IBM or Dell?

Category: Geeks r Us

Post 1 by Hilikme (Veteran Zoner) on Wednesday, 01-Aug-2007 16:58:06

So I'm getting funding support for a new laptop, etc., for the new University semester in September. The catch is, I have to choose between an IBM laptop or a Dell laptop.

I've only ever used Toshiba laptops in the past, and between IBM and Dell desktop computers, I liked the Dells, but now I've heard that there's a big difference in the quality of Dell's desktops and laptops.

I don't know yet whether the laptop will be coming with Vista or XP, but there's a good chance that if it comes with Vista, I'll be changing it over to XP anyways.

So... Which do you think would be a better choice? Pros and cons? What differences are there between the two?

Thanks

Post 2 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Thursday, 02-Aug-2007 6:16:19

Well, Dell offers you XP on a range of their laptops. I'd lean towards Dell personally. IBM are firstly way more expsneive for what you get (but if you get fuding I guess it won't matter so much). I honestly don't know anyone who got a Linovo laptop (well IBM after they sold their laptop divission to China) but when I had IBM Thinkpad I was not impressed, not overly nice but overly expensive. It might have changed since. My friend just got a really neat Dell laptop for $1200 with 2gb of ram, 2ghz processor, dual core, 160gb hard drive etc and he is very happy with it, except that it came with Windows Vista.
Basically given my limited experience I'd say Dell, of course personally I would go with either Acer og HP, have excellent experience of both and they are considerably less expensive but still good quality, but I guess you don't have that option.
cheers
-B

Post 3 by Chifu (Generic Zoner) on Thursday, 02-Aug-2007 11:16:54

I have an IBM which is currently being serviced in wherever their factory is. It completely crapped out on me after only two years. I was actually going to get a Dell until I received a 1000 dollar gift certificate from IBM. The next computer I buy will be a Dell if that helps any.

Post 4 by Hilikme (Veteran Zoner) on Thursday, 02-Aug-2007 13:06:03

Hey thanks you guys! Yeah, I've been leaning towards the Dell myself, so I think that is what I'll go with.

I just heard of a friend of the family getting a Lenovo with Vista, and she was miserable with the thing practically from the moment she started it up, so I think I'll be steering clear of that, haha.

Now the wait for the phone conference to see if I'll have a say in the OS it'll have... *crosses fingers for XP*.

Post 5 by Chifu (Generic Zoner) on Thursday, 02-Aug-2007 22:54:38

Well, now that IBM sent my computer back for a second time still broken, I'd say screw IBM completely.
Also, just wondering, what's so wrong with Vista? It might be good to just get it. I know that Microsoft will maintain support for the XP products for a while, but I'm sure they'll have more help for Vista users. Also, Jaws 8 supports Vista.

Post 6 by Hilikme (Veteran Zoner) on Friday, 03-Aug-2007 19:45:33

I've just heard from many people that Vista is pretty laggy, and still has some bugs floating around.

The other reason I want to stick to XP is the same reason many people wanted to stick to 98 while XP was the most recent OS -- most viruses, spyware, and the like will be focussed on the most recent OS, so you have less to worry about in that aspect. Of course if you have all the right anti-virus and anti-spyware software, it wouldn't matter I suppose... Eh, just a preference though.

Post 7 by chocolab (move over school!) on Saturday, 04-Aug-2007 2:07:26

I just bought this dell a few months back and it's wonderful. I mentioned scren reader, just that, and I got two gigs of memory which if you don't understand that means that's a lot. They're easily helpful with one tech issue I had, and the only problem I have had was extending the warranty. I got nailed into two warranties for the same amount of time, one a hunded bucks expensive. soI called and it was fixed. ok it took five times to tell five different people, but I finally got one lol. overall I love them and not to sound rude, but I've gotten english speaking people that are confident in how they handle you. and that is a plus in my book, ot that I'm saying anyone who can't speak english perfectly is horrible or anything, pm me if you want help or anything.

Post 8 by fuzzy101 (The master of fuzz!!) on Saturday, 04-Aug-2007 4:40:27

I would think that vista would be lesslikely to get viruses and stuff right now because it is too new.
Plenty of XP ones out there.

Post 9 by Jesse (Hmm!) on Saturday, 04-Aug-2007 12:35:58

I'm an Apple fan personally, which makes me lean toward the IBM/Lenovo. They've got some great computers, and are built like tanks.

Post 10 by Nick6489 (11 years a Zoner) on Sunday, 05-Aug-2007 7:53:50

Really, to me, you can go with either one and not go too far wrong. IBM I think kills dell in the battery life department and as well as laptop construction. They stay cool too, but so do Dells. I'm probably more adept at telling you what not to get.

Post 11 by Arigorn (Account disabled) on Wednesday, 08-Aug-2007 21:27:11

IBM is better. I have a lenovo, and it runs great. Del has many support issues, and if something goes wrong, it is harder to fix.

Post 12 by battle star queen (I just keep on posting!) on Saturday, 18-Aug-2007 22:06:29

I've had a dell desktop for a couple of months and it works greate. I dohn't know about the laptops but if you need help feel free to pm or send me an email.