Help needed in buying a laptop

Newbie Forum
#1

Hi Friends,
I am not able to decide which laptop to go for.I don’t have enough bucks to invest in a Sony Vaio,IBM or Mac iBook.The one i’ve decided is a DELL INSPIRON 2200 with the foll. specs:

Inspiron 2200
Notebook Essentials
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 725 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/400 MHz FSB)

Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

512MB Shared DDR SDRAM, 2 DIMMS

24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive

Display: Choice of 15" and 14.1" XGA displays for an enhanced multimedia experience and large viewing area.

Size & Weight: Starting at 5.99 lbs and 1.46" thin configured with a 14.1" LCD, 8-cell Li Ion battery and DVD optical drive.

Graphics: Integrated Intel® Media Accelerator 900 Graphics.

Wireless Connectivity Solutions: Internal antenna supports Dell 1350 wireless solution (802.11b/g) or Dell 1450 dual band wireless solution (802.11a/b/g) via optional mini wireless card.

Extra’s:

Don’t Pay for Shipping!

FREE Upgrade to 60GB Hard Drive - $150 Value!

FREE Dell 720 Inkjet Printer - $69 value!

Price: $1,099(CAD)

Can you please tell me if this would be a good system or provide me a better alternative.
Thanks
Mick

#2

Hi and be welcome!

The laptop looks okay to me (Dell products are pretty much alright), but I don’t know if it is the best choice for you. It kind of depends on how the laptop will be used. What will be the main application for this laptop? And for how long do you want to be able to use the latest software on this system? Will this laptop be used as a mobile computer, or as a mobile desktop system?

#3

Thanks Dee-ehn,
I am a Java Developer and basically I would be using it for my office work…so no games and multimedia stuff.Yah…i would like to install softwares on it for sure…now do your advice changes??

#4

As you are a developer, I think you need to think of a few things:

  • is the screen resolution good enough? (higher resolution means more code on the screen, which implies a better oversight)
  • is this CPU powerful enough? (if you have to compile or interprete big programs, you really can use the CPU power; more CPU power of course means a higher energy consumption as well!)
  • is 512MB enough memory for you? (some IDE’s can use quite some memory! luckily Java has a built-in garbage collector)