Buying notebooks sure isn't easy
1 July 2010
I just bought myself a Dell Latitude E6410. Well, not yet, actually. I’m still waiting for Dell to send me an eMail confirmation, which takes longer then expected, but I assume that they will let me give them my money.
Buying a notebook is very hard. At least for me. It’s my primary computing device and I’ll spent a lot of time with it. There is a certain intimacy between a notebook and its owner, one that shouldn’t be underestimated. So choosing the right device isn’t just only about the hardware itself, it’s about emotions as well.
To be honest, I almost bought myself a Macbook Pro. I’m trying to be completely transparent about this, because one is clear: Apple is building the slickest hardware out there. Nothing that I saw can actually compete with the way Apple builds its hardware and that’s disappointing and very sad. It’s not like other computer manufacturers aren’t building expansive devices. My Dell is actually more expansive then a similar MBP (okay, the Dell is better equiped …), but sure as hell isn’t a precisely and beautifully built.
In the end, my principals won over my desire. The Dell is a perfectly fine device and I’m sure that will have a lot of fun with it, but I would honestly wish for better alternatives in the future.
(Yes, I would’ve installed Fedora on the MBP as well, but Apple is earning money with Hardware, not with software. So they don’t really give a rats ass, if I don’t use OS X anyway.)
Update: Apparently Dell doesn’t want my money after all. Thing is, a friend of mine recommended me to call their hotline for the ordering process. Not sure why, but I actually did. They guy on the other side walked me through the ordering process, said the price and promised to send me an email with the confirmation. It never came.
So I decided, despite being not being treated as a welcomed customer, to order the notebook online. The process itself isn’t a problem at all, the price is. The problem here is, that Latitude notebooks are in the business line section and apparently the price you get to see while you configure your notebook is without tax. Something, I’m not used to in Germany, because we always get to see the final price. Now, obviously, the price is 19% higher then calculated, which makes me a very unhappy person and one that’s not yet ordering a Dell notebook after all.