Alright so I would be buying this from the computer store at my college. It's a bit pricy if you ask me but I'm willing to spend a little extra for the convenience factor (close by, easy to get fixed) but don't want to be skrewed either. My biggest question is about Microsoft Proffesional. Any one have any experience with it?- because it's mad expensive. Anyway here are the specs. Dell XPS M1530 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz 160 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics 3GB SDRAM Vista Home Premium (not thrilled about this but maybe it would work well with 3GB memory) Microsoft Professional Comes with 3 year warranty and some other little protection things... Anyway it cost $1624... :/ - I have the money but still...I know I could get something with much better specs but I think the software is holding me back... The reason I might not think it is that bad is because ordering from Dell with the professional software would add $400 so it wouldn't be much cheaper...But IDK. I guess I'm supposed to have Microsoft Professional for school but does any one have experience with it and is it worth it?- mainly I'm asking about the "Access" part because I don't know what that is. Also what kind of deal do you think I would be getting? The more I think about the less I like spending $400 on Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access)is that all- what the hell?...Thanks in advance for any insight.
Access is a database manager of sorts. It lets you manage information stored on databases and is commonly used to make simple programs. I have the Professional version, and I have to say it's only really worth it if you actually need all the programs. You probably aren't going to need Publisher, Info Path, or Groove for most cases. Usually you'll be able to get by using only Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and maybe Access. Basically, if you don't think you'll need all of that, don't bother with the Professional version. Downgrade to a cheaper version and you'll be fine most of the time.
I really have very little expierence with microsoft professional, but with the exception of maybe Acess I don't see anything there that Open Office couldn't do for free. Also I am not sure about what other extra features you have but look at this: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DDCWDB3&s=dhs With the exception of maybe the video car eveything that is on that thing (in comparission to what you listed) is equal or way better for 400$ cheaper (and that includes Professional). If you don't need access (which I really don't know anything about) you could remove professional and use open office and from what I can tell you would have a better computer for half the price. EDIT: i missed the warranty comment in your post so that would probably be an extra 200$ to get a similar level of protection, but thats still a 200$ difference if eveything breaks even.
As a tech, You could get something more for your buck, build you own. OR, if its a laptop, Newegg.Com. Tigerdirect.com.
