Business laptops from dell worth it?

hi, im looking for a laptop to use in a industrial enviroment. are the Business range of dell laptops quite solid built? anyone owned a vostro?

would love some feedback, thanks

 

I have a Dell Latitude D630 and have owned it for 4 years now. It's been one of the most reliable computers i've owned, with only one fault (a memory stick had gone bad) that was quickly taken care of. The machine feels very solid as well. People like their E-Series systems too.

 

I don't think 4 years is possible. The D630 is based on the Santa Rosa platform which, according to Wikipedia, became available May 7, 2007. Thus your D630 cannot be older than 2 years and 8 months.

Otherwise I second your statement about the reliability of the Latitudes.

 

hmm. *counts* oh well, i'll just go with your count...im just plain dumb at counting XD!

 

As long as you don't buy one with nvidia chip you should be fine, all of our dell laptops with nvidia graphics solutions have a high failure rate. The only reason booboo12 laptop haven't failed yet is because his D630 has intel based motherboard.

 

actually there's a silly reason it came to me that your D630 can't be four years old... Dell recently sent me a bunch of emails when the warranty on my D620 ran out.

but back on topic--my Dell has been treated pretty roughly over the last 3 1/2 years. still looks mint--i'm not kidding. that I call a solid build. only reason to upgrade is that the components are getting too old...

 

If you are in a dusty industrial setting you may want to get a lower spec machine that doesn't generate as much heat, also i would urge you to consider an SSD if reliability is an issue, spinning disks and heat will cause most hardware problems .

 

I was very happy with my Vostro 1500. It was well built and served my business well for years (jsut replacing it now). The problem is that the new Dells don't look as well built to me. Ironically, although my old Vostro was a good machine, I'm looking at Sony, Asus and Acer for its replacement.

Bronsky

 

Yeah, if you don't enjoy 3 year warranties, get another machines. If you like 3 year warranties, get yourself the Latitude baby.

 

Not all of them fail.

Also note that the fault is not Dell's, but due to an issue with nVidia graphics chips, and that all laptops of the same era with a certain line of nvidia GPUs are prone to this, regardless of notebook vendor. Lenovo ThinkPad T61's have had this issue, as have some models from HP.

Newer Dell business laptops (e.g., the E-series Latitude line) do not have these problems, as nVidia GPUs no longer have this issue.

 

My employer has about 10 Latitude E5400/E5500 and a couple of the D630s. All of them have been good so far. The Latitudes are all P8400 or P8600, at least 2GB RAM, 160GB 7200RPM or better, DVD burner, some have bluetooth. Best thing is they all came from the Outlet.

 

I'll chime in... I have had 1 D620 for a travelling employee and it has had ZERO issues.

I have had 3 D630's with the NVidia chip and all have been wonderful.

The three-year warranty is a very, very good thing. People say the Latitudes are expensive but if you do a true apples-to-apples comparison and add the extended warranty onto other Dell models, the price comes out almost the same.

When Dell first launched the Vostro line, it seemed like they were Inspiron (consumer quality) builds without the crapware, so I more/less stopped looking at them. Is that (still) the case?

 

Not anymore. The vostro line is now more separated than the Inspiron line, with their own dedicated chassis. (ie-they look and feel substantially different)

 

Booboo12, would you say that the Vostros would be placed between Inspiron/Studio and Latitude in terms of build quality?

 

That's about right. The Vostro chassis is very tough, but some of the minor panels aren't as strong. The lids tend to scratch.

 

Yep, i'd say they fall in the middle.