Which laptop to buy?

During the Experience Weekend, I noticed that only Gateway and IBM (or is it Lenovo now?) laptops were on display. I was however still hoping that Dell will also be part of the option since it was offered in the past. I checked Kenan-Flagler’s laptop program website and Dell is not an option. I’m of the opinion that the Lenovo ThinkPad series are overpriced and I simply do not like Gateway. All the laptops on offer also weigh about 5 pounds or more. Weight is an important factor in deciding what I’ll eventually purchase since I’ll be carrying this machine around everywhere for the next two years. I don’t need to pay for lifetime reliability. I just need something that’ll do just fine for 24 months or so.

This brings me to the cheaper and reliable Dell workhorses notably the Latitude D610 and the new D620. Both weigh less than 5 pounds. I know there’s a lot of Dell bashing going on out there but I’ve used a good old latitude C840 for more than 3 years and it still rocks. I’m upgrading it now because it’s heavy (8 pounds) and I shouldn’t push my luck J Besides, I’ve supported the Latitude models in the past and I’m comfortable ripping them apart down to the motherboard if I need to. Interestingly the memory of the D620 can be upgraded up to 4GB.

It’s great to have choices. Good thing Kenan-Flagler is not one of those schools that indirectly insist that students must all buy their laptops through the school.