new puter.”

I had a work owned D610 with XP for ~ 7 years and it finally burned up last spring too. But work said they would stop supporting XPs anyway.

I really got use to XP but windows 7 had many improvements to it.

When I buy a home computer I need a laptop and I always try to get a fast CPU with lots of memory and disk space so it lasts.

Also, buy a docking adapter for your XP hard drive so you can use it without your old computer with your new one.,

[sickoflibs]

One thing really cool about windows 7 and 8:

They both come with built in digital audio recorders meaning you can easily start and end recordings of everything that (before it) comes out of your headset adapter or speakers into (digital) wma files to replay.

So if you listen to online radio like pandora, shoutcast, AOL, etc radio you can easily record it for later listening.

All built in,

XP didnt have that.

[GeronL]

That depends on what you want to do with the computer. If you just want to go online, check email and use Free Republic or OpenOffice then Linux would be a good choice. But what kind of Linux?

If you like playing games, you might not want Linux.

BTW: Just because support is ending doesn’t mean the computer becomes useless immediately.

Just a quick look... does it really have only 512mb of RAM?

[GeronL]

don’t just throw it away though

[HiTech RedNeck]

I tried with Google to find the Ideapad that you mentioned and could not. At Lenovo, however, they do show some other models in the $400 ballpark, including another Ideapad on sale.

Windows 8 in 64 bit is the big news for both of these. In principle, this enables better performance out of big-crunch applications like games. It’s also, unfortunately, a technical challenge if you want to install a version of Linux to coexist with Windows or take its place. A feature which Microsoft at least says is meant to virusproof hardware that runs 64 bit Windows, makes it difficult or impossible to install the Linux.

Check what processor you get with the Ideapad you have in mind. Google the processor number and you will find out its characteristics. An i7 in a Lenovo is better than the Dell’s Celeron but I don’t know if you get the i7 with the model you mentioned, which I could not find on Lenovo’s website. If that’s a clearance model the support on it might be limited.

[marsh2]

I got a Dell Inspiron 17R and a Venue 8 pad after Thanksgiving. Waited in the box a couple of weeks before I set it up. Within a week the Inspiron had to have its hard disk replaced. The Venue8 went out a week later when it would no longer power up or take a charge. They are replacing it but not my data.

I have a Dell at work but no more purchasing of Dell for me

[Greysard]

It’s in the mail, but I’m hoping it’s a 8.1

There isn't much difference between 8 and 8.1. There are improvements, like booting to the desktop, but there is still no Start menu - and that means that you still need to download ClassicShell or an equivalent... and then the "boot to desktop" does not matter because those utilities do that for you.

Unless you like Win8 GUI, I would recommend installing Win7. Note also that some software does not work on Win8. Primarily that applies to industrial software, but you may find problems with anything that is not released in 2013. I have one laptop with Win8, and it will be downgraded to Win7 because it is unusable for my needs. Win8 is a release to skip. Perhaps Win9 will merge Win7 GUI and Win8 kernel improvements, with Metro being an installable option that stays out of your way unless you need it.

Oh, BTW, it's a pain to disable touch. I had to do it on a new laptop that was bought by someone else for business use. Touch on a laptop is confusing at best, and in many cases dangerous to your work. To disable touch you have to find and disable the driver that feeds touch events into the kernel.

[sushiman]

Dell .

BTW - Michael Dell is a GOP supporter .

[pops88]

I used a computer first in 1978 and my boyfriend had a “laptop” bigger than carry on luggage. I try to keep up with what the current decent models are, but I’m not an expert. Initially I would have said to go with the Dell, all things considered, since the tech advances so quickly and laptops tend to be replaced within a year or so, and having to make the trip. Having read Marsh2’s reply, I’d go with the Lenovo. I clocked 14 hours of phone hell with an HP under warranty and if someone here is reporting a problem, it’s not worth the risk and I’ve heard pretty much only good things about Lenovos over the years. I bought my daughter a laptop for Christmas from TigerDirect with Windows 7. No one in our house will touch an 8. I’ve used many versions of Linux since 2000 and have been frustrated with all of them as they developed so I won’t use it, but that’s only because I have used so many and just got tired of it. There are good distros now though. It just lost it’s new car shine for me. I want ‘no brainer’ Windows. I’m too old any more and all I do is read FR and game.

[Tainan]

I recently got my Son a Lenovo Idea Pad Z585AMGRTXA, upgraded to 8G RAM, 500G 7200 HD, Win 8.1.
It has an AMD processor 2.3G and it rocks. Seriously good laptop.

Lenovo bought out HP's laptop business and make a darn fine product.
Yes, its made in China. Not really a big deal, IMO.
Good quality, good price and it does everything he needs. He's a recent high school graduate.

[AdaGray]

I buy a new PC about every two years. Just bought a Lenovo to replace a Dell. The only difference I can tell is that the Lenovo is a little noisier.

[bytesmith]

Lenovo (Chicoms) purchased the IBM PC business.

[Slump Tester]

I’d go with the Dell -it’s much easier to work on.

[daniel1212]

You can make W/8.1 like XP/W/7 with the free Classic Shell (http://www.classicshell.net/downloads/), without losing access to the extras W/8 offers. Once installed, R. clk. on the Start buttn and choose Settings and customize it as uyou like.

See a pic. of mine here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3109356/posts?page=124#124.

I missed the Quicklaunch bar, so i added it. The location is C:\Users\enterusernamehere\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Enter your user name where i put enterusernamehere. R. clk. on the Taskbar, point to Toolbars and New... and navigate to or paste the above text in the window.

It is also a good idea to go to C:\Users\enterusernamehere\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo then go up one level and R clk, on the Send to folder and create a shortcut, then drag it into the Send to folder. Now you can send any shortcut you want to that folder via right click.

Then go to the Quick Launch folder (paste the address into the Run command: Windows key and R), go up a level; create a shortcut and then r. clk >Send to>Send to -shortcut. Now you can add whatever shortcuts you want to it.

And rather than use W/8 libraries, etc, I make my own folders on a different partition or drive.

Also hand commands you can paste into the Run command:

C:\Windows\System32\appwiz.cpl (Uninstall progs)

C:\Windows\System32\rstrui.exe (system restore)

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\wuapp.exe (Windows update)

powercfg.cpl

devmgmt.msc (device mgmt)

eventvwr.msc (event viewer)

services.msc

msconfig

[daniel1212]

It would be helpful if you provided links to the sellers to compare prices, but what i found was the Lenovo specs are:

Windows 8
Technical details:
3rd Gen Intel® i5 64 bit Dual Core Processor
Max Turbo Frequency 2.7 GHz;
Chipset Intel HM76;
27” display;
6GB memory; 1TB hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 620M 2GB
Special features: Touch screen; built-in wireless networking; wireless keyboard and mouse; voice recognition; webcam
Note: DVD/CD drive not included
1,299.99 at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883265528
See reviews (4 eggs)

Dell Inspiron 11.6 is too ambiguous to know what it exactly is, but a Dell Black 11.6” Inspiron 11z i11z-4698OBK Laptop PC, was $348.00 at Walmart, but is a much lower class laptop;

Intel Celeron 743 processor- 1.2GHz, 1MB cache

160GB SATA hard drive

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-Black-11.6-Inspiron-11z-i11z-4698OBK-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Celeron-743-Processor-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium-64-bit/15779810#Specifications

[daniel1212]

See below: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3110216/posts?page=36#36

[Roses0508]

We own a company that provides IT support for small and medium sized businesses. I always carry a Dell Latitude laptop because they have proven so reliable. My partner finally gave up his attachment to Toshibas because he was buying two laptops for every one of mine.

Lately Lenovo has developed a good reputation for some parts of their product line, i.e., the traditional laptops are garnering good reviews by users along the lines of what it was when it was IBM. I haven’t seen anything either good or bad about the IdeaPad.

My experience with the newer “tablet/combo” technology is that they are not nearly as robust as laptops and ultra-books. The technology is too new. All of my customers who have invested in this technology have had some issue. This is typical with new technology.

The Inspirion is Dell’s consumer laptop designed for home use and not quite as expensive as the business models.

A note on hard drives. Last year there was heavy flooding in Thailand that took out most of the hard drive manufacturing facilities in the world. Once the immediate stock of “good” hard drives was used up, then what was/is on the market could be classified as “B” grade. There is still a lot of that in the pipeline, because it was many weeks before they could even go in and start a clean up and repair of the manufacturing facilities. There are still certain types of hard drives that are back ordered and delay shipment of your computer.

Also hard drive replacements in laptops are fairly common. Especially if the laptop does NOT have the “shock resistant” technology. A laptop is subject to a lot of “drop” stress even if it is not actually bounced off the floor.

I stick to Dell for my business clients for the simple reason that they have a robust support structure in the area in which we live and their online support and phone call support is much easier to navigate than for other brands.

I am also a Lenovo vendor, they simply do not have the purchase and after purchase support of Dell in this part of the south.

Not sure this is helpful. For the type of device you are talking about, I’d say it is a matter of personal preference and which vendor has the most local support options for you.

[ThomasMore]

I’ve been a Dell OEM VAR for 15 years and like their products and their company. Their Latitudes are reliable for the most part. Some early releases of models and upgrades can have issues, but so does every company out there. Dell does everything it can to stay American...and remain competitive.