Friday, April 11, 2008

DELL vs. COMPAQ

The two superheroes have been wanting to buy a brand new lappie since the Ice Age. As we often travel back to Malacca and that both superheroes are currently taking different shifts to conquer the PC, we thought it would be a good idea to buy a lappie to avoid us two fighting over the lone PC at Superhero S's home.

Since Superhero S is a computer idiot, she has already passed 99.5% of the responsibility to Superhero W in our quest to find a good lappie. The remaining 0.5% actually accounts for the looks and design of the lappie which will be decided by Superhero S. (What?? I'm only given 0.5% of the purchasing power??)

So far, we've been surveying and researching on which lappie to buy. And we've narrowed down the lappie brands to the two giants - DELL and COMPAQ. To be frank, our budget is only around +/-RM 2,500. Based on what we can afford, we found DELL Inspiron 1420 and Compaq V3000 to be the current front runners.

Here are the specifications:

DELL


** Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology - Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5550
** Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic*
** 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
** 14.1” WXGA Display with Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam
** 160GB* Hard Drive
** DVD Burner*
** Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Priced at RM 2499 - DELL seem to be stingy with their free extras such as mouse, bag, etc. ; and for online purchases, we gotta fork out some delivery price as well.


COMPAQ

** Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology - Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T2370 ( 1.7 GHz )
** Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic*
** 1GB DDR2 SDRAM ( upgradable RM70 to 2GB )
** 14.1” WXGA Display with Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam
** 160GB* Hard Drive
** DVD Burner*
** Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Priced at RM 2669 - free extras such as mouse, bag, 2GB thumbdrive

These two lappies have almost the same specification and the price range is quite near. So, I told Superhero S, it's now up to your 0.5% to choose which design among the two lappies you like the most.

Superhero S finds the exterior for Compaq to be more compact. Haha. It doesn't felt as plasticky as the DELL. But of course, the DELL's colourful exterior is much more attractive and lively.

But then again, when we went to the DELL Direct Store at MidValley, we actually saw a display model with part of its colour scraped off! OMG. So lousy. The salesman said that only the white version has a sort of extra protective plasticky layer that the other colours lack off.

photo taken from blogjer.com

And the thing about DELL, my Superhero Bro actually mentioned that his DELL lappie for 1 year plus actually got kinda loose at its joints. I don't think it's a case of the lappie being flipped open too often. If that's so, then DELL must have a pretty defected quality to start with.


So which is actually a better buy? DELL or Compaq? Any seasoned lappie buyers can help us with this? Haha. :p

11 comments:

L'abeille said...

Can't decide huh? hehe...

If you're choosing Dell...
Trust me, you can 'korek' Dell for the free bluetooth mouse and in my oppinion, don't ever get the Dell bag, it's dang heavy and ugly wei..

To me, the drawback about Dell 1420is that it comes with the Vista which makes both X-T and I on a cursing mode every night. :S


Jason said...

The compaq laptop at 2669 is expensive! I got mine with the exact same specs except for faster processor (1.83) at 2499.


Jason said...

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-X3100.2176.0.html

This might interest you if you are a heavy gamer. It doesn't run most games to the full potential.


dreckker said...

I have a friend who's currently using a Compaq... and no complains from him thus far...

I've gotten a HP Compaq if i were on a budget too... but personally I would wanna go for a Toshiba Satelite... hehehe...

it's up to you to choose lah actually... coz I think both brands comes in warranty and should be quite durable. :)


dreckker said...

but if you're gonna run Microsoft Vista, make sure you have got at least 2GB of RAM on board lor...else it's gonna be pretty slow...


twosuperheroes said...

Hi adik l'abeille, so teruk ka? but rite now, every laptop will come with Vista unless we bought the Free Dos one. Have to install XP kua.. But, superhero cannot ketinggalan zaman. hehe

Oh Jason, I saw the 2499, dunno why 1.83 more cheap than 1.7 kan? Btw, thanx for the info bout the graphic cards, maybe superhero S can try play her Sims 2 from the laptop :D

Hi bro Dreckker, yeah thats why we looking toward upgrading the RAM coz it is more important kan rather than the harddisk ( can buy external :) ) .. Oh, Toshiba is good but quite expensive. Thanx..


Jason said...

The list of games compatible is here:

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intelgm965/sb/CS-026146.htm

Good luck!

And sorry for being lorsoh


twosuperheroes said...

no problem. Thanx for the info again. :D


Dc said...

tai kor, this weekend got pc fair at KLCC convention center, go there and go shop, it's way cheaper with loads of freebies in PCFAIR, remember buy BRANDED, buy Acer also ok if u wan :P


twosuperheroes said...

wah....just now I went PC Fair..haven't reach the convention centre, just only at the tunnel already tak boleh get thru! Sooooo many people!??! OMG.


GilaChess said...

I went on the last day and it was damn crowded but I still pushed my way thru and managed to reach the halls. :)