<p>I've been lucky enough (knock on wood) not to have needed Dell customer service for my lappy. I have heard some yucky stories from those who have though. </p>
<p>My parents have had 3 Gateway computers and have had really good experiences with their customer service people. They've found them to be very helpful and that their problems were dealt with promptly. </p>
<p>I've don't know much about Apple customer service (maybe a good sign since my friends with Macs haven't had a problem worth griping about with them?) but if your daughter will be in or near a city with an Apple store, I think that she would be able to take it into the Apple store to get help with it, at least for minor things. </p>
<p>Also, if she's set on a Mac, the MacBooks are less expensive than the MacBook Pros. There's also a section on the online Apple store where they have refurbished Macs, which are basically as good as new but sometimes only 2/3 the original price and i think you can get the same warranty on them.</p>
<p>I appreciate all the advice given so far. I've been looking at review sites and forums and have another question now. I've been reading about the new "Santa Rosa" chips and it looks like they are faster which is supposed to be good for Vista's demands. But the laptops with the new chips don't seem to come out until late July. So now I wonder if we should put off buying until we can either get one with the new chip or take advantage of sales on the old.
I guess this would be assuming we went with a PC as opposed to a Mac.</p>
<p>I helped maintain a small startup's fleet of laptops, all brand new DELL Inspirons. Within a little over one year (ONE YEAR) the CEO decided the downtime from broken/malfunctioning laptops was too costly and switched to Thinkpads. </p>
<p>I personally have had about 3 Dells and they were pieces of ****. Random exterior pieces would break off whenever they felt like it and pixels died at random. I have an ancient thinkpad and it still motors along just fine (I've had about 4 of those as well). </p>
<p>I still maintain that DELL laptops are crap, except for maybe the absolute high-end line. The only saving grace is that they're dirt cheap.</p>
<p>amom62, it's really up to your 'D' (??) to decide on an operating system. </p>
<p>As for the upcoming chips, new tech comes out many times a year. Just buy the laptop keeping in mind that within 2 years your purchase will be outdated.</p>
<p>If your daughter wants the MacBook Pro (which I'm getting) simply for the looks, I don't think you should buy it for her. She should want a Mac because of Mac OS X (iLife suite), and other features in addition to the sleek design. If price is a factor, consider then the MacBook.</p>
<p>However, for PCs, I strongly recommend an IBM ThinkPad (yes, I know they're Lenovo, but I still call them IBM). Those things are built like tanks with smart, business looks. They also truly have the best keyboards I've ever used. I will be honest, Dells are built like P.O.S. My father's Inspiron 8600 is an absolute nightmare (the one time i use it, i loose my first draft college admissions essay), and the poor build quality is unacceptable. The ThinkPads (especially MacBooks/MacBook Pros) are far superior. </p>
<p>However, nothing IMO beats a Mac. But your daughter should at least have justifiable, persuasive reasons before automatically shelling out $2500 for a pro machine. That's what I did with my parents, that that's why I'm typing on my very reliable 4 year old PowerBook G4, which technically doesn't need replacing, but...</p>
<p>...I haven't had many problems with dells but my friend called tech support and they started playing minesweeper on his computer... and they weren't even good</p>
<p>Macbook pro is geared more towards hardcore developers. Since she is an English major I would not get that.</p>
<p>As far as I know....</p>
<p>Macs are durable I have dropped mines off of table onto tile and off of a bunk bed (not on purpose) . It still works no scratches except the casing around the lcd is bent but the lcd is fine.</p>
<p>Macs are less frustrating. It doesn't have all of those continue, allow, warning! screens windows has. Makes installing things and getting things to work easier.</p>
<p>Macs are worth the money because of the software you get that are basic versions of professional software like iMovie (basic version of Final Cut)</p>
<p>Dells customer service is crap since the company moved over to india you cannot understand them and they cannot understand you.</p>
<p>HP is crap I had a laptop that was still under warranty went to get it fixed they told me they can't fix it because I spilled something on it. Turns out they told everybody with the same model laptop who had the same problem that they spilled something on it.</p>
<p>If you're still shopping, Apple released new MacBooks (not pros) today. They're no worse off than comparable notebooks (basically the same hardware), have a 13.3" screen, and with a student discount are as low as $999. If she doesn't dig the white models, the black one is also discounted (it is the "gap model" between MacBooks and Pros, so if she was choosing the Pro off of specs, it's fairly similar).</p>
<p>Intel has rolled out some new processor technology along with nVidia. If you can stand to wait for a month or two until those technologies start showing up in more consumer laptops, you can get a more future proof laptop that'll play some Direct X 10 games when they come out.</p>
<p>If she likes macs, try getting her a macbook instead of a macbook pro. They're about $800 cheaper and should be in your price range. Er and if she's going to college anywhere near an Apple Store, they have excellent service there.</p>
<p>I still recommend waiting for the school recommendation, though. Schools offer educational discounts and at least at my university, also offer free on campus technical help for people who purchased a laptop from the school. This makes life INFINITELY easier.</p>
<p>the problem with the dell isnt that its a crappy product or that it breaks too easy, its that it has sooooooo little battery life its ridiculous... you really want a laptop that has a lot of battery life so you dont have to always be concerned with plugging it in/charging it... find the laptop with the best battery life <em>macs have very good batter life</em> and get one of those</p>