Dell is horrible. Period.
When buying a laptop you have to realize it will never be a gaming machine, so you need to understand what parts are important and which ones
YOU need.
For starters, make sure you get an AMD or Intel processor. The speed will go up in price, you'll notice in your price range there will only be 1 or 2 options from each manufacturer. Do not get a celeron, they're the Dell of CPUs.
Secondly, you need ram. Since gaming should never be your priority, you will need 1-2gb of ram. 1gb is good for everyday use; if you plan on doing multimedia design or anything memory intensive, 2gb would be much better. What's important is to understand 1gb of ram will add, roughly, $100 into the value of your laptop. If you have the choice between two of them, one is $20 less but has 1gb less of ram, getting the more expensive one would be best.
Also, you will need a graphics card. Like every motherboard for desktop pcs, your laptop will have an integrated video card. Make sure that you buy a laptop that has an integrated Nvidia or ATI video card, not intel or any other 3rd party companies. Nvidia and ATI are time tested companies that have great driver support.
Hard drive space really needs to be tailored to you. I know that with all my music, videos, games, and software I use up just over 70gb. Buying a laptop with a smaller harddrive is best for me, it saves me cash and wasted space. You should check how much space you use on your harddrive and buy accordingly. If you only use 100, and you buy a 250gb harddrive you're paying extra for no reason at all.
Also important, the display. The price of LCDs are dropping, the price difference between a 12.1' and a 17' and very minimal. I have a huge widescreen multimedia laptop and a small 12.1' convertible laptop. I opted for the huge screen 5 months ago, I thought it was cool. However, it's very troublesome on a laptop and last week I bought a 12.1'. If you're using it for school I would suggest something around a 14-15' display. Above that will be a hassle to carry. However, if you're using it like a desktop PC but just want portability, a 17' or even 19' is fine. Do not pick one laptop over the other because of it's size.
With that covered you should be able to pick a laptop that works for you. **** dell, **** online ordering, **** shipping fees. I don't like delivery, online stores have bad exchange service, and it can become a hassle. I like to buy my laptops in store. Unlike a desktop PC, you cannot build a laptop and the companies you buy them from will not be able to either, that means the price difference won't be worth all the trouble; especially since all big retailers are now having back to school sales. The laptop I bought last week was $350 off, and 24 months no interest; a deal that even newegg can't compete with. I just checked and the laptop I bought is listed at a couple hundred bucks more than what I paid.
Finally, be very careful about which brand of laptop you buy. All the software shipped with them are now OEM, and it's very important you pick the right brand. Compaq, Emachine, Dell, Gateway, and Acer are brands you will
ABSOLUTELY AVOID. Toshiba and Sony are GREAT brands; the two laptops i've had have been HP and they have performed exceptionally and i'm 120% satisfied.
REVIEW:
Make sure you get...
*AMD or Intel processor
*Nvidia or ATI integrated graphics card
*1-2gb ram
*A harddrive that has enough space for you, but not overkill
*Buy a laptop with a screen size that is functional for you
*Buying in store is fine, especially with all these back to school sales
*Best brands: Toshiba, Sony, HP
*ABSOLUTELY AVOID: Compaq, E-Machine, Dell, Gateway, Acer
Here's a quick example I found:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 0743549187
EDIT: I took a picture of the laptops so you get an idea of the size i'm talking about. Something as big as the one on the left is like carrying a desktop all day.
