Dell Business tech support

Did I read right that Dell brought back their Business line tech support to the US?

For a person such as myself who has grown tired of dozens of calls to India for his wife's Inspiron, that would be an important fact.

Especially if say same person was thinking of a $2,500 laptop for work. Also, is the Latitude considered Dell's business line?

 

For $2500, you can do better than Dell. What do you plan to with your notebook?





I know things, things that could get me killed


Thinkpad T41:
* 1.6Ghz Pentium M * 768Mb Memory * 40Gb Hitachi 7200RPM * Panasonic UJ-845-B DVD+RW *

 

It is for a non-profit business and I am the only employee with a rather large volunteer board. Although I have a desktop the business is growing fast and I forsee a need to be able to be mobile especially with a lot of public presentations.

Need is for a machine to do:
*PowerPoint presentations without freezing up (my wife's Inspirion shut down due to heat last presentation I did). I have had other problems with it as well as India Tech support in the last year.
*DVD presentations (lack of memory for this was part of my shut down problem with a DVD/PPT combo program) Caused it to over heat.
*DeskTop publishing
*Web design
*spreadsheets
*database
*display design, etc. mainly with publisher
*manipulate photos related to website and desktop publishing.
*general office stuff
e-mail/internet

My board gives out $ for office equipment infrequent so I have always bought my desktops good for 5 yrs and they generally keep me to that.
They are saying this laptop should keep me for as long so 4-5 yrs means buying a power machine now to squeek me thorugh the last few years.

I am looking at machines with the new chip including IBM T43, Toshiba Techra A4. One of my board members is an engineer and wants to see me in a power machine to see me thorugh the unforeseen future.

That probably means:
Mobile Chip
large Ram
Video card with good independent memory
Able to handle DVD's without chatter
I use seperate speakers plugged into the machine for the DVD.
DVD burner RW/R to move docs between desktop and laptop
3/4 yr warrenty with ***good*** support

This machine is especially needed to promote the organization. The DLP projector I wrote a grant for and just purchased was over $3,000 and it is a nice piece of equipment that will last me years. With that kind of quality I doubt a $600 Inspirion is the notebook to get to serve me as long

 

I would look at a IBM T42/43, especially if you want it to last 4-5 years. They are the best built notebooks. Their service and support are second to none. I don't know what screen size you are looking for, but the come in either 14" or 15". The 14" will be a little lighter and have better battery life. I would look at one with with sxga resoultion for the desktop publishing and spreadsheets. The T42 is the the older Dothan Pentium M. The T43 is the newer Sonoma Pentium M. The Dothan will have better battery life, the Sonoma will give you a 10% performance boost. IBM DVD burners are crappy. They are 2x -R and -RAM. There is supposed to be a new one for the T43 that adds +R burning, but it is still 2x. You may want to consider an external one. They make slim ones if you are looking for portability. That is what I did and stuck another battery in the modular bay. Upgrade the memory after purchase, it is cheaper. The T43 are just starting to come out. They have an integrated video card. If you want a dedicated one, you'll have to wait a bit.

http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/IBM_ThinkPad_T42_2379/2379DXU/D88667/






I know things, things that could get me killed


Thinkpad T41:
* 1.6Ghz Pentium M * 768Mb Memory * 40Gb Hitachi 7200RPM * Panasonic UJ-845-B DVD+RW *