Is this laptop ok?

sitcom123

Can someone advise me? I am looking to get my teenage daughter a laptop for christmas, she will be using it basically for homework, and social networking, she isnt really into games. I have been offered a dell latitude D530 at a good price with following spec
SPECIFICATIONS: INTELL CORE DUO CPU T7250 2GHZ 2GB RAM CD/DVD RE WRITER 80GB HARD DRIVE INTERGRATE WIRELESS 15.4 INCH SCREEN

Are these laptops ok and is the spec ok as I am a complete novice at techni

kirkeastment

What constitutes a good price, as once we know the price, then we know what sort of price range your in, and whether theres anything better.

sitcom123

sorry £275

OneADay

Is it second hand? Dell are not selling that model any more I think.

I recommended me mate or at least he decided in end to get the Dell Inspiron 1545 for £368 with 3 gig memory, 250 hard disk, 15 inch, P4 processor T4300 2.1Ghz - price of that gone up to £388.99 in a couple of days though.

sitcom123

No its old stock but not second hand

OneADay

I would avoid it - when you say old stock, is it from Dell, does it have a warranty.

The Lattitude models are more geered for business usage rather than the home.

Spend a little more and get something that will last a bit more and is more suitable.

sitcom123

Thanks for your advice, can you tell me why its not suitable for home use

patman99

Dells not suitable for home use?, It will run Windows, surf the net, send emails and play a few odd games. What more do you want?.

Seriuosly though, what will your daughter be using it for?, if it is for school/college work, then it will be fine. If she intends to use it for playing games, then best start saving as there are no gaming laptops under £1,000 that are worth getting.

Donnie

It really depends on the specification, you need to get more details.

If it has....;

Featuring next-generation Wi-Fi® 802.11 Draft-n support — provides up to 5x better performance than 802.11g when used with a Wireless-N router
Integrated Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate for easy connections to personal devices
Integrated mobile broadband wireless make it easy to stay productive on the road

...then it has some useful functions. But they might not all be included. Check this before purchase.

Is the screen 15" XGA 1024x768 resolution or 15" SXGA+ 1400x1050 resolution? You'd want the second option if possible. But they are not the Widescreens that are now generally available. Not necessarily a bad thing. As long as you know.

There isn't a built in webcam, which is a glaring omission if she likes to use Facebook. Of course it's possible to add a webcam, but it's not an attractive solution if you are on the move.

In conclusion, it is a machine designed for business, but again, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. They tend to have lower end graphics, but are generally more robust and have greater connectivity, including Firewire.
If it hasn't got all of the first three options mentioned, I would think again.

Three 'cons': No widescreen, no webcam and relatively small HDD.

Pros: Robust, good connectivity, two battery option...

Most importantly, will your daughter like the design?

What's your max budget?

macman

Three potential problems: 1) tiny hard disk at 80GB, eve for basic use I would expect a modern laptop to have minimum 160GB these days. 2) what OS does it come with? I'm assuming Vista but does it indeed come with any OS at all? 3) does it have the full one year warranty?
What is the source for this machine as I'm presuming it's not direct from Dell, sounds like a refurb to me?

sitcom123

thanks for all your advice, I am still tempted to buy it!! £275 is my max price really. I know its only got a small hard disk at 80gb but would it be okay to do her homework on. and facebook. she is only 13 and I am expecting she will be wanting something more expensive and with a lot more on within the next couple of years but for the minute as I am on a budget does anyone think it will be a decent 1st laptop for a young girl or do you still think i would be better to avoid it? It has windows vista installed and I have seen a thread on here which states NHS staff can get microsoft office for £8.75 so i could install that, it is WiFi enabled

Can anyone recommend any cheapish other laptops?

thanks again