Notebook Shopping
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Against Andy's advice last year, I went ahead and purchased a new desktop for working with SQLServerCentral.com. I went to a local shop since I like to support the local little guys when I can, and had them build me one. I know, I should have done it myself with parts from NewEgg, but at the time I was busy, my little girl was turning 3 and keeping me very busy along with 2 older boys in roller hockey. So my nights were busy and I figured I'd spend the extra $100 for someone's time to build it for me.
I've been pretty happy with my machine and it's worked flawlessly for over a year now, pretty much up and running 24x7 with maybe a dozen reboots in a year for patches or power loss. Andy was in a similar situation about a year and half ago and got himself a notebook instead of a desktop. He's more mobile than I am, so that made sense, but since I do almost all my work at this desk, I opted to save a few shekels and get the desktop. Plus I had a great old notebook that I got when my startup died. An amazing Toshiba Tecra 800, PII 300, that just crawls through a 10 minute boot cycle.
But this year I'm traveling for 3 weeks on vacation and to conferences, maybe more if I take another vacation, so it was time I broke down and bought a notebook that could handle my needs. With SQL Server 2005 coming out, I wanted to be able to run that along with my normal complement of mail, browsing, etc. Since Visual Studio .NET is an integral part of SQL Server development moving forward, I wanted to be able to handle that. After speaking with a few friends, a Pentium M processor and 512 RAM should get me by, but 1GB would be better to keep things moving. And as we all know, faster hard drives are better.
Since I'm a shopper and not an impulse buyer, I headed over to c|Net reviews and PCMag reviews to see what they recommended. It's always nice to see what types of systems are out there and if anyone sees some fatal flaws with them. I like to check out the user opinions more as a benchmark to see how many people like the machine and what they say. My tendency is to throw out the high and low ratings and really look at those that rate an 8-9 as well as those that rate 4-6. If too many people rate things below 5, it's a sign there may be manufacturing flaws or some other issue. I also like to see lots of people rating the machines so that I get an idea of popularity.
I knew I wanted at least a 15.4" screen. I know that the smaller ones work, but I have a 20" monitor for the desktop and I wanted to indulge myself a little with the notebook. Given that, I found these to be highly rated and reasonable cost:
- Dell Inspiron 6000
- Dell Inspiron 9300
- HP dv4000/Compaq v4000
There were others, but these were really my short list. The Dell 6000 and the HPdv4000 are pretty comparable in price and features. The 9300 has a 17" screen, which was really tempting, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much.
So I headed to hpshopping.com online and Dell to see what I could configure. One note, the PCMag review of the Inspiron 6000 had an e-code that you could use to get a very nice configuration for $999. That was a great deal and while it was only 512MB ram (2 DIMMs), everything else was great.
After getting an idea of the shipped cost, I headed out to the local Microcenter to get the local guy price. I also checked the Sunday paper for deals, but nothing there stood out. The Winbook was nice, but it was $300 more than online, which was a bit much on a $1200 or so purchase. The HP dv4000 was there, but $300 more, but a 100GB drive instead of a 60GB one. Not that much of a difference to me, so I kind of resigned myself to ordering one online.
I'm trying to get one setup before TechEd, so I was nervous about shipping, but as I surfed around I remembered the Dell Outlet, so I checked there. Sure enough they had lots of 6000s and 9300s. Long story only slightly shorter, I ended up grabbing a 9300 with 1GB of RAM and the large video card for $1200. A savings of $400 over new and I got a 2 year warranty.
Maybe not the best deal, but it's still a little exciting for me. And I can't wait for that 17" screen after my slow 12" Toshiba.
Steve Jones
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I like to keep machines in (some level of) service for 4 to 6 years. For the last 8 years, I've bought Dell exclusively for a reason that I never see discussed. That is Dell supports this long lifecycle better than any other manufacturer. On the rare occasions that I need a replacement part, new driver or bios, it's always quick and easy to find on the Dell support site. I know people griped when the phone service went to India, but I rarely use that. The IBM PC support site is, IMO, a nightmare, and HP quality burned me long ago.
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I agree 100% - I buy Dell laptops every time because of the fantastic support. The one time I had a hardware failure a guy turned up within 2 hours and sorted there and then by replacing the motherboard. Simple and no fuss.
The hardware specs blow me away too - I constantly check out other manufacturers offering and they just don't even come close for the combination of style (I have a Latitude D600), price and support.
Malc
http://www.dbghost.com - Change Management for SQL Server.
Malcolm
DB Ghost - Build, compare and synchronize from source control = Database Change Management for SQL Server
www.dbghost.com -
I'll be contrarian:
Everybody I've known who's gotten Dell has problems with them. Many have to futz with support for a bit (but then support eventually comes through). As best I can tell it's because Dell uses a lot of overseas producers and there's not much consistency.
I've bought four Gateway systems and never had a problem, never had to wish I'd gotten extended or on site service contract.
My point is that the only people I've heard be positive about Dell, still had technical issues with the systems that they had to call support about.
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I have a laptop (Inspiron 8500) and a desktop (Dimension 4700). First thing I did when received the laptop was to repartition HD and completely reinstall OS (XP Pro SP1). Laptop has no problems (software or hardware) whatsoever for 1.5 years. The Desktop was left alone as it came from the box and it constatly had problems - I ended up rebuilding and reinstalling OS (XP Pro Sp2). It's been up and running smoothly for almost two months now.
Dell does have better hardware and style.
Vadim.
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My only complaint about laptops is the hard disk they use in them. I wish manufacturers came out with about half a centimeter of baffle or heatsink around those little drives and for that matter why are they not positioned beside the PMCIA123 =)cards to allow for 'hot swapability' or easy replacement.
Some tech sites have shown those processors put in the laptops are generally speedier than their desktop counterparts at a lower power wattage. So speed is not an issue and with the 6800GO in that DELL, directx 'testing' or
as some call it gaming is not an issue.
All I'd need is an easily swappable HD and then you could just put in, the 'movie' drive, the 'gaming' drive, and well if you must, put in the development drive.
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I would go for the Dell too ... Even tough I work for an IBM company
Dell's are cheaper and have great service.
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