Dell Inspiron 6000 Review

Unlike the Fujitsu, Sony, Acer, HP, and other models under consideration Dell provides the best balance of cost, performance, and quality in my eyes. Like I've said before, I absolutely hate their ugly plain grey laptops, but these new restyled Inspiron systems are very pleasing to both look at and use. I've also been very happy with nearly every aspect of my XPS2 system.

If you're a college student or someone looking to get a laptop for college it's important to read this paragraph. One of the biggest reasons for my brother to buy a Dell is because of all the agreements they have with his college and the fact that there is a service depot right on campus! If you're a college student you can't ask for any better than that. Also, when it comes to warranty plans Dell has the best offers through their Educational/Employee Purchase Program (EPP), especially on a 4 year plan. It's far more affordable than any other competitor under consideration and the on-site service with the warranty is great. I've spoken highly of Sony's service before, but not even their 5 day motherboard battery terminal repair on my GRZ630 can compete with a technician fixing a system onsite so you're not without your computer for a while. Another plus is that it's not exactly easy to deal with UPS depending on where you're living at college (dorm, apartment, etc.). Onsite makes things much easier, and for the cost through EPP it's highly reasonable.

If you do not want a warranty or are not going to use this system for college, it is a good idea to catch one of those big coupon deals that come out through the Dell Home section. I'm not particularly fond of warranties myself, but during college it's a big deal to have a constantly functioning system for me so I have no choice. Another important option is to check with your credit card company to see if they extend the warranty coverage of products you buy. This is becoming more and more common with credit cards and is a good way of avoiding paying a premium for extended warranty coverage when it's not a high concern.

Dell Inspiron 6000 D Specs:

* 1.6 GHz Intel Pentium M 730 (Sonoma), 533MHz FSB and PCIe x16 chipset
* 15.4 inch WSXGA+ LCD Panel (Samsung)
* 512 MB DDR2 400 MHz ram
* 60 GB Ultra ATA Fujitsu 4200rpm hard drive
* 64 MB ATi Mobility Radeon X300
* Microsoft Windows XP Home
* 24x CD-RW/DVD (Sony)
* Intel 2200 b/g internal wireless card
* 6-cell lithium ion battery
* 4 USB ports
* 1 IEEE 1394 FireWire port
* Secure Digital I/O card slot
* 1 PCMCIA card slot
* 2 front facing speakers
* VGA output
* Optional S-Video and composite video out with adaptor cable
* Audio-out (headphones) and Mic-in
* Integrated 10/100 network Ethernet card
* Internal 56k modem
* 4 year on-site service warranty

Source