I don't see a price listed?

Sorry,,its $799

Might be a fair price, but doesn't seem a "deal". Are you an average user? (internet, office programs, music, skype, storing photos, etc.) I'm shopping for a laptop now, and I'm trying to focus on something speedy, fairly-priced, and has what I need and think I will need. It turns out there a lot of product that have things I don't need, even "considering for the future". For example, the lack of a Blu-ray player isn't a deal-breaker for me.

There are general specs that are worth having: good chipset (eg. dual core, so the computer won't be sluggish), enough RAM (eg. 2Mb or 4Mb - same reason), good monitor size, USB ports, wireless internet (eg. b/g), other ports you may need, so think this over carefully, good CD/DVD drive, good warrantee, perhaps support also.

Then there are upgraded things that add to the cost and bloat if you don't need them:
* fancy graphics card, eg. for gaming
* huge hard drive capacity (it's way more than enough for the average person, but what about you?)
* wireless b/g/n (most will be fine without the n)
* one year of storage (will you even use it?)
* 19-in-1 card reader (that's a lot, need all those?)
* 6 USB ports?? seems more than enough for the average person, 3 or 4 would do
* MS Works & McAffee (who really uses these? - there are better alternatives)

Just some random thoughts. Who's selling it, anyway?

I wouldn't ever have anything by Dell. they are way over priced, and then the SOB's make you pay for tech support...NO THANKS..who do they think they are??? and my niece had a DELL and the tech support when she got them were nasty, and arrogant!

I own a Dell and have had excellent service. So I find it hard to see someone bashing them without my speaking up.

My Dell XPS 400 is now 2 1/2 yrs old. My DVD drive failed and within a few days it was replaced by a Dell service person. Very nice service person who called and got here the day the part came in.

Most recently, Friday, Feb 13 I called Dell about some faint blue lines that showed up on my monitor. The tech person spent about an hour with me on the phone but couldn't fix the problem. He then told me he would send a new video card and have the area tech install it. I had a confirming email immediately and another saying the part had been shipped about an hour later. Monday morning the tech called to set up a time to come to the house in a couple of days, no problem. Then he called back a couple of hours later to say the part had arrived and that he could come to my house around 4pm if that was OK. Sure! He was right on time and the new video card took about 5 minutes to install. Problem solved. I don't think you could ask for better service.

I'm planning on buying a new laptop, you can be sure I'll look at Dell first.

Nancy

We have two Dell desktops. First one is a Dimension (3 yrs old, I suppose) with no problems. Funny thing is that when we ordered it, they also sent not one, but four, all-in-one printers, too. It was a nightmare to get them to take three back, which I insisted upon because I didn't want to end up paying for them somehow.

Second is an Inspiron 531 that's one year old and was purchased at Walmart - works great, but we had one computer issue (bad power supply fan), and a heck of a lot of aggravation navigating their customer support, even while having all the necessary info, original box, etc, at hand. Dell replaced it, finally. I knew the precise problem but still got obstructed by their PC tracking system. They just couldn't recognize the PC, so I kept getting cut off after a long wait, live folks, etc. I had to keep calling back and trying...and giving them the model number was no use, they needed the right customer ID number. Turns out their info kept sayign walmart was the owner and they couldn't change it to make us the owner. 2) Also, I knew exactly what the problem was, but they don't take that for an answer and I had to keep going through online diagnostics so they could confirm it. Eventually they were even running Citrix from India to assess, wasting more time since I kept telling them the problem: bad power supply! Guess what the problem was? Yes, bad power supply. So they sent a guy with one and installed it a couple days later.

I think it got resolved only because I knew something about the problem and lead them to the solution. That was a nightmare, but maybe that's what I get for buying it through Walmart. Buy direct if you use Dell.

well is it a fair deal yes it is fair, you might find cheaper of course by doing some shopping. As far as Dell goes it is one of those companies some love and some hate, I personally have never owned one and choose not to due to some issues my husband had with all their Dell's at work, they have since changed over to HP (quite happy now).

If the pc has everything you need and want and is in your price range then it would be a fair deal and a good choice for you, you are really the only one that knows.

I personally would immediately run the pc decrapifier on it, which was in fact originally created to clean out Dell's extra junk. Get rid of all the stuff you don't want or need and customize it with the stuff you do want.

So Caroline, what do you use your computers for? Email, storing photos, surfing only? Will there be other users in the house? What will they use it for?

Most manufacturers are as described, some love them some hate them. Here's a chart showing the results of PCWorlds customer satisfaction survey.

And here's a link to the full article if anyone is interested.

There's a GREAT DEAL in today's paper at Office Depot on a new slimline HP PC...PC only but what a PC it is!! under $400.,$379 to be exact 3GB mem...320GB HD AMD duel core, reads and write DVD's & CD's.