Dell Latitude D820 --- College machine?

I am about to buy a machine for my daughter who is off
to college.

The D820 seems to be a reasonable fit, not wildly heavy,
but with a 15.4 screen and built in optical drive.

Does anyone have opinions about it?

Also a question: Under ports it lists "1394", which I assume
is a firewire (4pin) connector. But usually Dell uses the fuller
IEEE 1394 to describe this. Could the plain "1394" mean anything
else?

Thanks in advance,


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

wrote in message
...

I am about to buy a machine for my daughter who is off
to college.

The D820 seems to be a reasonable fit, not wildly heavy,
but with a 15.4 screen and built in optical drive.

Does anyone have opinions about it?

Also a question: Under ports it lists "1394", which I assume
is a firewire (4pin) connector. But usually Dell uses the fuller
IEEE 1394 to describe this. Could the plain "1394" mean anything
else?

Thanks in advance,


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)


Nope, nothing else. That's firewire.

You also might want to look at the Inspiron e1505/6400. My daughters and I
have them and love them.

Tom

Tom Scales writes:

wrote in message
news ...

I am about to buy a machine for my daughter who is off
to college.

The D820 seems to be a reasonable fit, not wildly heavy,
but with a 15.4 screen and built in optical drive.

Does anyone have opinions about it?

Also a question: Under ports it lists "1394", which I assume
is a firewire (4pin) connector. But usually Dell uses the fuller
IEEE 1394 to describe this. Could the plain "1394" mean anything
else?

Thanks in advance,


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)


Tom Nope, nothing else. That's firewire.

Tom You also might want to look at the Inspiron e1505/6400. My daughters and I
Tom have them and love them.

It was my understanding that the Latitudes are a bit more rugged.

If she does end up lugging it around campus a lot, that might be
handy.





--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

I chose the Latitude for my daughter for exactly that reason. It turns out
my daughter did not carry it around campus much last year, but did take it
to Spain for the summer semester there (mostly as a place to unload her
digital camera and email pictures back home to the finance committee). I am
very happy with the durability. I think it is worth the slight premium over
Inspiron models.

Good luck with a daughter in college,

Jere

wrote in message
...
Tom Scales writes:

wrote in message
news ...

I am about to buy a machine for my daughter who is off
to college.

The D820 seems to be a reasonable fit, not wildly heavy,
but with a 15.4 screen and built in optical drive.

Does anyone have opinions about it?

Also a question: Under ports it lists "1394", which I assume
is a firewire (4pin) connector. But usually Dell uses the fuller
IEEE 1394 to describe this. Could the plain "1394" mean anything
else?

Thanks in advance,


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)


Tom Nope, nothing else. That's firewire.

Tom You also might want to look at the Inspiron e1505/6400. My
daughters and I
Tom have them and love them.

It was my understanding that the Latitudes are a bit more rugged.

If she does end up lugging it around campus a lot, that might be
handy.





--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

wrote in message
...
Tom Scales writes:

wrote in message
news ...

I am about to buy a machine for my daughter who is off
to college.

The D820 seems to be a reasonable fit, not wildly heavy,
but with a 15.4 screen and built in optical drive.

Does anyone have opinions about it?

Also a question: Under ports it lists "1394", which I assume
is a firewire (4pin) connector. But usually Dell uses the fuller
IEEE 1394 to describe this. Could the plain "1394" mean anything
else?

Thanks in advance,


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)


Tom Nope, nothing else. That's firewire.

Tom You also might want to look at the Inspiron e1505/6400. My
daughters and I
Tom have them and love them.

It was my understanding that the Latitudes are a bit more rugged.

If she does end up lugging it around campus a lot, that might be
handy.





--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)


I think that is misleading. The biggest advantage of the Latitudes is that
their technology stays stable longer and they share more peripherals. In
other words, great for a large corporation, but meaningless to you and me.

I do need to correct myself. We have the I6000, the predecessor to the
I6400, but the same case. It is rock solid.

Tom

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 06:29:08 GMT, Nicholas Andrade
wrote:

If you think she will probably just be
using it primariy in her dorm room, and possibly in a coffee house or
library, then it's probably a good fit. For carrying around every day
use, I'd look to the D620 or X1 from Dell, or the T/X series from Lenovo.

I second this. By itself it's not a problem, but with college books
the extra size is noticeable. I like the Latitudes because of their
modular battery bay. However, the 14" Inspirons have long battery
life with the more powerful primary battery, and she could get another
one of those if she needed it (she probably wouldn't). However, I
think the computer would need to be put into at least hibernate mode
to switch primary batteries. On the Latitudes though the modular bay
batteries can be hot swapped.

Nicholas Andrade writes:

Nicholas wrote:
I am about to buy a machine for my daughter who is off
to college.

The D820 seems to be a reasonable fit, not wildly heavy,
but with a 15.4 screen and built in optical drive.

Does anyone have opinions about it?

Nicholas If you think your daughter will be bringing the machine to class every
Nicholas day, I'd consider checking out a smaller form factor (the D820 falls
Nicholas under the max I would consider). If you think she will probably just be
Nicholas using it primariy in her dorm room, and possibly in a coffee house or

We do not know how often she will bring it to class. Most of
her older friends say they do not do it daily, so that is why
we are thinking the intermediate size.

Our younger son carries an X1 to school every day, and the super
light weight is great. But at home he uses a machine with a larger
screen.

Nicholas library, then it's probably a good fit. For carrying around every day
Nicholas use, I'd look to the D620 or X1 from Dell, or the T/X series from Lenovo.

Lenovo does not offer an OS CD, so that is a no-go for me.


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

wrote in message
...
Nicholas Andrade writes:

Nicholas wrote:
I am about to buy a machine for my daughter who is off
to college.

The D820 seems to be a reasonable fit, not wildly heavy,
but with a 15.4 screen and built in optical drive.

Does anyone have opinions about it?

Nicholas If you think your daughter will be bringing the machine to
class every
Nicholas day, I'd consider checking out a smaller form factor (the D820
falls
Nicholas under the max I would consider). If you think she will
probably just be
Nicholas using it primariy in her dorm room, and possibly in a coffee
house or

We do not know how often she will bring it to class. Most of
her older friends say they do not do it daily, so that is why
we are thinking the intermediate size.

Our younger son carries an X1 to school every day, and the super
light weight is great. But at home he uses a machine with a larger
screen.

Nicholas library, then it's probably a good fit. For carrying around
every day
Nicholas use, I'd look to the D620 or X1 from Dell, or the T/X series
from Lenovo.

Lenovo does not offer an OS CD, so that is a no-go for me.


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

They do offer a restore CD though. I have to say, the IBM X series is, by
FAR, the best ultralight I've ever owned. I had to turn mine back in when I
retired and I miss it.

Tom

I had same problem with my laptop, i sent to www.microtechmall.com ,
they fixed in a week and ship back to me. working again like new.
thanks to microtech, very fast and good service.


Tom Scales wrote:
wrote in message
...
Nicholas Andrade writes:

Nicholas wrote:
I am about to buy a machine for my daughter who is off
to college.

The D820 seems to be a reasonable fit, not wildly heavy,
but with a 15.4 screen and built in optical drive.

Does anyone have opinions about it?

Nicholas If you think your daughter will be bringing the machine to
class every
Nicholas day, I'd consider checking out a smaller form factor (the D820
falls
Nicholas under the max I would consider). If you think she will
probably just be
Nicholas using it primariy in her dorm room, and possibly in a coffee
house or

We do not know how often she will bring it to class. Most of
her older friends say they do not do it daily, so that is why
we are thinking the intermediate size.

Our younger son carries an X1 to school every day, and the super
light weight is great. But at home he uses a machine with a larger
screen.

Nicholas library, then it's probably a good fit. For carrying around
every day
Nicholas use, I'd look to the D620 or X1 from Dell, or the T/X series
from Lenovo.

Lenovo does not offer an OS CD, so that is a no-go for me.


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

They do offer a restore CD though. I have to say, the IBM X series is, by
FAR, the best ultralight I've ever owned. I had to turn mine back in when I
retired and I miss it.

Tom

What problem are you talking about? This thread isn't about a problem.

Do you have a financial relationship with Microtechmall.


"anna55" wrote in message
oups.com...
I had same problem with my laptop, i sent to www.microtechmall.com ,
they fixed in a week and ship back to me. working again like new.
thanks to microtech, very fast and good service.


Tom Scales wrote:
wrote in message
...
Nicholas Andrade writes:

Nicholas wrote:
I am about to buy a machine for my daughter who is off
to college.

The D820 seems to be a reasonable fit, not wildly heavy,
but with a 15.4 screen and built in optical drive.

Does anyone have opinions about it?

Nicholas If you think your daughter will be bringing the machine to
class every
Nicholas day, I'd consider checking out a smaller form factor (the
D820
falls
Nicholas under the max I would consider). If you think she will
probably just be
Nicholas using it primariy in her dorm room, and possibly in a
coffee
house or

We do not know how often she will bring it to class. Most of
her older friends say they do not do it daily, so that is why
we are thinking the intermediate size.

Our younger son carries an X1 to school every day, and the super
light weight is great. But at home he uses a machine with a larger
screen.

Nicholas library, then it's probably a good fit. For carrying
around
every day
Nicholas use, I'd look to the D620 or X1 from Dell, or the T/X
series
from Lenovo.

Lenovo does not offer an OS CD, so that is a no-go for me.


--
Andrew Hall
(Now reading Usenet in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell...)

They do offer a restore CD though. I have to say, the IBM X series is,
by
FAR, the best ultralight I've ever owned. I had to turn mine back in when
I
retired and I miss it.

Tom