impurity wrote:90 day warranty? Ouch! I had to send my Dell laptop (new) in twice during the first year. I extended my warranty and in the second year I had to send it in another 3 times. More times than not they send it back to me not completely fixed!
90 days is standard length on a refurbished electronics item, such as a laptop.
As for your Dell warranty experience, that is not typical.
I have maintained more than 10 machines over the years, from Dell. 4 laptops and a lot of desktops, for relatives and such.
None have ever required repair work.
Keep in mind that warranties for computers do not cover software/operating system(Windows) problems. They are a hardware warranty. Software malfunctions are separate, but most companies like Dell will try and troubleshoot Windows problems, and actually override the free Microsoft support, so that you call Dell, not Microsoft.
That means if you have to send the computer in for a repair, there is something physically wrong. If it comes back not fixed multiple times, the odds are in favor of it not having something physically wrong with it.
I speak from personal experience with computers, as well as working for an extended warranty company.
A refurbished unit from Dell, Sony, or even old Toshiba units, are perfectly fine for the most part.
If there IS going to be a failure due to a defective repair or part, it is going to happen sooner than 90 days.
Dell also still has one of the lowest failure rates in the industry.
Unless you actually want a good powerful machine able to do what your desktop can do(but portable), then I also recommend a netbook, as others have.
If you want to be able to anything your desktop can do(for the most part :P) then you are looking at a 17 inch machine(or larger) usually. That being said, the integrated Intel graphics card limits this machine to older games, or at least less graphic intensive, but will still handle anything else you want to throw at it... other than trying to render a video >.>
I personally use a 17 inch Vaio, and it is not really that heavy for me, but the size itself can be a problem.
This screen is also listed as 900p on the Dell site, but Amazon says 720p. Typically if you see something like this, it means the actual resolution is 900p. Amazon and other retailers tend to put the familiar resolution terms because more people understand what 720p is, an HDTV. Very likely, the native resolution is 720p and can be bumped to 900p(which is 1600 x 900).
