Dell Laptop

[CaptainSlow]

I'm looking to buy a Dell laptop (I've had a few with no issues from work) for general surfing, complex Excel and Video Conferencing.

I have about £600-£700 and want SSD and min 8gb ram. What's the best route to go down? Inspiron or Latitude? Refurb or new from Dell or John Lewis (3 yr warranty)?

[tr7v8]

Currently using a Latitude as you'd expect because I work for Dell. They're renewed every 3 years & this & its predecessors have been faultless. Worth looking on Dell outlet my personal ones have come from there. Extend the warranty if you can at point of sale.

[AJB88]

I've got a Dell XPS Ubuntu which cost me about £700 in the sale few years ago (i7 gen 8, 8gb ram, SSD etc)

its travelled the world with me and still going strong.

[Piersman2]

I'm using my recently purchased Dell Inspiron 15 5000. Very pleased with it so far. £670 IIRC.

Big screen, small bezels make for a compact , light, thin laptop with a big screen. Only things I'd change would be the quality of the screen, it's not as good a resolution as my Surface Pro, but prefectly Ok for normal use. And the lights in the keys don't work well with the light silver finish of the laptop, but it's been much better to see the keys now I've worked out how to turn the lights off.

[Beetnik]

Inspiron is fine if it's going to sit on your desk at home most of the time. Latitude is more robust so get one if you're going to regularly chuck it in a bag and cart it around.

Best value is from Dell outlet.

[eein]

There's no real difference in the different dell ranges of laptops. Just look at the spec you want and which is cheaper.

Outlet is usually not better value as the hardware tends to be older spec - ie previous gen CPUs. So while you'll pay less, it'll not last as long. You can get older hardware specs from elsewhere for the same money if available.

[tr7v8]

eein said:

There's no real difference in the different dell ranges of laptops. Just look at the spec you want and which is cheaper.

Outlet is usually not better value as the hardware tends to be older spec - ie previous gen CPUs. So while you'll pay less, it'll not last as long. You can get older hardware specs from elsewhere for the same money if available.

Outlet is very often miss-builds & various returns (customer ordered wrong spec etc.) so shouldn't be older spec really.

[Chozza]

eein said:

There's no real difference in the different dell ranges of laptops.

Spec wise I'd agree ... But as well as being a bit more robust , the latitudes are more business focused , quick repairs can be carried out by a support guy ( or yourself at home ). Opening up a latitude to add memory or change an ssd etc is a few screws - the inspirons involve a bit more disassembly to do basic repairs/upgrades.

If the prices are similar I'd go with the latitude

[MattyB_]

Check out ITC Sales - just bought my Dell monitor from there, and I've bought laptops in the past that have been mint.

But agreed on the Latitudes; avoid the Vostro as they just feel significantly cheaper and harder to work on if you ever want to upgrade/fix.

[anonymoususer]

Latitude ultrabook
Brilliant laptop

[sideways sid]

CaptainSlow said:

I'm looking to buy a Dell laptop (I've had a few with no issues from work) for general surfing, complex Excel and Video Conferencing.

I have about £600-£700 and want SSD and min 8gb ram. What's the best route to go down? Inspiron or Latitude? Refurb or new from Dell or John Lewis (3 yr warranty)?

Similar situation to you three years ago.

I bought an Inspiron with 8gb ram and an i7. Nice kit with an excellent screen.

At the beginning of lockdown when it was 20/22 months old the battery needed replacing, which was easy to do but an unexpected expense (batteries in previous Acers and Dells have lasted several years). Also, no fault of the laptop but it seems 8GB is max ram so I can't add to it if I wanted to.

[V8mate]

I bought a Dell laptop two months ago - 16Gb G3 15" gaming laptop, from their Outlet. I wonder if it was a returned or cancelled special order, as it had some optional extras loaded, like W10 Pro.

Anyway, It was about £1250-worth, in the Outlet at £799. I bought it on my Amex card and got another £100 off too.

Let me know if you want an Amex referral - which will save you the first year's £25 fee.