New Laptop in the making?

[The Howling Wolves]

Will be looking for you input on new laptop purchase from Staples which has sale starting this week-end.
1. Acer Aspire Intel Core i3-330M Processor 17.3" screen,4GB DDR3 Ram, 320GB HD,and Win7Home Premium @$499.00
2 Dell Inspiron, Intel Core i5-430.17.3"screen,4GB DDR3 Ram, 320GBHD, Win7HomePremium @$650.00

This is my 1st laptop and looking for your input and suggestions on this purchase.
Leaning towards #1 because of $ but for $150 more am I going to get more bang for my buck? TIA

 

[StealthyBoss]

go with 1

 

[whs]

Acer is kind of the bottom of the barrel when it comes to reliability. I would lean towards the Dell especially since it has the better processor. What I did not see was the graphics card. If you could provide the links, we could compare. That could be a determining factor. But in any case, Dell is the better box - in general.
If they have Toshibas, I would look at those too. Toshiba is rated #1 in quality/reliability together with Apple.
Also: Have a look whether those 17" have 2 bays for the disks. Some of the 17" HPs have that. That would be a real advantage because you could use the second bay for an SSD to install the OS (SSDs cost less than $100 these days). On the HP, the second bay is empty, but at least it is there.

 

[not so gray matter]

I recommend finding a laptop with an MXM, Axiom, or 'Dell Slot.' These laptops allow you to ugprade your video card down the road. A good example is the ASUS C90. Most of the Dell performance laptops will let you do this as will the Asus ones. Just check for one of those features and you'll be able to depend on the laptop for longer than most.

 

[CarlTR6]

I tend to shy away from Dell; but it does have a better processor between the two. My wife has an Acer and in the year we have had it, it has given no trouble. whs is right on target with the graphics card. That can make a huge difference.

 

[CommonTater]

Will be looking for you input on new laptop purchase from Staples which has sale starting this week-end.
1. Acer Aspire Intel Core i3-330M Processor 17.3" screen,4GB DDR3 Ram, 320GB HD,and Win7Home Premium @$499.00
2 Dell Inspiron, Intel Core i5-430.17.3"screen,4GB DDR3 Ram, 320GBHD, Win7HomePremium @$650.00

This is my 1st laptop and looking for your input and suggestions on this purchase.
Leaning towards #1 because of $ but for $150 more am I going to get more bang for my buck? TIA

Having had very souring experiences with both Acer and Dell laptops... and seeing your price range... I'd suggest you have a peek at the entry level Toshibas... I find them to be of far better quality.

 

[whs]

I just found this - for whatever it is worth: Laptop reliability survey: ASUS and Toshiba win, HP fails -- Engadget

 

[CommonTater]

I just found this - for whatever it is worth: Laptop reliability survey: ASUS and Toshiba win, HP fails -- Engadget

Nice... printed and pinned on the board. Thank you.

 

[CarlTR6]

I just found this - for whatever it is worth: Laptop reliability survey: ASUS and Toshiba win, HP fails -- Engadget

Good find. Thanks.

 

[loaba]

Someone mentioned video, and that's gonna be the deal breaker (if you're like me).

There are 2 flavors of laptop video; onboard and card-based. Onboard means that video is handled by the motherboard, card-based means that it goes through the PCI bus (always preferable, but more expensive.)

Card-based video is going have much better performance and offers a chance (albeit a slim one) for upgrading later on. Onboard video has the advantage of being cheaper, but what you get is what you're stuck with (forever, no chance of upgrade.)

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Acer's graphic is Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
Dell's is the same!

 

[loaba]

Acer's graphic is Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
Dell's is the same!

I would step away from 'em, then. If you're going to go budget, at least find a unit that has an onboard ATI or nVidia video controller.

 

[CarlTR6]

In that case, I would go for the better CPU. But I will echo the previous advice to look at Toshiba.

 

[whs]

Acer's graphic is Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
Dell's is the same!

That's as poor as they can come. But if you have no specific graphics requirement, it does the job - slowly does it. I still would vote for the Dell. But the advice regarding Toshibas is good.

 

[NoN]

Acer's graphic is Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
Dell's is the same!

That's as poor as they can come. But if you have no specific graphics requirement, it does the job - slowly does it. I still would vote for the Dell. But the advice regarding Toshibas is good.

Sure, combination of two graphic cards swichtable, is a good alternative if you don't need a real specific graphics. And they're really smooth to use.
Acer Aspire updated also their "Timeline" series machines. I don't much about Dell but heard they quite good either as Toshiba is mentionned.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Acer's graphic is Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
Dell's is the same!

That's as poor as they can come. But if you have no specific graphics requirement, it does the job - slowly does it. I still would vote for the Dell. But the advice regarding Toshibas is good.

Staples graphic cards are all the same even Toshiba.
Went to look at Best Buy and 17.3" with NVidia card is $1100.00(yikes)

I am not a gamer just into Photo Shop, Paint Shop Pro and editing and normal stuff.
Will wait till this Sunday as that is when all the adds for tech stuff comes out.
Thank everyone for all the input.
Love this forum as you ask for help and someone responds quickly.
Have a great week end!

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Just looked at Fry's add, comes out on Friday, and after looking at spec's most of them come with Intel's Graphic Media Accelerato HD.
Went to Best Buy and found the same thing.
Unless I plunk down some serious cash, which I can't, I will be back to looking at my first 2 choices.
I will check to see if I can upgrade graphics card but it is what it is.
Thanks again.

 

[loaba]

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