Stéphane Lee

After much hesitation, I have settled for a Dell Inpiron 630m laptop. The Boxing week sale is still going on and the offer ends tomorrow.

I was going for a Dell Inspiron 710m but I’ve decided not too after reading some reviews. The chipset and video card are “old”. At one time, I wanted to wait for an Apple Intel ibook which is yet to be announced. BTW, Macworld SF is next week. CES is this week.

My ideal laptop should include these:
Pentium M CPU
1GB RAM
At least 80GB disk
The best LCD monitor you can afford
Extended warranty

This is virtually the only product that you extended warranty for (and maybe for a new car too). It’s a kind of insurance and you will not regret it. I have personally ’scrapped’ 2 laptops. This one will be my 4th. I currently have an Inspiron 6000 at home for my personal work. Don’t buy extended warranties for other electronic products (TV, cameras…). If they break, they will break in their first year of warranty.

Here are the specs of the Inspiron 630m:
Pentium M processor (great CPU, no need to upgrade)
1 GB RAM (by default in this offer)
100GB hard disk (Boxing week promo)
Intel Graphic Media Accelerator 900 (cannot be upgraded)
Integrated Centrino Wifi
DVD/CD burner
14″ WXGA TrueLife LCD (get the best available screen)
3-yr CompleteCare warranty next-business day (It’S $300 but you can never be too sure)

The video card is the “cheapest” in all the components. I post later for a comprehensive review of the 630m.

My Inspiron 6000 is working great. I took it to cross the oceans and it has even fallen a couple of time.