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10801
USB Port
I bought my laptop (DELL INSPIRON N 5050) exactly two years back (November 2011). the performance had been satisfactory, given that there was a time last year (December 2012) that my laptop had to be recovered. I was very pleased with the auto recovery of Dell, which let me recover ALL of my data, though Microsoft Office got deleted permanently, and i had to get a new version of the same. Though there always remained some problem or the other, somehow, i manged to find my laptop ok.
However, there was a persistent problem, which i had not been paying much of an attention, until now. There are three USB Ports in my laptop, and two of them have been non-operational since long. However, now, even the third one has stopped working, and i have had no recourse to outside data, or the internet other than the wi-fi. The diagnosis says that it is a mother board problem, and would not be repaired, but has to be replaced, which will cost me more than INR 10,000 ( upwards of $200). This is more than one-fourth of my laptop cost.
My sister is getting herself a new laptop, and i am unsure of DELL now. Please advice! This happens to be a big decision, especially because she is a student, and has to shell out her savings in order to get it.
rednekcowboy
34 Posts
0
November 8th, 2013 11:00
I would second what Zb1. When buying a Dell PC, always make sure to get at least the 3 year warranty/if you are financing the machine, make sure you have warranty to cover you for the term of the financing arrangement.
Nothing against Dell, but I've never had very good luck but I've always had warranty to cover whatever issue came up. The one thing Dell is good at is honoring their warranties.
zbestwun2001
8.8K Posts
0
November 8th, 2013 11:00
rpm91,
Given that all parts are manufactured the same it's hard to tell when a part will wear out?
If it was me, I would order that Laptop but make sure my budget would include money that would buy an extended warranty. A little extra money when you purchase it, but as you can see from the cost of your motherboard, when you need it, it can pay for itself if you have problems. That's just me, I'm big on extended warranties.
Zb1
zbestwun2001
8.8K Posts
0
November 9th, 2013 10:00
It really doesn't matter if it's a Dell, Lenovo, HP or any other brand.
A good warranty is a must have in my opinion.
Zb1
DarkZero952
7 Posts
1
November 11th, 2013 14:00
If you are looking for a new laptop I would go with a reasonable Dell that fits your budget or if "Dell" is not as good as you say go for an HP, Asus, IBM, or a Toshiba. I am not good with recommendations but I have an HP G71, it is okay but it struggles on some of the heavy processes @ 2.2GHz due to thermal issues as I used prime95 to test thermal and u have to take the whole motherboard out to access it for cleaning. But the dell latitude D630 (Designed for Windows XP, but running Windows 7 Home Premium with ease (64-bit) I got from a garage sale for $2 (junk laptop "Junktop") does surprisingly well with prime95 towards thermal issues when using speedfan
For The cool running Only
Dell Latitude D630 with Prime95
Fan off till temp reaches 140*F
Time laps for fan to cool system 29.3 sec (101*F)
Peak Temp 143*F (Auto Fan On)
Ram Temp(DIMM) 116*F
Coolest Running temp: 90*F Idle; 98*F Ram
Pro: runs cooler
Accessible components (Tutorials available on YouTube)
Fan is controllable with a 3rd party program and is also able to set custom thresholds for temp.
Available secondary battery, HDD, Floppy Drive, USB Drive
Cons:
(None at this time)
HP G71 With Prime95
(Unable to control fan)
Fan setting (Always on- BIOS setting)
Peak Temp 139*F (Stepper kicks in to bring down temp; Fan full speed, 10Min 33Sec for cooling when stopped Prime95)
Note: Stepper; phase 1 thermal trip (brings down core(s) speed 2.2GHz -> 1.9GHz or lower)
Thermal Trip; phase 2 thermal trip (when the max temp is reached for safe operation)
Coolest Running Temp 119*F (Idle)
Pros;
Can play movies
SD Card Slot
Decent Battery life
Can handle medium process size (i.e. iTunes)
HDMI Slot
VGA Connection
Tutorials Available on YouTube (Not in-Depth)
Cons;
Temp gets too high for me (plus by the mouse pad)
3 USB Ports
Very poor fan cooling (Meant to be quiet)
Inaccessible for cleaning or applying thermal paste on CPU
-RAM, HDD, Modem, and Wireless Card are accessible
In conclusion I recommend one that you don't have to bring in for things that can be done by yourself. To minimize issues that *YOU* know about than them having to mess around and at the end saying "Nothings wrong" or "We cant find your issue you have inquired about" and leaving you with a bill just for trying to help. This may not be an answer but I hope it helps to point you in the right direction for what would suit you well.