Equivalent to this Dell laptop?

[Zad]

I have this inexplicable aversion to Dell, especially laptops. Maybe it is the way they force you to jump through hoops on their site rather than spec a system yourself, or the customised incompatible modules they use... Anyway. I have come across a rather interesting deal that they have at the moment:

Dell Studio 15 1558 Laptop (N0055803)
Nice new i5-430M processor (i5-5xx would be nicer, but hey..)
4GB DDR3 (2x2GB)
500GB HD (but only 5400rpm)
ATI HD 4570 Graphics (512MB)
6-cell 56 WHr battery (unlikely to be used extensively away from power)
15.6in 1920 x 1080 LED backlight

Usually £868.
£619.01 including vat and free delivery.
5% off with Dell voucher
3% off that with Quidco
= £570:41

Can anyone think of anything that could come close to that for the price? I'm scratching my head and Google can't come up with anything!

[10 Pence Short]

At home I have a 7 year old Dell Inspiron that still runs perfectly. I'm typing this on a 12 month old Vostro that does the same.

Never had problems with Dell laptops. During the time I've been fixing computers for people, I've never come across any major hardware problems with Dell laptops.

I would end your aversion and go for it.

[mcflurry]

AFAIK either the Dell voucher or Quidco will work, but not both

[okgo]

Go on their outlet website you will find a similar laptop for £350-400.

They are good bits of kit, I have had two now.

[Mr_Yogi]

okgo said:

Go on their outlet website you will find a similar laptop for £350-400.

They are good bits of kit, I have had two now.

They look like they cost £390-450, but then there is VAT and delivery on top, still some great deals but they are not as cheap as they first look. Got a 'damaged' Core2Duo P8600 based laptop from them just before christmas, original full price was £850+ but it was only £390ish, but VAT and delivery pushed it nearer £500. Still a great deal as the damage are a couple of greasey fingure prints on the lid, but more expensive than it initially looked.

[okgo]

Fair enough, I bought mine when they were knocking £50 off when you added it to cart.

Got a laptop year ago for £300 that spec wise is as good as a £400 laptop today. Great site, and like you said, to this day I haven't found the damage.

[rich1231]

Hmmm despite evangelising my dell laptop a few months back i am returning it for a refund as Dell designed a laptop that you cant get a fraction of the possible performance out of.. oh and dell do everything in their power to muck you about at every stage. So never again will I purchase a Dell

Loads of Asus machines about at great prices

[grumbledoak]

I don't share the OP's aversion. Yes, the 'complicator' on the website can make it damned hard to get exactly what you want. And, you are normally better off getting a proper Windows disk so you can format and build from clean. But these are only really concerns if you are quite sure what you want. Otherwise I've always got what I bought, at a decent price, and have never had to even phone them.

Looks like a decent price for that spec. laptop, though I've not been in that market for a while...

[okgo]

rich1231 said:

Hmmm despite evangelising my dell laptop a few months back i am returning it for a refund as Dell designed a laptop that you cant get a fraction of the possible performance out of.. oh and dell do everything in their power to muck you about at every stage. So never again will I purchase a Dell

Loads of Asus machines about at great prices

Woud you mind telling us what you mean with that?

It has power that you can't tap??

[rich1231]

okgo said:

rich1231 said:

Hmmm despite evangelising my dell laptop a few months back i am returning it for a refund as Dell designed a laptop that you cant get a fraction of the possible performance out of.. oh and dell do everything in their power to muck you about at every stage. So never again will I purchase a Dell

Loads of Asus machines about at great prices

Woud you mind telling us what you mean with that?

It has power that you can't tap??

Google Studio XPS 16 throttling

[heebeegeetee]

Zad said:

I have this inexplicable aversion to Dell, especially laptops. Maybe it is the way they force you to jump through hoops on their site rather than spec a system yourself, or the customised incompatible modules they use... Anyway. I have come across a rather interesting deal that they have at the moment:

Dell Studio 15 1558 Laptop (N0055803)
Nice new i5-430M processor (i5-5xx would be nicer, but hey..)
4GB DDR3 (2x2GB)
500GB HD (but only 5400rpm)
ATI HD 4570 Graphics (512MB)
6-cell 56 WHr battery (unlikely to be used extensively away from power)
15.6in 1920 x 1080 LED backlight

Usually £868.
£619.01 including vat and free delivery.
5% off with Dell voucher
3% off that with Quidco
= £570:41

Can anyone think of anything that could come close to that for the price? I'm scratching my head and Google can't come up with anything!

Phone 'em up. It avoids the complication and you can talk the nice Indian salesman into a better deal.

[okgo]

rich1231 said:

okgo said:

rich1231 said:

Hmmm despite evangelising my dell laptop a few months back i am returning it for a refund as Dell designed a laptop that you cant get a fraction of the possible performance out of.. oh and dell do everything in their power to muck you about at every stage. So never again will I purchase a Dell

Loads of Asus machines about at great prices

Woud you mind telling us what you mean with that?

It has power that you can't tap??

Google Studio XPS 16 throttling

I have seen that posted about on various other forums now yo mention it, very peculiar.

[Zad]

Thanks guys. If I decide to go with it (the offer expires soon and I'm not really in a position to buy it yet, but there is always some sort of offer at Dell) I will give their sales people a ring and see what they can do. Unfortunately these machines are so new that I haven't seen any go through the outlet yet, the highest CPU they list is a Core 2 Duo 2400. They are some way short of the i3/5/7 and rarely have an HD screen. Having said that, the i7 Studio 1557 should be filtering through by now, but I never seem to hit on any.

It really does seem to be difficult to find a laptop with HD screen, decent CPU and graphics etc for less than a grand. I would imagine the new processors in the Dell use a totally new chipset, but the performance problems people are having combined with the lack of support from Dell is rather offputting. I will see how things pan out anyway, I have patience

[MMTWRX]

How does this compare for £599 from PC World and ebuyer

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.js...

[Zad]

MMTWRX said:

How does this compare for £599 from PC World and ebuyer

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.js...

Very interesting! I didn't think that machine was out for another week or two yet. It is certainly competitive on CPU, memory, HD and graphics (DX11 too) but a shame about the LCD. According to the Acer site, the "15.6" HD Acer CineCrystal™ LED LCD" might make you think 1080, but according to the Acer site it is 1366x768.

Thanks for that

[lestag]

Zad said:

MMTWRX said:

How does this compare for £599 from PC World and ebuyer

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.js...

Very interesting! I didn't think that machine was out for another week or two yet. It is certainly competitive on CPU, memory, HD and graphics (DX11 too) but a shame about the LCD. According to the Acer site, the "15.6" HD Acer CineCrystal™ LED LCD" might make you think 1080, but according to the Acer site it is 1366x768.

Thanks for that

HD is 768
Full HD is 1080

[MMTWRX]

Zad said:

MMTWRX said:

How does this compare for £599 from PC World and ebuyer

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.js...

Very interesting! I didn't think that machine was out for another week or two yet. It is certainly competitive on CPU, memory, HD and graphics (DX11 too) but a shame about the LCD. According to the Acer site, the "15.6" HD Acer CineCrystal™ LED LCD" might make you think 1080, but according to the Acer site it is 1366x768.

Thanks for that

I damaged my laptop last week and have just ordered one of these as a replacement through my insurance. I have actually been into PC World though first and had a look, so they are definitely in stock. I don't think its a bad spec for the money, far more than I need.

[MMTWRX]

Zad said:

I have this inexplicable aversion to Dell, especially laptops. Maybe it is the way they force you to jump through hoops on their site rather than spec a system yourself, or the customised incompatible modules they use... Anyway. I have come across a rather interesting deal that they have at the moment:

Dell Studio 15 1558 Laptop (N0055803)
Nice new i5-430M processor (i5-5xx would be nicer, but hey..)
4GB DDR3 (2x2GB)
500GB HD (but only 5400rpm)
ATI HD 4570 Graphics (512MB)
6-cell 56 WHr battery (unlikely to be used extensively away from power)
15.6in 1920 x 1080 LED backlight

Usually £868.
£619.01 including vat and free delivery.
5% off with Dell voucher
3% off that with Quidco
= £570:41

Can anyone think of anything that could come close to that for the price? I'm scratching my head and Google can't come up with anything!

I just typed your code into Dell and get http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.as...
which is different to what you have listed above. It has a 1366x768 wled and is only £549

[Zad]

MMTWRX said:

I just typed your code into Dell and get http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.as...
which is different to what you have listed above. It has a 1366x768 wled and is only £549

Take it through the configuration process.
Change the screen to 1920x1200.
Click Review and Add to Basket

Add the current 5% off orders over £749 coupon: MKD$QMH2XK75TX (this is publically known, nothing secret, but it does expire 3rd Feb)

That takes the sub-total inc VAT to £588.06

If you click-through from the Quidco site, you should get 3% cash-back (never guaranteed). That brings the price down to £570.41

[MMTWRX]

Zad said:

MMTWRX said:

I just typed your code into Dell and get http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.as...
which is different to what you have listed above. It has a 1366x768 wled and is only £549

Take it through the configuration process.
Change the screen to 1920x1200.
Click Review and Add to Basket

Add the current 5% off orders over £749 coupon: MKD$QMH2XK75TX (this is publically known, nothing secret, but it does expire 3rd Feb)

That takes the sub-total inc VAT to £588.06

If you click-through from the Quidco site, you should get 3% cash-back (never guaranteed). That brings the price down to £570.41

Sorry, I thought by changing the spec the part number would change doh! You could upgrade to the i5-520 processor for £50

I bought an XPS from Dell and the service, delivery and backup has been excellent. I had a problem with the raid controller just after I purchased mine and they came out the next day and sorted it. I would use them again for sure.