they are true Business laptops comes with Gigabit

can get docking stations (that give you DVI) batteries that swap out with the DVD drive (the DVD drives pop out)

and are of better build then most of the other basic laptops they are (just) comparable with the IBM T series laptop (but not better)

i have Dell D400 & D600

The build quality is an order of magnitude better. I've heard that the Vostros closed the gap somewhat, but the older Inspirons were pieces of shit compared to the Latitudes.

Edit: I should have said an order of latitude. OK, I'll stop.

txwallet said:Deets said:Since Lenovo bought out IBM's laptops.. I definitely think that Dell latitudes are better than the Lenovo T-series.. support and all.

This is a overstatement. Thinkpad, does not matter who owns it, is always the best brand for business use.

And that, is a generalization -- the one you quoted was at least an opinion, you stated yours as a fact.

I have a D630 from work (upgraded recently from a D610) and the performance is pretty solid. It get a little slow when opening/closing relatively large databases (like 200K line items and above) but otherwise it's a nice machine. Graphics suck though. Even Doom3 runs pretty badly

Edit: I forgot to mention that I have called support a couple of times and it seems to be an American call center rather than Indian. Definitely a +

I would definitely choose a Dell Latitude over a Thinkpad. It seems like Thinkpad's quality has gone down and their customer support is horrible. One of my friends recently purchased an x61 from Lenovo and received it with a bad motherboard. We tried to get Lenovo to exchange it for a new one, but they would not and would only offer to repair it. I rather buy a refurbish computer if they are just going to sell me a "new" computer with hardware replacements.

Wolverine88 said:thegreatfixer said:they are true Business laptops comes with Gigabit

can get docking stations (that give you DVI) batteries that swap out with the DVD drive (the DVD drives pop out)

and are of better build then most of the other basic laptops they are (just) comparable with the IBM T series laptop (but not better)

i have Dell D400 & D600

I have D600, D610, D620 and D630 (at work). Quality wise, they are very good and light weight. (comparable with IBM T).

Dell Inspiron 1525 and Latitude D530 are almost at the same price, $630-670. I would like to buy one for internet and email and will use it as a replacement of an old desktop. I will use the laptop ocasionally for travel (a few times a year).

What will be a better choice? Thanks!

Deets said:Since Lenovo bought out IBM's laptops.. I definitely think that Dell latitudes are better than the Lenovo T-series.. support and all.
It would seem that 1000's of PC World readers would disagree: Laptops: Apple and Lenovo Top the Field
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139958-page,10-c,pcreliabilityservice/article.html

I bought a D620 with T2300 processor in Oct 2006 that went bad in Nov 2007. Dell spent like 3 weeks trying to fix it - 3 technician visits, had to send it once to the depot. I had 3 year next business day on-site warranty. Still took them that long and still not completely fixed. Called them and complained. They sent me a D630 with T7700. This is much better.

Display on D620 really sucked. On the D630, display is a little better than D620, but not as good as my old inspiron 600m or my friend's 6000.

There is a 'dullness' to the display - LCD has a light gray shade. White really does not look white.
There is bleeding at the bottom of the screen.
Doesn't have a light for the keyboard like the thinkpads.
Only one PC slot

Other than these negatives, the machine is rock solid.

Love the hot swappable battery/DVD slot. Has firewire, bluetooth, 4 USBs.
Like most other newer laptops, one memory slot is under the keyboard. Not hard, but takes a little work to upgrade the memory. Relatively quiet.