Dell Inspiron Laptop Bargains (merged threads) [CLOSED]

cheeky

johndhuk wrote:

In my opinion for £26 more the 1150 is definately the best buy

Definately! But a CD writer is just soooo useful. What to do....

Roger_Rampant

Definitely! Most people have a CD writer on their desktop PC, though, so it wouldn't be essential to have one on their laptop, too

highlighter

If you have no use for the free all-in-one printer (Inspiron 1150) stick it on ebay...brings the cost down even further....Dell 922 printer

cheeky

i am buying it for my parents in Spain and they dont have a desktop. They will probably never use the CD burner but i might

meinnit

What is this like size-wise? Compact or fat?

redfox

does anyone who has an Inspiron 1150 know if they have a serial port? My son is looking for a new laptop but it has to have a serial port for some fancy ECU reading device he uses for his trackday cars but has been finding that most laptops (unless you go hugely high end!) don't have the good old fashioned serial port that they used to :rolleyes:

If anyone knows I'd be grateful as the info on the Dell website on such things is somewhat lacking!

ednotdave

I've just ordered the 1150 (2.6GHz) by phone - the spec is here (better than has been quoted):

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/notebooks_Q1_W10_inspn_1150_N04111?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd

Tip: - Phone up and INSIST on the spec on this page (inc dvd/cdrw) - they will quote a different spec, e.g. 2.4 instead of 2.6GHz, but stick to your guns. I was asked to go through the "customise & buy" section, but I refused as it comes up at a higher price!

Good luck!

keithsav

Redfox,

Get a cheap laptop and use something like :-
http://www.dabs.com/uk/Search2/Product+Details.htm?quicklinx=2VWM&searchphrase=usb%20serial

- USB to Serial port converter

Think this should do the trick !

Keith

TechSaver_2

@RedFox - they may not work with some applications, but you could look at using a USB to serial adapter: 1 2 3

hth

(Keith beat me to it)

redfox

thanks both, but I think he investigated this route before - it's something to do with the wondrous workings of this ECU thingy that means this route won't work (don't ask me why, the device is far, far too complicated for me to understand )