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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Dell Vostro Vs Inspirion?
Jim Pierce, Photographer
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Waltham | MA | usa | Posted: 7:13 PM on 01.07.08 |
->> I hope to by buying a new laptop within a few days and have narrowed it down to the Dell Inspirion and Vostro.
Does anyone have experience with the Vostro? The current prices on Dells site show you get a much higher end computer for less money with the Vostro.
What am I missing?
Jim |
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Greg Francis, Photographer
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 7:29 PM on 01.07.08 |
->> This may not help, but I run two Inspirons, put into service in 2003 & 2006, never a hiccup, except one had a RAM chip fizzle after 2 years. No complaints other than that.
Maxing your ram will be the biggest difference in performance. Core Duo processors are so quiet and run cool. Hardly ever hear the fan speed up. |
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John Plassenthal, Photographer
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Vandalia | OH | USA | Posted: 12:33 AM on 01.08.08 |
->> Jim,
When I sit and do a side by side configuration of the same components I get prices that are within $4 of each other. Make sure that you are selecting the exact same components for the comparison. They have different defaults in terms of memory, hard drive, cdrom, etc so you might be mixing apples and oranges. One Vostro is also a single processor as opposed to a dual processor. Double check the hard drive types to ensure you're getting SATAs and at least 2Gb of memory especially if you choose Vista.
The main difference I tend to see is that Inspiron is in the home/home office category, and the Vostro is in the small business category. Machines targeted at home and home office use tend to be focused on graphics and disk speed moreso than the small business due to their use for playing games. You may find a better video card in the Inspiron bundle than what would be default in the Vostro line.
The good thing about Dell is that they provide a solid product and have good service. The bad thing about dell is that they give you a lot of choices to customize. You can run the same model 30 times and get different prices each time depending on the options you choose.
All this said, I'm on my 3rd Dell and will likely get a 4th in the future. |
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Russell Rinn, Photographer
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Georgetown | Tx | USA | Posted: 1:01 AM on 01.08.08 |
->> These are essentially the exact same machine built on the same chassis using many of the same components. You can make them virtually the same box.
John is accurate in that the Vostro is a business class machine and, as such, should have some service offerings geared more to that crowd. I believe that Vostro also eliminates much of the trialware that comes on the consumer class machines.
Yes, Dell is good about giving you so many choices your head spins. You can configure in many different ways and save/spend different amounts of money for the same config.
One thing you should do is check out the Dell outlet. I recently purchased a Latitude D830 with duo core and 4gigs of RAM for a substantial savings. (I was actually looking at a Vostro, but got a better deal on the Latitude). A bigger factor was that since the Latitude is a business machine it came with a 3 year warranty standard. Yes, even my refurb.
I have owned many Dell laptops over the years and all of them have been refurbs. In fact, the term refurb is a misnomer, as in many cases the machines are brand new and may have been shipped orders that were cancelled and they had never even been turned on. |
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Mark Sutton, Photographer
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Herndon | VA | USA | Posted: 7:59 AM on 01.08.08 |
->> All I can say is MAC, MAC, MAC and you will never go back. Trust me. I switched from the Dark Side in the summer with a MacBook Pro and this is the GREATEST laptop I've ever owned and I just upgraded it to 4 Megs of memory and this machine kicks. Use the force Luke and come over from the dark side....
Seriously, we have Dell Inspirion's at work and they don't come no where near my MBP in performance. I have Photoshop, Lightroom and Photo Mechanic loaded on both machines. I use a lot of PSD's (Photoshop layered files) in my designs and some of these files are really huge files. Some are over 300 MB and when my MBP only had the 2 Megs of memory that came with the machine it clearly out performed my work Dell which had the same amount of RAM. The files sometimes took for ever to open in the Dell. I had to close everything and bump up my memory usage in Photoshop, but the MBP handled the files a whole lot better. Now with 4 megs the files open instantly.
You can't go wrong with a Mac. |
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Rodrigo Pena, Photographer
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Palm Desert | CA | USA | Posted: 6:35 PM on 01.08.08 |
->> Hard to believe 4 megs can mean THAT much of a difference? j/k.
Did you mean 4 Gigs? |
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Mark Sutton, Photographer
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Herndon | VA | USA | Posted: 7:12 PM on 01.08.08 |
| ->> No. I meant 4 megs. What you think? |
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Mark Sutton, Photographer
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Herndon | VA | USA | Posted: 7:18 PM on 01.08.08 |
| ->> Excuse me people, since it was so eloquently pointed out that I need to correct my previously stated above entry. I meant 4 gigabytes and not 4 megabytes. Thanks Mr. Pena for clearly pointing that out for me. Keep up the GREAT work. My bad. No excuses. I won’t post for 24 hours as my punishment. |
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Jared Wickerham, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Pittsburgh | PA | U.S.A. | Posted: 7:42 PM on 01.08.08 |
| ->> Better invest your money and get an Apple :) |
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Geoffrey Bolte, Photographer, Assistant
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Spencer | MA | USA | Posted: 9:06 PM on 01.08.08 |
->> Go Mac, especially with Vista on PCs now, it is horrible. I have had trouble with Vista since I got it. Luckily the laptop PC is a secondary computer to my Mac.
I have had more problems in the last 2 months with Vista than I have in 4 years with my desktop Mac.
I plan on upgrading to a MBP or the "New" ultraportable Apple is rumored to be coming out with.
Anyways if you do decide Dell, if you spec either of the Vostro or Inspiron the same, you will most likely come close to the same price. One is set up more for business and the other for home use. |
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Jim Pierce, Photographer
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Waltham | MA | usa | Posted: 9:11 PM on 01.08.08 |
->> Well Maybe I should have stated in the orginal post Apple is OUT of the question. I am far to invested in PC software, desktops, knowledge, etc to even think about a MAC. Having PC's at my day job running very high end engineering software and then coming home to 2 more desktop Pc's would not work well with a MAC Laptop.
Back to the post relative to the two Dell's. The price differnce is based on the after instant rebate and that is where the big difference is 70 for the Inspirion vs over 200 for the Vostro. before this they are 30 dollars apart.
I have received on E-Mail from a Non-SS member that says go with the Insprion and spend the extra money. The Vostro "feels cheap". Other examples were mentioned but in genral this person wish he had spent the extra $$
So If there are more first hand experience about the Vostro Vs Inspirion I would love to hear more.
Jim |
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John Plassenthal, Photographer
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Vandalia | OH | USA | Posted: 11:13 PM on 01.08.08 |
| ->> The point about Vista is well made.. You can still order with XP Pro as the OS, which I would recommend over Vista. |
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