Need advice on buying a Dell laptop? - READ FIRST

[Paul]

If you are looking at buying a Dell laptop and need some advice on which model will suit your needs, please help the community help you by copying and pasting the questions below into a new thread with an appropriate title, and answer as many questions as you can.


1) How much do you want to spend?

2) What size laptop would you prefer?

a. Thin, Light and portable; 13 inch widescreen
b. Mainstream and portable; 15 inch widescreen
c. Desktop Replacement; 17 inch widescreen or larger

3) Are there any Dell laptop models that you prefer or any you really don't like? Inspiron, XPS, Vostro or Precision?

4) What tasks will you be performing with your laptop?

5) Will you be taking the laptop with you to different places or leaving it at home?

6) Will you be playing games on your laptop; if so, which games?

7) Which Operating System do you prefer? Windows XP, Windows Vista (Basic, Business, Premium or Ultimate) or Ubuntu Linux.

8) Which screen resolution would you prefer?

a. WXGA - 1280x800
a. WXGA+ - 1440x900
b. WSXGA+ - 1680x1050
c. WUXGA - 1920x1200

9) Do you want a glossy 'Truelife' screen or a standard matte/non-glossy screen?

10) How much hard drive space do you want; 80GB, 120GB, 200GB, 250GB, 320GB, 500GB?

11) Which type of optical drive do you need? A CDRW/DVD-ROM, a DVD writer or Blu-Ray drive?

12) Are the laptop's looks and style important to you?

Is there anything else you need or would like to add?