<p>How do the computer/technology discounts work(if any)? I might be getting a notebook to replace my current one(about 3 years old) from either Apple or Dell...</p>
<p>You should Google and call the Tech Express. They love to help with that stuff.</p>
<p>Here's one recommendation for you: Do not use the Tech Express to buy computers. They'll force you to tag on a 3-year warranty and even with whatever discounts they have, they'll still charge you more than general public prices. Computer companies use pricing strategies to differentiate between customers, and I suppose they think that educational institutions will pay more than a regular customer. So for exactly the same specs, you'll run into a higher cost if you go through the Tech Express.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to regularly check the website of whatever manufacturer you're looking to buy a computer from, and wait for the right discount on the computer you want. It may take a while, but it's worth it trust me. I got a 500$ discount on mine, which I ordered online at a pretty good price. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Dell has a 12% discount if you get a 3 year warranty through Dell's EPP program.</p>
<p>Dell... ick.
Should I buy a printer to bring? Or are there communal ones availible?</p>
<p>For some reason a lot of people are anti-Dell... I'm not sure why. Dell currently makes the second fastest laptop out there (There is a 19" SLI laptop that gets like 30 minutes of battery life that came out a few weeks ago). In general, Dell makes some of the best laptops on the market and they are certainly in my opinion the best value.</p>
<p>If you are looking at the high end, Dell makes the best. Why pay $1000 more for an Alienware or Voodoo system if it is actually slower and has less battery life than a Dell? If you are looking in the middle or low end, you need to consider what your priorities are. Yes, Apple laptops are pretty, but you also get raped by the price when you buy them. Same for Sony laptops, they are good quality but often overpriced. For a midrange laptop that performs well in all arenas (light gaming, movie watching, schoolwork) you can't beat the value of a Dell Inspiron. If you are sure you are only going to be typing and doing office style work, I would recommend a Lenovo Thinkpad (they are kinda bland but have excellent build quality)</p>
<p>By the way, I would imagine that most people's desktops are far slower than my Dell laptop... feel free to run 3dmark/PCmark and compare notes with me. Not trying to brag about my laptop but simply point out that Dell does make quality products.</p>
<p>Fast != quality. Low price != value.
There's a lot more to both of those, which I could make into an extended rant but am a bit too tired to do right now ;)
That said, I'd take a Thinkpad over a semi-comparable Dell any day. I also plan on showing up to Caltech with a brand new Apple laptop... the idea that they're "overpriced" is a misperception that should've died several years ago. Apple's Core Duo laptops start at $1000, Dell's start at $2500. So I guess there is a price gap, but it's not on Apple's side.</p>
<p>I agree with halfthelaw, lizzard. Just because Dell's are 'faster' doesn't mean they're better. A friend of mine's has broken multiple times since he's had it, generally having to do with overheating issues. I don't know where the article is, but it's been shown that Dell's have a design flaw that encourages them to overheat. They just haven't bothered to fix it. I've NEVER had a good experience with Dell machines, whether they be desktop or laptop.</p>
<p>One plus to a Dell though. They now give you free, pre-loaded spyware on their computers, and charge you $50 to have it removed. Source (+ Google brings up more information): <a href="http://www.michaelrighi.com/2005/07/21/dell-spyware-my-way/%5B/url%5D">http://www.michaelrighi.com/2005/07/21/dell-spyware-my-way/</a></p>
<p>The new MacBook (just came out today) is actually a pretty good deal for what you're getting. The gap is not as big as halfthelaw suggests, but I think it still comes out slightly ahead of Dell's offerings. Plus, it's a Mac.</p>
<p>The great part about Dell is that it's cheap, especially if you look at the deals. (A couple weeks ago, I helped someone buy a 2.6 GHz Celeron with a 19" LCD for $350, barely more than the cost of the LCD alone.) The bad part about Dell is that there's only one quality level. An IBM ThinkPad is indisputably of better quality then a Dell laptop, but there are definitely laptops out there that are worse. If you are going to buy a Dell, check the "Dell Outrageous Deals" link on [url=<a href="http://techbargains.com/%5DTechbargains%5B/url">http://techbargains.com/]Techbargains[/url</a>] to see what they've got on promotion, and look for coupons there too. You can easily save hundreds.</p>
<p>Ok, post by post--</p>
<p>halfthelaw said "Fast != quality. Low price != value."
I agree. Luckily my Dell is fast, quality built, and a good (not great) value. (My particular laptop was not low priced, however...) I didn't get as good of a value as most Dell purchasers get because I love getting the bleeding edge. I got 12% off of my laptop but considering that even after that it still cost ariound $3.5k lol...</p>
<p>halfthelaw said "the idea that they're "overpriced" is a misperception that should've died several years ago. Apple's Core Duo laptops start at $1000, Dell's start at $2500. So I guess there is a price gap, but it's not on Apple's side."</p>
<p>I'm sorry, but that's not even close to correct (at least the part about Dell!). The Dell Latitude D520 has a Core Duo processor and starts at $699. The Inspiron 6400 also has a Core Duo processor and starts $699. In fact, all of the Inspirons are available with a Core Duo processor for less than the $1099 that Apple charges for their lowest end macbook WITHOUT using any of the readily available Dell coupons.
s
But... what if they don't have the same specs? Good Point. Let's do a side by side comparison.</p>
<p>An Apple MacBook with</p>
<h1>1.83GHz Intel Core Duo</h1>
<h1>13.3" screen</h1>
<h1>512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 2x256</h1>
<h1>60GB Serial ATA drive</h1>
<h1>Combo Drive (DVD and CD-RW)</h1>
<h1>AirPort Extreme Card & Bluetooth</h1>
<p>costs $1099</p>
<p>A Dell Inspiron E1405 with</p>
<h1>1.83GHz Intel Core Duo</h1>
<h1>14.4" screen</h1>
<h1>512MB 667 DDR2 SDRAM - 1x512</h1>
<h1>60GB Serial ATA drive</h1>
<h1>Combo Drive (DVD and CD-RW)</h1>
<h1>Wireless Card & Bluetooth</h1>
<p>costs $948
($748 after coupon)</p>
<p>Hm.. about $150 price difference, not a big deal right? Wait a second, let' use a Dell coupon! The coupon drops the price to $748, making the Dell machine $350 cheaper than the apple, with a bigger screen and more Ram expandability (only one slot taken up instead of two). The difference in price between these two becomes more and more dramatic as you increase the quality of the machine. For example, Dell has a coupon that takes $750 off of a $2000 laptop.</p>
<p>me? said "Just because Dell's are 'faster' doesn't mean they're better."</p>
<p>Me?, like everything else, a product should serve the purpose you buy it for. If you are buying a racecar, faster is better. If you just want to get from point A to point B without having your car break down, speed doesn't matter. I am a gamer. A fast computer is essential to my hobby. Thus, a faster computer, assuming it doesn't have significant disadvantages over a slower one, is a better computer when it comes to suiting my purposes.</p>
<p>I'm not claiming that Dell makes the best computers out there. I am claiming that Dells are great values. I'm claiming that a Dell is a quality built machine that will get you the same amount of computing power present in another laptop for less money.</p>
<p>*note: I don't buy Dell desktops (or any OEM desktops) because custom built saves you money and gives you more options, so this only applies to laptops.</p>
<p>me? said, "A friend of mine's has broken multiple times since he's had it, generally having to do with overheating issues. I don't know where the article is, but it's been shown that Dell's have a design flaw that encourages them to overheat. They just haven't bothered to fix it. I've NEVER had a good experience with Dell machines, whether they be desktop or laptop."</p>
<p>I'm sorry. A lot of my friends have dell laptops (because of me lol) and none of them have ever had any problems. I would suggest he attempt to speak with someone senior at Dell support assuming he is still under warranty. Many people on the notebookforums.com Dell forum have had entire machines replaced for less and can help him out.</p>
<p>me? said,"One plus to a Dell though. They now give you free, pre-loaded spyware on their computers, and charge you $50 to have it removed." </p>
<p>I guess this blogger didn't know that you can request your Dell system to come free of bloatware. I did with mine, it came with absolutely nothing preloaded but windows, drivers, and McAfee (which I asked for). That being said if I were in his position I would attempt again to speak with someone senior at Dell support because he should not be charged for Dell removing software it placed on his machine.</p>
<p>And finally, Simonster said, "The bad part about Dell is that there's only one quality level."</p>
<p>You make a good point, but I would like to disagree and state that Dell has two quality levels. Dell's high end laptops are made of a very sturdy magnesium alloy that I think is attractive (although macbook pros are sexy). I especially love my lapto's Vegas style lol... Dell XPS m1710. I've got a Caltech logo on the front of it (you can buy a "shield" that lets you slip in 8x10 photos) and I have the LED lights set up the match. It really is gorgeous in person. </p>
<p>I guess the main build features are the magnesium alloy case, the LED lights, the 17" 1900x1200 widescreen display, the full size keyboard. It definitely feels solidly built and not flimsy at all.</p>
<p>Edit: Man, I spent the simpsons time writing these three posts. Darn.</p>
<p>To defend the honor of your sweetheart, Dell Corp., it was clearly worth it ;-)</p>
<p>Michael Dell sends you a sloppy kiss.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure I'm just going to wait for Dell to post a discount or for a good coupon(<a href="http://dell.coupons-coupon-codes.com/#dell-coupons%5B/url%5D">http://dell.coupons-coupon-codes.com/#dell-coupons</a>
) to pop up. Although I don't plan on gaming that much at Caltech (time constraints, p-sets, etc...), a MBP is really not for gaming, even if I load up Boot Camp on it.</p>
<p>I'm looking at one of those XPS notebooks, but I'm definitely not going to go all out on the specs (aka no SLI and such). I hope it'll be in the upper 2k but definitely below 3k. Anything above 3k is just too much, and I was hoping that by getting something with high specs, it'll last a bit longer than if I got something it'll be outdated in a year or so.</p>
<p>Just one more question, are prices from Dell "Higher Education" section usually lower and can prefrosh like me order from there?</p>
<p>The XPS notebooks don't offer SLI Gra. Feel free to IM me about it (lizzardfire). I own the Dell XPS m1710 and love it :D</p>
<p>OK, for the XPS systems you will want to order from Higher Education since you get 12% off there. There are no other coupons that work with the XPS M1710 because it is new and high-end. Yes, you can get it, I got mine through higher education.</p>
<p>Edit: lol Ben, I know it sounds that way. I just am passionate about the things I like. I spent probably six months researching laptops before picking out the one I wanted... and I picked it about two or three months before it came out haha.</p>
<p>No need to bring your own printer unless you want to be able to dependably print 100% of the time and don't mind shelling out for your own ink cartridges/printers. Everyone I know here uses the house lab printers, which are reasonably well maintained - after all, that's what the IMSS houselab budget is for.</p>
<p>I'll second lizzardfire's enthusiasm for Dell products. Twice, they have given me service after my computers were out of warantee - for free. Once they replaced my laptop keyboard after I pried off a stuck keycap and couldn't put it back on. (How do they put those keycaps on anyway? With trained cockroaches?) The other time, my five year-old computer wasn't working properly. I had no idea what the problem was. Tech support diagnosed my problem as a memory board about to go bad. They stayed on the phone with me for over an hour and a half helping me back up everything on the computer before the board died completely. Although that time they didn't offer to fix the computer for free, I very much appreciated the help they gave. </p>
<p>BTW, did you read today that Michael Dell just gave $50 million to the University of Texas for a pediatric research center and new computer sciences building?</p>
<p>silver-yms,</p>
<p>Actually, the Caltech Wired (not the Tech Express) has great sales on Macs. ASCIT recently bought a 15" Powerbook from them for $1200. The discounts they give are much better than the educational ones offered through the Apple website.</p>
<p>If you know what you're doing, you may want to try looking at a custom pc vendor. Truth is, a lot of the name-brand pc makers get their notebooks manufactured from the same ODM's (original design manufacturers) as the name-brand ones. To that extent, buying from a custom vendor with less of a name-brand can save you some money. For example, Clevo's M570U model can be found configured at numerous such sites for around $500 cheaper than the equivalent Dell XPS mobile configuration. Of course, the price you pay is inferior warranties and technical support.</p>
<p>Personally, I was eyeing the aforementioned Clevo as the best option for a CoreDuo laptop.</p>
<p>However, with today's launch (finally!) of the Turion64 x2 processor from AMD, I may take that route instead, considering the CoreDuo is only 32-bit (which is another problem for a Dell laptop, since Dell only works with Intel). I'll see what the reviews are like, though.</p>