OK, so here's the deal. All my 11 year old daughter wants for Christmas this year is a laptop. My husband actually won one in a raffle a few weeks ago. Yea! Done! Well, maybe not... He brought it home yesterday and it is a Dell Vostro 1510. This is supposedly some business type laptop and way more than my daughter needs. Because my husband thought this one was going to our daughter, he just finished ordering a new desktop. So, now that he no longer needs it, I am wandering if we should just stick with the Vostro 1510 for her or try to get her something else, i.e. the Dell Inspiron 1525 in a fun color??? What are your thoughts/experiences?
If it is in its origianl packagaing maybe you can call dell and see if they will let you return it and get a different one. If they got it from a local store see if you can find out where and take it back. I know that Costco carries them so if you have a membership maybe they will let you exchange it. If all else fails sell it on craigslist or ebay. Good luck.
Our family of 3 is a laptop family. Dell for hubby's business, Dell XPS M1210 for me, and Dell Inspiron 640 for daughter.
We got the heavier duty model for daughter because we knew it would get some bumps along the way. We ordered hers with software that she would need which a lot of businesses use as well. She just uses what she needs. I am not sure how much extra is on the Vostro you speak about. Daughter LOVES her computer and uses it a lot. It has come in very handy with accessing sites for her research on school work, creating cards and art with Hallmark, homework, etc. We are glad we made the purchase for her.
For those of you who are wondering....YES I monitor her computer and I do NOT have spyware on it so I can snoop. We run an open book home around here!!
On all of our computers, we did get the extended great warranty. 1 key on hubby's keyboard went out and Dell sent a rep to our home the next day and it was replaced at no cost to us. The service is unbeatable. We have also used Best Buy when another older model Dell broke down and they did a great job.
Since we have purchased our computers, ALL through Dell, and over 1-2 yrs ago......Best Buy and some other stores now carry them. Maybe you could "test drive" the models you are looking at there?
Good luck with your decision!
We have 4 laptops in our house (hubby is in the business)not Dels, we are a Toshiba family. Anyway, I went and looked at the specs for the Del you mentioned. The only difference is that it has Vista Pro installed and an office package. Sounds like a pretty sweet laptop. Exactly WHY does she need a laptop? I hope you are getting it for her to use for schoolwork. Otherwise just get her an XBox or a Wii. The Dell you mentioned will allow her to do anything she needs to do for school: research, papers, graphing,spreadsheets. The graphics in it are "true life" which will be great if she decided to venture into any sort of desktop publishing or graphics work.
For an 11 yr old you may want to disable the web cam. With all the "sexting" going on I just don't see a reason for a Web cam for a kid (but that's me).
SAHM of three:19,18,and 5.
Home Baker and Candy Maker(see member perks). Married to the same wonderful man for almost 12 years.
Just because a system is "more" than is needed does not mean you cannot use it for the things needed now. Load software on it that is age appropriate for her--put in all the parental controls--and then as she needs more features--you can easily put them on--sounds like has potential for use for several years.
I don't know what your daughter will be using the laptop for, but have you thought of getting a netbook. They are much smaller in size and they are cheaper than a laptop. You can go on dells site and see them, I purchased on for myself and it works great and very light weight.
I would keep it and like was mentioned by others, disable or put under a different profile that is password protected some of the features that you think she will not use or that could be potential safty issues, like the camera. You would be surprised though, by how many of those features she might be able to use for school projects etc. so I would not get rid of them completley. We have a webcam an it is really neat for the grandparents and family that live far away! Since it has more than you need right now, it might save you from buying another one in a couple of years! Also, you or your husband might need or want some of those features. You could still access them and use them if you had them under a password protected profile that only you all could access. If you want a fun color for the laptop, google "laptop skins" and there are several sites you can check out that offer "skins" or covers to put on laptops to customize them. You could pick one out for her, or let picking one out be part of her Christmas. I think there are sites out there that even let you design your own. Hope that helps :) Good luck!
