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Ok, here was the situation. I am in the military and aircrew on C130's. I fly alot. Lots of time just in the plane flying from location to location. Lots of remain over nights in various places. Lots of weeks deployed to different places. And I like computer gaming.
The first computer I bought was a DELL laptop. I didn't know what anything meant as far as components go and I didn't know much about financing. Needless to say, the sales people at DELL sold me crap at a high price. Looking back on it, I would say the computer at the time was about mid-range in performance, just about to be out dated, worth maybe $1200 and quickly becoming unable to play new games. I didn't know this at the time. I asked them if it had the latest video card and if any newer models with better cards were coming out soon, I was told this was the best vid card I could get in the foreseeable future. 2 weeks after I got it, a better vid card option was available. Anyway, I paid $2200 or so for that laptop. After it was actually paid for using DELL's financing, I think I was just under $4k for a laptop that shouldn't have costed more then $1200. This left me tainted against laptops and DELL and computer manufacturers for a long time.
I learned how to build my own computer, rather then buy anything from DELL and companies like them. I learned when to use credit and that those 'just 400 easy payments of $15' really isn't a good idea for me. Still though, I needed a portable computer. I tried making one myself with those shuttle cases and 13" LCD. Moving it around wasn't as simple as I thought it would be and I even ended up damaging the LCD. Finally I decided it was time to give laptop manufacturers another try.
I wanted a mobile desktop. I wanted a monster laptop. I ended up getting a Sager 9860. Thing has a huge screen, love it, it's great. Plays games very well. Does everything ym desktop can do, just about. But although it is fantastic for when I go from location to location and pull it out in a hotel, it is not so great when I am in transit in the plane and just wanted to use it for playing MP3's ( I use napster). And besides doing planned flights, I do alot of stand-by's for search and rescues. Actually, SAR and law enforcement is the brunt of my flight time. I never take my huge 9860 with me when I pull those duties. Too much of a hassle. But when I am on my 5th hour of a 10 hour search, I really miss listening to a large selection of music.
I tried a napster approved MP3 player (40giger) recently. But I really didn't like it. It was too much of a hassle trying to choose songs to hear. I thought about getting one of those media players, but then I walked in to Costco and saw an ultra portable laptop on display. The MP3 player cost me nearly $300, the Media player would cost nearly $600, this ultraportable was around $1500. Although, the MP3 player was small, it was still too big to be useful for anything other then pulling out of my flight bag and using it in a stationary manner. Same goes for the Media player and although the ultraportable is much bigger then the MP3 player, it still quilifies to me as being small enough to easily pull out of my flight bag in any manner I would have used that MP3 player. And I am a geek at heart and an ultra small powerful laptop is just as much geekbling as a huge monster laptop. I rationalized some more about why it works great for what I needed it for and decided to get one.
After looking at all that newegg and sites like tha had to offer, then looking at Sager sites, Alienware, gateway...and eventually...DELL. I decided DELL was the way to go. They honestly had the best price and even had it better equipped, even after tax!
This is what I ordered: 700M
They have it listed with a 25% off coupon, but if you push the price over $1499, you can find a $500 off coupon and apply that. I ended up taking the base model, increasing the ram to 1gig 2slots filled and an 80gigHDD and came out to $1088. After tax and handling, it cost me $1180. I heard about a $750 coupon, but didn't want to wait.
Now after thinking about it, I wonder if I shoulda tried to get the newer Pentium M CPU with the 533FSB instead. Or if I should have gotten a smaller screen then the 12.1" . Looking at dimensions, the smaller screen laptops...although a smaller screen, were practically the same size as this 700M anyway.
Anyone know of a comparable small size laptop for around the same price? I couldn't find much better than this 700M that wasn't like hundreds more for a less equipped model.
The first computer I bought was a DELL laptop. I didn't know what anything meant as far as components go and I didn't know much about financing. Needless to say, the sales people at DELL sold me crap at a high price. Looking back on it, I would say the computer at the time was about mid-range in performance, just about to be out dated, worth maybe $1200 and quickly becoming unable to play new games. I didn't know this at the time. I asked them if it had the latest video card and if any newer models with better cards were coming out soon, I was told this was the best vid card I could get in the foreseeable future. 2 weeks after I got it, a better vid card option was available. Anyway, I paid $2200 or so for that laptop. After it was actually paid for using DELL's financing, I think I was just under $4k for a laptop that shouldn't have costed more then $1200. This left me tainted against laptops and DELL and computer manufacturers for a long time.
I learned how to build my own computer, rather then buy anything from DELL and companies like them. I learned when to use credit and that those 'just 400 easy payments of $15' really isn't a good idea for me. Still though, I needed a portable computer. I tried making one myself with those shuttle cases and 13" LCD. Moving it around wasn't as simple as I thought it would be and I even ended up damaging the LCD. Finally I decided it was time to give laptop manufacturers another try.
I wanted a mobile desktop. I wanted a monster laptop. I ended up getting a Sager 9860. Thing has a huge screen, love it, it's great. Plays games very well. Does everything ym desktop can do, just about. But although it is fantastic for when I go from location to location and pull it out in a hotel, it is not so great when I am in transit in the plane and just wanted to use it for playing MP3's ( I use napster). And besides doing planned flights, I do alot of stand-by's for search and rescues. Actually, SAR and law enforcement is the brunt of my flight time. I never take my huge 9860 with me when I pull those duties. Too much of a hassle. But when I am on my 5th hour of a 10 hour search, I really miss listening to a large selection of music.
I tried a napster approved MP3 player (40giger) recently. But I really didn't like it. It was too much of a hassle trying to choose songs to hear. I thought about getting one of those media players, but then I walked in to Costco and saw an ultra portable laptop on display. The MP3 player cost me nearly $300, the Media player would cost nearly $600, this ultraportable was around $1500. Although, the MP3 player was small, it was still too big to be useful for anything other then pulling out of my flight bag and using it in a stationary manner. Same goes for the Media player and although the ultraportable is much bigger then the MP3 player, it still quilifies to me as being small enough to easily pull out of my flight bag in any manner I would have used that MP3 player. And I am a geek at heart and an ultra small powerful laptop is just as much geekbling as a huge monster laptop. I rationalized some more about why it works great for what I needed it for and decided to get one.
After looking at all that newegg and sites like tha had to offer, then looking at Sager sites, Alienware, gateway...and eventually...DELL. I decided DELL was the way to go. They honestly had the best price and even had it better equipped, even after tax!
This is what I ordered: 700M
They have it listed with a 25% off coupon, but if you push the price over $1499, you can find a $500 off coupon and apply that. I ended up taking the base model, increasing the ram to 1gig 2slots filled and an 80gigHDD and came out to $1088. After tax and handling, it cost me $1180. I heard about a $750 coupon, but didn't want to wait.
Now after thinking about it, I wonder if I shoulda tried to get the newer Pentium M CPU with the 533FSB instead. Or if I should have gotten a smaller screen then the 12.1" . Looking at dimensions, the smaller screen laptops...although a smaller screen, were practically the same size as this 700M anyway.
Anyone know of a comparable small size laptop for around the same price? I couldn't find much better than this 700M that wasn't like hundreds more for a less equipped model.
