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Should I upgrade current laptop, or get a new one?

post #1 of 14
7/13/06 at 3:00pm
Thread Starter 
I just graduated from college last night, and will be going into the workforce soon. But I also do a small computer repair business on the side for family and friends. I have a Dell Latitude c610 laptop (Intel PIIIm 1ghz, 512mb PC2100 RAM, 20b HD wireless PCMCIA wifi card, 14" screen) which I got for $200 locally, but its quite heavy (especially with the two batteries, charger and DVD/CD burner drive). The battery only lasts two hours on basic internet surfing, as I haven't tried DVD watching.

I want something that has a better battery life, a larger hard drive (maybe 60gb?), more RAM (atleast 1gb), and everything included (so I don't have to carry the DVD drive along with the batteries and wifi card). Maybe I can go without the last option, but looking at my current configuration, should I just upgrade the hard drive and upgrade the RAM, or just get a whole new system? The computer still works fine (but the screen hinge still needs stiffening) but I'm just worried about upgrading a three year old laptop, then getting a new one in a few months. I also want to play a few games when I'm out and about (although I already have a awesome SFF computer), or atleast get the chance to install vmware to play with other OSes (or atleast dual boot)

I have no set budget ATM, but I'm looking to save to about $1500 or so in the coming months.
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post #2 of 14
7/13/06 at 3:22pm
i reckon you should upgrade it. It would save you money for now. And your other system looks good too. So I say get a total of 1GB PC2100 RAM and a 5400rpm/7200rpm 60GB/80GB HDD and it would be good.
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post #3 of 14
7/13/06 at 3:45pm
definitely get a new laptop. especially since you want to get better battery life and not have to carry around a ton of accessories (e.g., dvd and wifi card).

new ftw.
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post #4 of 14
7/13/06 at 4:25pm
Like I said, if you want to save money upgrade your laptop. If on the other hand you have the money buy a new laptop.
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post #5 of 14
7/13/06 at 7:27pm
At this point I think it would be better to save your money and buy a new laptop. If you only paid $200 for this one in the first place you would easily pay half of that just to upgrade the hard drive and ram. Your battery life would still be dismal and it would still be a pain to carry around. There are many inexpensive options out there that would stomp all over the performance and useability of your current laptop. I would take a look at dell. google around and they almost always have coupons that will get you a e1405 or e1505 for around $700 bucks. That is with a dual core processor 512-1gb of ram a 60-80gb hard drive, integrated wireless and much better battery life than your current laptop. Add a few bucks here or there and you can get a very well rounded system that is much more portable and much more powerful without even breaking $1000. When considering upgrading vs buying a new machine you really need to remember how much the machine you are trying to upgrade is worth, if you are paying a significant percentage of its initial value to upgrade it it probably isn't that worth it.
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post #6 of 14
7/13/06 at 7:37pm
i vote for a new system, though i dunno if you really want to wait for the merom or just get a system to use now (instead of waiting that extra month or two). upgrading your current system could easilycost you $150 if you get what you want/"need". a 60gb 5400rpm drive is going to cost probably around $60, and a gig of ram (to bump it up to 1.25gb, as i assume it has 2x256) is going to probably cost another $100.

and, if you upgrade your current laptop, is it going to be worth it, that is, if you get a new system soon. i mean, with the new one, you're probably not going to be using the old one all that much, and cutting off an extra $150-200 on your budget for a new one will cut into what you can get on it.

also, i'm guessing your battery life is short due to the batteries being old. if you got a new battery (which would probably cost a good amount, relatively), you would probably increase that life a goot bit. or if the battery you have is already now, then i dunno.
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post #7 of 14
7/14/06 at 10:39pm
Sell the old one and buy a new one.
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post #8 of 14
7/14/06 at 11:21pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ez2remember
Sell the old one and buy a new one.
I think I'll be better off buying a new one and still have the old one, because $150 isn't a good price (since I used it, the battery life dropped, I have marks al over, and the battery latch went missing, so the battery can just pop out anytime).

I guess I'll have to save my money. I just wished I had half the money I'd need to get a laptop during the back to school (IMO, the best time to get a new one)
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post #9 of 14
7/15/06 at 1:45pm
I would save up and get a new one. By the time you save up the money there is going to be alot of new tech coming out that your gonna want to get so just hold off for a bit and you will be happy with the choice coming out.
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post #10 of 14
7/15/06 at 6:05pm
ah, but there's always new techo coming out, and from the trends, it will pretty much always fall in price to about the same point, so, yeah, saving up a bunch of money is good to pass time as you wait, but you have to just pick a time to jump in and get something, knowing very well that a week later the technology could be obselete (i had a friend who bought a P4M like a week or a month before the PM came out, so he had a power-sucking laptop, when he could have waited and gotten much better technology).
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post #11 of 14
7/15/06 at 10:42pm
Give yourself a gift, get a new laptop

Congrats
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post #12 of 14
7/15/06 at 11:43pm
Yes but the tech coming out isnt new chips on the same old tech it is completely new cores new arichatech from the ground up.
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post #13 of 14
7/16/06 at 12:50am
currently there are A LOT of NEW things coming like darq said, so maybe if anything i'd wait at least this stuff starts hitting the shelves in september, then you can either 1 --get the new stuff paying an arm and a leg, or 2--get the current stuff much cheaper
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post #14 of 14
7/16/06 at 1:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by abf
currently there are A LOT of NEW things coming like darq said, so maybe if anything i'd wait at least this stuff starts hitting the shelves in september, then you can either 1 --get the new stuff paying an arm and a leg, or 2--get the current stuff much cheaper

Bingo!
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