Replacing my dead laptop: stay in my Dell rut?

bficky

So, my laptop died recently. It was a 5 year old Dell 600m (1.60GHz, 512 MB RAM, 40GB HDD, 14" 4:3 screen). I'm looking to spend $500 on a new laptop primarily used for internet, email, photo sharing, and iTunes.

Some beginning thoughts:
1. Based on how I use this laptop, I first considered getting a netbook. The wife and I checked them out in person and both agreed that they weren't for us. The biggest feature seemed to be the size and portability, neither of which is very important to our situation. We don't need to carry it around, and 95% of the time it'll be on the coffee table or on our lap on the sofa. The screen size was small and keyboard seemed cramped, and getting used to it didn't seem worthwhile.

2. I've always gone with Dell, whether for myself or for others. My concept of "this brand sucks" or "this brand is great" is very outdated. Now, it's basically out of habit that I go there first in my head.

3. As you can tell from my using a 2003 laptop in 2009, I'm not needing a very top of the line computer. I don't play computer games, and the only programs I use on my computer are iTunes, Picasa, and rarely Windows Movie Maker, Excel, etc. (no Photoshop, no heavy duty programs). This is also our secondary computer, but our desktop is more outdated than the dead laptop (will look to upgrade it later on this year).


All that being said, I've started pricing cheap, every day use laptops. We take tons of pics and movies of the kiddos, so a 250GB HDD is a minimum. Also, I'd like to set up this computer to stream my vids, pics, and music to my PS3.

These caught my eye at bestbuy.com:

Acer Aspire ($499.99), 2.2GB Dual Core, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, 15.6" widescreen, 250 HDD, 5.9 lbs, Vista Premium, MS Works

Acer Extensa ($429.99), 2.0GB Dual Core, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, 14.1" widescreen, 250 HDD, 5.2 lbs, Vista Premium


I've never thought of Acer, so I don't know if it's a good laptop brand or not. Building a similar one to the Aspire on Dell.com results in about a $50-100 increase, but does offer more customization (Vista Premium?, LED screen?).

Do these specs seem appropriate for how I'll use this computer? Are there any upgrades that I need? Is there a difference between Acer and Dell? Are there other laptops out there that might fit better?

Edit: fixed incorrect specs

Ego

I use an Aspire as my primary laptop right now, and sell Acers on occasion. I don't have much issue with them. I'm specifically very happy with my current Aspire (different innards than the one you're looking at.) Having a numeric keypad on a laptop is great. In general Acer sells well equipped laptops that are very well priced.

You probably won't get CD's with an Acer (if you do, best buy's adding them in.) On boot it'll tell you to burn restore media with it's built in program.

Vista basic is kind of bleh, but those links indicate it's Vista home premium, which is good.

wunderbar

Honestly, there's nothing wrong with dell machines. If you're happy with them, and have never had issues, there's no reason not to go with another dell.

You'll always hear people say that dell is bad, that there are more reported problems with dells, but in reality, it's a matter of volume. if dell ships 5x more computers than another company, then statistically there *should* be 5x the number of failures, simply because of volume.

I'd just stick with a dell.

tsmvengy

If you were happy with your dell then I would say feel free to get another one.

Also, I would suggest checking out some of the deal websites that are around (www.slickdeals.net or dealnews.com) to see what laptops are one sale and jump on it when you see one you like.

archonwarp

That 14.1" Acer is really nice. I'm actually thinking of snagging one myself. I think they're $400 this week in store.

Synthesis

Since it's impossible to actually purchase the horrible acts of God that were known as Inspiron 5150s, I don't think there's anything wrong with remaining with Dell necessarily. You might want to check HP's Pavillion line, since they're one of the few companies that can match Dell in terms of options (then again, I might be outdated as well).

And they're pretty cheap, which is one of the principle advantages of Dell laptops anyway....

Torso Boy

Aside from a couple grumbles with sound, I'm very pleased with my Dell Studio 1735. As long as you're removing what you don't need right out of the box and running CCleaner or something, there's not much wrong...and Dell tends to be good with flexibility. Their sales can really help you out too.

DHS Odium

I always like the Dell Vostro line of notebooks. They are in the small business section, you can find a decent one for less than $500 for what you need.

bficky

Thanks for the replies. My question was really "Is it worth spending $100 more on a laptop just to stay with Dell?" Last night, I decided that it wasn't. I bought the Acer 15.6" one (the first link) from tigerdirect.com (even though Best Buy had it on their website, they weren't selling it online or in any local stores). It cost $50 more on TigerDirect, but the lack of tax and $2 shipping evened it out ($551 total). With tax and shipping, the comparable Dell computer was ~$680.

I decided on the 15.6" and not the 14.1" when I cut out pieces of paper at the screen dimensions for the two Acers and compared them to my dead 14.1" full screen laptop. It took looking at something physical for me to realize just how short the vertical dimension of wide screens are. Both were shorter than the 14.1" full screen, but the smaller wide screen was just too short for me. I resized Firefox on my desktop to the two sizes and it felt like my view of a web site was too small with the 14.1". It was worth the extra $50 for the 15.6". I know wide screens are the future (and I love my HDTV), but a short and wide view of websites will take some getting used to.

I should get the laptop sometime next week. I'll bump this thread with impressions of my Acer for anyone else looking to get a new laptop.