Dell's next sale and advice on laptop?

I dont think that whole EPP-coupon-huge-discount thing will apply here, or maybe not any coupons other than the ones offered at the dell website. Those huge rebates are for systems that cost more than the 1700 dollar range. Sorry!

If your budget for a laptop is ONLY 550?? I wouldnt even buy one, wait a while till you can afford 1000 to 1500.
Even desktop computers that sell for 500 dollars are seriously skimping on memory, graphics capability, epxansion slots and so forth.
I do alot of computer upgrade and repair and can tell you that people who buy such discount systems end up regretting it in the first year of ownership and end up paying out the same money or more sometimes to upgrade to a computer that has a midrange or higher price so while yes you might save 500 or so dollars on the initial purchase, you end up shelling out the rest with in the first year or two of ownership.

I'll give you an example, I get alot of people with 500 dollar desktops who want to upgrade their graphcis cards because the graphics capability they have cannot play the games they want or whatever. They bring their 500 dollar desktops in to me only to discover they bought a computer with integrated graphics which cannot be upgraded.

My point here is that when buying a desktop and especially a laptop which is not easy to upgrade and costs alot more to upgrade than buy the hardware you want upfront, you have to be very careful and remember the saying "penny wise....pound foolish".

I agree, for $550 it will buy you a very mediocre laptop with no warranty. Save and buy something more decent.

Alternatively, go to the Dell website and they have a < $600 2200 laptop

Somehow, people here never read the part of the message that says the laptop is only used for web, email, and solitare. Yeah, you definately need a $1200 laptop with a graphics card for that. I think a mediocre laptop with no warranty is the best thing to buy for your situation. Supposedly the $500-$600 Acer is pretty good, and you can just get it at a store. A cheap $500 Dell will surely work fine, also.

The B130 looks pretty appetising, the i9300 is available barebones from Dell SB for 899 right now but that is over your budget by several hundred, the 9300 is a heck of a laptop though even in its barebones configuration. I usually check out techbargains dot com for ideas of what is on sale and coupons needed to make the purchase.

yea cheapo under 500 dell laptop is not hard to find. Check out the dell outlet, sometimes u might get lucky

So true, so true.

I say get and Inspiron B130, thats what we are getting my sister for Christmas. You can get one for about $650 with all the stuff you want. Also, Dell usually doesn't have the big sales or coupons on the lower-end systems, just the high-end ones. Unless, anybody knows of sales on the lower-end ones, cause I don't.

Dell Outlet Store






New Inspiron 1200 w/Free Printer
(System Identifier: EJBX1WEB)


New Dell Inspiron 1200: Intel Celeron M 360 (1.40 GHz/1MB Cache/400MHz FSB)Integated Sound With Free Printer
Microsoft Windows XP Home

System Price : $499.00

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Operating System
Microsoft Windows XP Home
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Memory
256 MB DDR2 400MHz SDRAM (1 DIMM)
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Hard Disk Drive
40 G (I) 5400RPM
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Video
Intel Integrated 900
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Modem
Internal 56Kbps. Modem
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Base
New Dell Inspiron 1200: Intel Celeron M 360 (1.40 GHz/1MB Cache/400MHz FSB)Integated Sound With Free Printer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Media Bay
24X CD RW/DVD Combo Drive
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Network Interface Card
Internal NIC
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NoteBook Screen
14.1 inch XGA Notebook Screen
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Previously Ordered New
Previously Ordered New
Software
WordPerfect 12 - Word processor only
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misc
8-Cell NiMH Battery

the 1200 and 2200 are very low quality laptops, you MIGHT, want to check out the b130 which is apparently their replacement but I would look up some reviews on it and see if they have improved the build at all. My original recommendation still stands, wait and get a mid level laptop, penny wise..........pound foolish.

Anand's blog at Anandtech mentioned the B130 may be the new king of the cheap laptops. I assume that means it is better then the ones it replaced since a gateway was his pick and the dells were also in his roundup.

DONT ASSUME, get some feedback from people who have bought them, try notebookreview.com. king of the cheap laptops is still cheap laptops, cheap being equated not just with price but with quality.
I suggest you go to dell, price out each model of laptop with the specs you want, then see what coupons are available on the web for them, you'll be quite surprised to find that the cheap laptops arent all that cheaper than their higher quality better performing laptops.