[Dell] offers some good deals on Dell computers. Any thoughts on a reliable laptop to get for the next four years? I like the XPS 13 personally.
“For college”. Does this mean you are going and it is for your use? If so, go with the brand, OS and size you prefer. If considering a gift, Grandpa, then a discussion with the user is needed. Good deals are to be had during the summer so if the use is for fall 2017 I would wait. The idea of giving a Christmas present now to a HS senior is premature because in 6-8 months there can be a cheaper, better laptop available. The user needs to decide the size and weight- I prefer a bigger screen and a student lugging it may prefer a lighter weight. One of these years I might replace our XPS 15" laptop with a core i7. I got it when H had a tablet on vacation and I disliked the small screen plus we both wanted to use one at the same time (house hunting trips), H has now taken it over as I use a desktop at home.
Do not give a gift until you know the user’s preferences. The processor speed can matter. Plus touch screen features et al may be wanted.
If you’re going with Dell, I’d stick with the XPS or the Latitude models.
Inspirons and Vostros tend to be targeted towards the lower-end of the consumer bigbox market and have more issues with build quality/QC from my experience working in the computer tech field.
Alienware is targeted towards hardcore gamers who insist on a laptop so it is not a good “bang for your buck” for the vast majority of home users/students. They also tend to be on the heavy side as some I’ve examined/worked on weighed as much as 12+ pounds excluding the power adapter which is another 2-3 pounds. Moreover, since they are targeted towards hardcore gamers, they tend to run extremely hot and overheat.
Have had several brought in by clients…some of which were total losses(not worth repairing from a cost-benefit analysis) because the high heat ended up cooking the processor, graphics processor, and/or the motherboard. One of the latter is sitting on a shelf after a client decided to cut his losses and dump it on me after paying for my time in examining it. Will likely be serving as a nice heavy paperweight/conversation piece as it has a unique look about it, but isn’t worth the cost in parts/time to repair even when my cost in getting it was $0.
And even with the better build quality of the Latitudes/XPS series, I’d still treat them with care as manufacturers across the board have been lowering build quality across the board over the last 15+ years to squeeze the profit margins and as a form of built-in obsolescence to encourage people to buy newer machines more frequently.
Agree that the intended user needs to weigh in on needs/preferences. Remember that if you buy with certain credit cards (e.g. Costco Citi, CapOne Visa, AmEx and others) you may get an extra year of warranty as well. Thus was helpful for both of our kids as their computers both broke and needed to be replaced during extended warranty.
Some of the new tablets with keyboards and stylus are Excellent as well–Surface by Microsoft and MacBook Air/iPad.
Just keep in mind that when the extra year warranty from credit cards like AmEx kick in, you’ll need to call upon the warranty coverage from the credit card company as my friend experienced when he needed to get his notebook repaired after 4 years of owning it.
Fortunately, AmEx was very professional and efficient in getting him squared away with the warranty repair when he needed it.
It’s not Dell but I’ve had good luck with the HP Spectre x360 laptops. You can get the previous model (the one I have) on sale at Best Buy.
Agree that AmEx has been great about honoring extended warranty claims on electronics purchased on their cards. The CC is just one more layer of protection and “free” for purchasing on the CC.
I don’t recommend HP/Compaq machines. Too many issues with build quality and QC problems IME.
You may want to wait until you choose a college – some colleges get good deals on computers for incoming freshmen. As an aside, we have had bad luck with two Dells in a row and now buy ASUS computers.
@cobrat – Problems with the Spectre x360 or with the inexpensive HP laptops? I have two Spectres and they’re solid machines.
I would delay purchasing till the student finalizes on a college and program that they are enrolling in. I know especially in engineering schools that the requirements can be specific in regards to what type of laptop is needed. Also the college may offer student discounts on laptops that meet a programs requirements.
I agree that colleges may have deals and preferences for Mac vs PC and may have great options for incoming students that can be worthwhile.
I’ve worked on a few of those models along with some higher-end HP machines geared towards corporate clients. One recent machine i worked on was a high-end HP corporate desktop tower.
Despite its higher pricetag and seemingly sleek lines, had a serious hardware related bug which corrupted client’s Windows installation necessitating a complete backup and reinstallation of the OS/applications and replacement of the affected hardware.
Great gig for me from a financial standpoint…not so much for the client who ended up paying heavily not only for my fees, but also for downtime lasting nearly a week.
As others have said, many schools have deals with computer vendors and you may be able to get a good deal (apple used to have really good deals, last I looked the discount wasn’t anything that great). I have a Dell desktop that I like, though it was a nightmare getting it at the time. We use Dell laptops at work, and they are decent machines. Personally I would stay away from ASUS, when my son went to college he got what we thought was a really nice laptop, loaded with features, great price…and it died about 6 months in , he ended up with a dell because the service center for Microcenter couldn’t get ASUS to get the motherboard they needed, so they basically gave him a Dell to replace it because they couldn’t fix the ASUS, and our tech guys here said ASUS basically is nonexistent support.
One thing I highly recommend, if buying a laptop get one where the drive is an SSD (solid state drive), it is worth the premium they still ask for them. You can always get a second standard hard drive in many laptops, and that SSD is a)a lot more reliable and b)also allows the machine to boot up an order of magnitude faster, I’ll never buy another machine where its primary disk is a standard hard drive. Having had my macbook air now for several years, it is a delight.
Even with the greater reliability of SSDs, I’d recommend having a good periodic backup plan. Especially considering one interesting issue with SSDs is that unlike standard hard drives which tend to give warning indicators of pending failure, SSDs tend to fail immediately without any prior warning.
This has surprised and burned dozens of friends and clients I’ve had.