hey guys, next fall ill be off to college so for graduation im asking for a laptop (well, atleast some help buying one) ive been looking at the dell insprion 6000. right now they have a pretty good deal (like always) which is 25% off and free shipping plus free printer. ive built on there what i think is a pretty good system, that would be $1160 after all the discounts (instead of $1600 before discounts). the only questions i really have are, how good are these laptops compared to others? i also want something that is quiet, and there realy isnt a way to find that out without having one in front of me. i want to be able to use it in class and not have the fan be loud. the last thing is, the school i will be going to has wireless internet all over campus, and i dont know anything specific that i would need for that besides just a wireless card? thansk in advanced.

Dell's are pretty good, and their warranty is one of the best. I suggest you spend a little extra and get at least a two year warranty. Any problem what so ever and the parts will be overnighted to you. A little over a year ago I sold my pretty new HP laptop and got a Dell...WAY better. I use it about 2-3 hours every day and it has had very few problems. (all computers will have some problems) To use a wireless network all you need is a wireless card, it would be best to get a laptop with a built in card....

Dell and Gateway both are good buys, as are most of the other brands. Get a Pentium M class, no celerons. No matter who you buy with, get the warrenty 2 to 3 years full replacement. If your toating it around campus, it will get bumped or dropped. It's worth the extra money since you proabbly won't have the time or resources to repair it yourself. I would also look into an external USB harddrive, unless your campus provides free (well sorta anyways) storage. Put all your wprk saved to the extarnal drive. Thatway you'll have your material if the laptop/notebook is damage/lost/in for repairs.

I have had much better luck and quality out of Gateway lately than Dell, both at home and at the office. Which ever one you get, get both the onboard wireless and standard NIC connections. It'll be worth it from what your saying. Wireless isn't all that quick or as relaible as a cable connection. When you can hook up hard use it, otherwise use the wireless for the others. Most campuses should have some one to help you configure for the campus network. Use the security features of the wireless. Good luck with the school.

Oh yeah, get a regular/infrared mose to use with it. You'll get real frustrated with the "spaz" pads real quick. They are also one of the first things normally to start acting up on the machines.

I am in College and got a Laptop for Christmas. I was able to get what ever I wanted with anything. I ended up with a Dell Inspiron 5160. It has 1 Gb of Memory, CDRW/DVD Player, Internal Wireless Card, All the programs I could ever want, 16'' screen, 3 year warranty (an extra warranty is A VERY GOOD IDEA) b/c unless you drop it, someone steals it, or you set it on fire all you should have to replace is the outdated programs...

I would recomend getting more memory then you think you'll need b/c I use my Laptop about 3-4 hours/day. Everything I have for school in homework, projects, programs or what else I use takes alot of memory. Its never fun to not be able to use programs b/c you don't have enough memory.

I also got an external 3.5'' floppy drive b/c I wasn't always sure that where ever I went would have a CD drive. So doing homework and going someplace else to do something and then not being able to use it b/c they dont have a cd drive. I paid only $40.00 for mine. I also got a backpak that looks identical as a normal backpak, but mine holds my Laptop, mouse, 3.5'' floppy drive, CD's, disks, and still has enough space for books and whatever else I need to carry.

I think you should get your computer the way you want it, don't hold back on things b/c you think it might not be worth it. Even if you have to pay for it over a little time, its worth it b/c you'll have your computer a few more years then you expect to. Dell will actually let you return it within 30 days if you decide you want something better. I did this. I got my first one and ended up returning it b/c I wanted to be able to have enough memory and still be able to upgrade later if I choose. Dells tech service support might not be the greatest, but I will say at least they are open 24 hours a day/ seven days a week. If I need to have someone come to my house due to problems, they will guarantee someone will be at my doorstep within 36 hours. I think thats not too bad...

I can help answer any other questions if you have them. I cant live with my computer. I'd be lost without it......