SOGA or Warranty? (Laptop)

Steerz

I need a new laptop (well, I'd like a new one anyways!) and saw this deal:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop_studio_15?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

It's ticking all my boxes, but I was wondering whether or not to get the extended warranty, or if SOGA will cover me until my next upgrade?

Also, any clues as to if "Dell Wireless 1510 Half Mini Card (802.11n)" is any good? The wireless on this laptop is so rubbish I have to sit right next to the router!


Thanks!

iNFLUENCE_2

Steerz wrote: »

I need a new laptop (well, I'd like a new one anyways!) and saw this deal:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop_studio_15?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

It's ticking all my boxes, but I was wondering whether or not to get the extended warranty, or if SOGA will cover me until my next upgrade?

Also, any clues as to if "Dell Wireless 1510 Half Mini Card (802.11n)" is any good? The wireless on this laptop is so rubbish I have to sit right next to the router!
Thanks!

Wireless on laptops is notoriously bad. 802.11n is a draft version of what will be the new wireless stadard (wireless n), given this it should perform better than 802.11g which is the current stadard. However given that it is inbuilt support you might want to purchase a £20 USB dongle for better WiFi (you can pick them up cheap on eBay).

Also are you sure there isnt a cheaper laptopn on https://www.ebuyer.com?

bitsandpieces

If you do decide to go with Dell - call their sales centre before buying, tell them what you want and you're getting two quotes elsewhere for comparison, and ask what they're best price is. Maybe worth also mentioning that you're a student. They're likely to give you a discount and/or freebies...

Blacksheep1979

iNFLUENCE wrote: »

Wireless on laptops is notoriously bad.

Rubbish

iNFLUENCE wrote: »

802.11n is a draft version of what will be the new wireless stadard (wireless n), given this it should perform better than 802.11g which is the current stadard.

Not necesarily as it's draft and as 802.11n isn't fully ratified you may find your 802.11n device doesn't work with everything

iNFLUENCE wrote: »

However given that it is inbuilt support you might want to purchase a £20 USB dongle for better WiFi (you can pick them up cheap on eBay).

Also are you sure there isnt a cheaper laptopn on www.ebuyer.com?

A cheap usb dongle is likely to have worse reception than an inbuilt wireless device.

To the op - don't bother with the waranty you'll be covered from manufacturing faults under the SOGA for upto 6 years depending on what would be deemed reasonable for goods of that type/price.

iNFLUENCE_2

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

Rubbish

Not necesarily as it's draft and as 802.11n isn't fully ratified you may find your 802.11n device doesn't work with everythingg

A cheap usb dongle is likely to have worse reception than an inbuilt wireless device.

I’m sorry but my experience here says otherwise. I live in a house of 8 students. I am the only one with a desktop, while the others all have laptops, everyone one of them has bought a wireless dongle because their inbuilt reception was very poor (3 of them have Dell laptops by the way). Each one said the dongle has improved the single by a significant margin - better signal/speeds and less drop outs.

As for wireless g/n compatibility. There was backwards compatibility built into the wireless n draft, and while it isn’t quite perfect, its pretty spot on - your be hard pushed to find a case of it not working. And if were going to get pedantic, wireless g was not backwards compatible with wireless a while wireless n is for the most part. Most of the dongles my housemates use are wireless n draft and we currently use a wireless g router after there was a drunken incident involving out nice wireless n one . In any case, the only alternative to a wireless n card would be a wireless g one, which while will continue to still work, will not allow the OP to take advantage of the increasing number of currently wireless n draft routers/access points.

iNFLUENCE_2

loaner wrote: »

Are you studying English?

Dell laptops have a nice big aerial around the screen. They get a much better signal than a usb dongle as a result.

What the hell makes you think im studying English?

And not the dell ones that i've dealt with, although they are on avarage now about 2 years old - maybe they've chnaged in that time?

iNFLUENCE_2

loaner wrote: »

Thought not.

Im sorry, do you have a problem reading my posts, I cant really see any major errors?

Voyager2002

iNFLUENCE wrote: »

Im sorry, do you have a problem reading my posts, I cant really see any major errors?

Actually, your post was clearly expressed and used grammar correctly -- in a way that is unusual on MSE. So a question whether you are doing English could be reasonably asked, as a compliment.

RachelRa

Dells student (and teacher) discount site..

http://www.dell-sci.co.uk/sci/catalogue.html

Blacksheep1979

iNFLUENCE wrote: »

I’m sorry but my experience here says otherwise. I live in a house of 8 students. I am the only one with a desktop, while the others all have laptops, everyone one of them has bought a wireless dongle because their inbuilt reception was very poor (3 of them have Dell laptops by the way). Each one said the dongle has improved the single by a significant margin - better signal/speeds and less drop outs.

As for wireless g/n compatibility. There was backwards compatibility built into the wireless n draft, and while it isn’t quite perfect, its pretty spot on - your be hard pushed to find a case of it not working. And if were going to get pedantic, wireless g was not backwards compatible with wireless a while wireless n is for the most part. Most of the dongles my housemates use are wireless n draft and we currently use a wireless g router after there was a drunken incident involving out nice wireless n one . In any case, the only alternative to a wireless n card would be a wireless g one, which while will continue to still work, will not allow the OP to take advantage of the increasing number of currently wireless n draft routers/access points.

I'm sorry that your experience in such a wide field as a house with 8 whole students has shown you conclusively that inbuilt wifi is not as good as it could be - however my experiences in a couple of multinational companies tends to indicate that it's more than satisfactory, I'll let the op draw their own conclusions...

As for draft n I'm not saying that it's not backwards compatible I'm saying there's no point paying out extra for a draft n device that may not work as a 802.11n device with every wireless access point and yes there are more than enough examples of this which still wouldn't 'allow the OP to take advantage of the increasing number of currently wireless n draft routers/access points', which I don't doubt are increasing but are still very very scarce.

Voyager2002

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

To the op - don't bother with the waranty you'll be covered from manufacturing faults under the SOGA for upto 6 years depending on what would be deemed reasonable for goods of that type/price.

While that is a correct statement of the law, I would hate to rely on it. I had an expensive TV go wrong when it was out of warranty, and tried to use SOGA (with the help of my local trading standards office). The company wrote back and said that since it was more than six months old, it was my responsibility to prove that the defect was their fault. They offered to examine it to establish this, but warned me that if they could not find evidence of a prior defect I would pay a hefty fee for the service. They also suggested I could find a local dealer to examine it and send them a report, but again I would be liable for the cost. Trading Standards said that this response was perfectly legal.

In the end I just paid someone local to fix it.

With computers, I would use reviews to try to buy one that is not likely to go wrong, and accept that in a few years it will be hopelessly out of date, so there is no need for it to last for ever.