Posted on 05/09/2011 9:41:48 PM PDT by This Just In
I suspect many refurbished systems are due to buyer’s remorse and not necessarily to a technical defect. No matter the reason why it was sent back, the computer is gone over thoroughly and all defects are fixed, including cosmetic damage to the case. The computer is then repacked to factory standards. You can’t tell a refurbished computer from a new one other than saving yourself many hundreds of dollars because they can’t sell it as a new one.
I would definitely check with the school, because it's probably likely that they have a software package that they use in classroom activities, and I'd wager that software is probably MAC-based.
I did look at the specs for Vostro awhile back. What people didn’t like were there weren’t enough USB ports, only 4 I think.
Thanks OldDeckHand.
I have already contacted the music dept. They did not have any specific recommendations other than what’s required on their Notebook Guide page. They did not emphasize or encourage students to purchase a Mac.
Our three kids each took a MacBook to college. One is now in grad school using the same 6 year old machine. One is a senior and one is a sophomore. Reliability has been very good on all three machines. We always have some sort of problem, so we have always bought the extended warranty and gotten our money’s worth out of it. Other writers are correct - - see if he college or department your child is attending has special requirements. That seems to be less the case lately than five years ago.
Our kids were all raised on Macs (Mom used to work at Apple), so it was a very comfortable environment for the kids when headed to college. Kids really don’t need any more stress their freshman year than absolutely necessary, so avoiding the problems of learning a new OS can be a big help.
Lastly, it was a lot easier for me to troubleshoot problems remotely on the Mac than on the PCs. Things “just work” on the Mac.
The complete care covers anything that may happen to the machine, spills, drops, etc. My wife dropped a laptop onto a tile floor and broke it into multiple pieces. We had the complete care waaranty on it. Dell sent her a new one and she sent the broken one back to them in the same box. No hassle and fast.
It’s on the heavy side, as it’s a desktop replacement. And probably overkill, unless you’re an avid gamer or multimedia user. I’d imagine the typical college student would do just fine with a 15” core i5.
Pardon the absence. I’m currently comparing the XPS with the MacbookPro. My eyes are glazing over.
Good luck. Macs are very nice too.
Get a refurbished one from the Dell website.
Same as new. Same warranty.
Sometimes refurbished just means it is out of production or someone opened a box. Could mean anything.
Next:
Buy a back up hard drive from Seagate. They are only $50-$100 bucks but will come in mighty handy if the laptop hard drives decides to spin or something fuses.
Always run Spybot and F-prot for protection against spyware, viruses and scareware.
Spybot is free but you might consider donating $5 bucks. They don’t care.
F-prot has a free version but you should purchase the commercial version. This is what ISP’s and Fortune 2000 companies use and it’s smoking.
Next, download and install Malware bytes. When the college kid picks up a virus they can wait 2-3 hours while Malware zaps that thing.
As for Word, Excel, etc. Save some big time bucks here. Order the student version of Microsoft office suite and you save big time bucks. Don’t order this if the PC you bought already has it.
If it’s me, I say go with the Dell Studio 17. It’s made for multimedia and will perform just fine for almost amything. Great prices in the Dell outlet:
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh&brandid=2201&fid=1038&fid=901&fid=1043&fid=1075
You could even go to Costco and just buy anything they offer. They will all be great.
You could just buy something at Costco. All the computers are good to great.
Quick and easy shopping.
No brain drain trying to get a PHD in computers.
Great prices.
Personally I use to build my computers for gaming and that was the only choice.
Today, laptops can handle just about anything that is graphics intensive and I don’t build computers anymore.
The difference between computers today boils down to some really specific features that aren’t necessarily imperatives.
Don’t forget a printer. Lexmark makes a better inkjet with consumables that cost less than HP.
But either way. There isn’t much to get hung up anymore.
It’s like Ford’s and Chevy’s....personal preference but, no real difference.
Latitude has a clunky keyboard and mouse.
Go with the Studio.
Big deal with the XPS at the time is the extended customer care, which I do not need. Same hardware, same performance.
Zactly.
Refurbished doesn’t mean anything specific. It’s a catch all term.
Most music-related software these days is both Mac and IBM, but some isn’t. Most peripherals are either USB2 or firewire, so definitely get both kinds of ports. Most musicians are using two or more (usually more) gigs of memory. For desktop based systems, 7200 rpm hard drives are the norm, but you probably won’t find one on a laptop.
Just for what it’s worth, here’s a couple of articles extolling both kinds:
IBM http://forums.cnet.com/7723-19680_102-382852.html
MAC http://yourhomerecordingstudio.com/laptop-for-music
The debate is truly never ending. Mostly, I think I’d forget trying to surprise him. Give him a check (or a budget), and tell him to pick out what he wants.
We live in Nomansland. The nearest Costco is (I’m guessing) a 5 hr. drive. Thanks for the info.
I would not buy refurbished period. I heard of a lot of nightmares.
I own a Dell Inspirion 1764. It’s an Intel i5 Core, 8 Gigs of RAM and 600 GBS of Hard Drive with Windows 7 Premium. I can’t complain. Oh I did buy Office Pro 10 off of Ebay for $135. It’s normally $499.00 if you buy it in the store.
Did you ever consider the iPad 2?
Then just buy a Dell Studio which is designed for multimedia.
Get it off their outlet site.
I’d recommend a piano. Guess I was born too long ago ....
Has the school specified what type of music programs will be needed? If not, the following info may not matter: For recording on a PC, Sonar is most often used, but there are even free recording programs available on the net.
On Mac, as another Freeper mentioned, Garageband is quite good and comes free with a Mac. If your son ever needs a truly professional recording program, he can buy Logic later, and as “things work together on a Mac”, Mac puts all previous Garageband recordings into Logic for you. Logic also notates and can do charts of music. So even though a Mac is more expensive, it covers most everything.
It all depends, of course, on what type of music programs the school will require.
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