Dell laptop recommendation!

Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a spec for a large screen dell laptop that would be used mainly for running AutoCad, microsoft office and connection to the internet.

Hi Cookie1. Hmmmmm alot of people will have their own views on what's good and what's not. How large do you want the screen? I got a Dell Inspiron 640m. I got 2gb of ram, 1.8 dual core cpu. Integrated graphics. 7200rpm hard disk spin speed. Which makes the laptop a little faster. The screen is 15.1" I got the extended battery. If I use the laptop with min screen brightness, just surfing the net I can get about 7hrs from the Battery. If using vista then I recommend 2gb of ram. The rest really should be good enough for autocad. I'm not sure if Autocad requires a dedicated graphics card. If id does then It will add up to €200.00 or more to the cost. You really will have to check that out. Or autocad may run slow as hell or not at all! Do you really want a laptop for autocad? Most dual core p.c's with the spec you want would be cheaper! And probably faster, remember the biggest bottleneck in any computer today is the hard disk. And laptop hard disk's are a good bit slower than p.c's. Anyway have fun on your search

cookie1 said:

Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a spec for a large screen dell laptop that would be used mainly for running AutoCad, microsoft office and connection to the internet.

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Cant really recommend a spec for you but if you do decide to purchase a Dell try this link for some really good E-Value codes hope it's ok to post this [broken link removed]

Mad_Lad said:

...I got a Dell Inspiron 640m. ...The screen is 15.1" ...

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Are you sure. The 640m only comes with a 14.1 screen.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2950&review=Dell+Inspiron+e1405

The orignal poster asked specifically for a "large screen dell".

Any laptop is fine for internet and office work. Autocad is a little more specialised. I would go with a large screen and a high res to get more of the drawing on screen. If you only do 2D stuff then yuou don't need a high spec. If you do 3D work then a decent graphic card would be a good idea.

I use a 9400 with a 7900GS gfx card and 1920x1200 screen res. I often connect it up to a 2nd screen. Battery life is about 2~2.5hrs with the 9 cell battery. I like having the big screen and its portable enough for me. I don't carry it around that much anyway. Only issue I would say is that Dells screens are hit and miss, and I had to return a laptop or two before I got one with a screen that I was happy with. I bought mine off the outlet though. The Dimension machines are good enough, but it you want to pay top dollar they have business laptops which are similar and some of them have Quadro cards specifically for CAD applications IF you need them.

Thanks very much for that folks, appreciate it!

Don't go with dell. They are unable to meet the delivery times. I have serious issues with dell regarding delivery. They took money from my credit card and then extending delay in delivery of laptop from 4 to 9 weeks. The customer care is outsourced to India and they just don't speak properly once you've placed the order.

I have already filed a case in consumer court. It requires only 9 euro. Let me know if anyone has similar issues and you need further details.

Bit of a pain with delivery times alright. P Lots of people complaining about Dell delivery times recently. People need to be careful if they need a machine urgently, don't order a brand new model as there can be supply problems. The new XPS M1330 suffered from this because of the new screen it has. There was supply problems with it. It can happen with any brand but Dell have had problems recently.

That said. When I buy Dells. I usualy from the Outlet. So there are already made and thus arrive in 3 or 4 working days. Thats been my experience.

Whats the consumer court?