Hi All,

I currently am using a 6 year old Dell D610 Latitude laptop @ home. I use it in the living room to surf the web, edit some photos and when traveling watch dvd movies. Lately it has been slow as ****, CPU load hovers around 60-70% while trying to surf 2 webpages at once. So now I looking for a replacement and I am willing to spend upwards of $800. I like the Dell Latitudes as they are more rugged than Dell's insperion line.

I am clueless as what to look for anymore.. I have been told to at least get an Intel I5 processor and 4gb of RAM. I do not want anything bigger than a 15.6" Screen

I do not think I want an HP either as I use an HP E6930p Elitebook @ work and it is a piece of **** - that might be partly due to all the security BS my company puts on it... or simply because HP's suck

I can get Lenovo's and Dell's at a discount via work.

Thanks,
CS

 

Dell seems to make a good laptop. I guess it comes down to what you perfer.

 

For all you're using the laptop for, you could find a really good one for half of what you're looking to spend.

Is the old laptop wearing out or have you had someone take a look to see if maybe 100 bucks would fix it?

 

I'd say at 6 years old your ready for a new one. You maybe able to get that one running better but, I think you'd be happy with a new purchase.

I'm a mac guy (for home computers). Have been for a long time. I have a 7 year old powerbook used daily. I have a 3 year old iMac not even showing signs of age. I'm a full believer in the things but, some people just don't want to have to learn something new which is understandable.

I'm also a IT Administrator with 8 years experience and I will tell you what I learned the hardway on windows side. Windows 7 is what you'll get on a new computer. Make POSITIVE sure your new computer is 64-bit Windows 7. 4GB of memory is almost a minimum now. If you run 32 bit windows 7 you won't be able to install any more than that and actually have less usable. Get as much memory as you can afford. You will be MUCH better off.

As for proc's the i5 is my top choice. It's a great, fast processor. There are many options in the i5 line but, I'd say any of them will work great for you.

If you go Dell. I'd prefer in the following order Latitude, Vostro, XPS, and finally Inspiron. the Latitude's are super nice. They are the most sturdy, well built laptops I've had from Dell. They hold up much better than an of the other lines. I work for a construction company and we put the things to the test.

 

I have a 4-5 yr old toshiba laptop and about every yr i wipe and reinstall the operating system because it slows down so much, after it runs quick and surfs like a charm.
Maybe wipe and reinstall, its free...

 

Toshiba's are also a nice choice. I like the satellite line. One of the main causes of a machine to slow down with age, other than malware, is memory. Over time program's get installed that run on startup and continue to run. All the stuff down in the system tray. It takes up memory and when all your ram is full your machine will crawl. That's why I load up with memory. It's cheap, easy to install, and the best bang for the buck you can purchase.

You hit on the reason I love my Mac's. I've never reinstalled the Mac OS on any of the 4 machines in my house because of them slowing down, never had a virus, and never had any visitors mess anything up.

 

I got my laptop maxed out on memory, mac might be the next computer i buy, everyone that has one seems to like them.

 

The wifes toshiba satellite has been running fine for 6 years now. Other than having to do a system clean up, since she can't remember, it's been a great laptop.

Have a dell inspiron that was good until the video card went out. Not good is the cost of a new one.

 

Yup, 4GB would be your max unfortunately. That's why I suggested 64bit for anybody getting a new one. I've had VERY few compatibility issues in a 64bit environment. Well worth the tradeoff for the extra memory.


$45 bucks I'm running 8gb. If your not opposed to the learning curve, they are super nice home computers. The built in software is terrific for home pics, movies, music..Creation and consumption.

 

I looked at the Mac's but not willing to spend $1500 for a laptop that is used for light usage...

I am waiting on a friend to give me my XP Pro SP3 cd back. I will then dismantel the laptop, clean it, apply new thermo paste and do a fresh install and go from there.

I fired up my old Dell i8600 (circa 2003) the other night and it worked almost 2x faster than the D610. I think partly due to the fact it has a dedicated 9600gt video card with 128mb or video ram.

I did do more looking around and I can get a nice Dell Latitude for about $600 that would work for me.

Thanks,
-Steve