The budget laptop dilemma: Go with a fixed config, or do it yourself?
The Gateway NV5807u: $599.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)This week's review of the Gateway NV5807u and an in-progress review of a higher-end configuration in the Dell Inspiron 15 line raised an interesting question: is it better to configure your laptop yourself online, or buy a premade, all-in-one, retail package?
With Netbook purchases, these decisions are rarely made. The internal specs of Windows XP-running Netbooks have already been locked at the same set for months, and consumer decisions instead run to considerations like design and screen/keyboard size.
With laptops, especially the midrange, it's a totally different story. Our review of the Gateway NV5807u is up, and the Dell Inspiron 1545 review is in progress. But both have similar specs and performance, with the exception of a better video card in the Dell. The Gateway NV5807u costs a mere $599. The Dell Inspiron 1545, as configured from Dell with 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon graphics, runs $794. Both are 15-inch laptops with T6400/T6500 Core 2 Duo processors.
The knee-jerk is to favor the Gateway. It is a great package for the price, and was pretty comfortable to use here at the office. On the other hand, there is no way to add or remove features as one desires. Dell's Inspiron 15 line allows nearly everything to be customized--Blu-ray drives, hard drive, battery size, processor, graphics, screen resolution, RAM, and Wi-Fi card, to name a few. The bit-by-bit purchase process, however, can be a steep and slippery slope from what was a $399 laptop to one that looms near $1,000.
Of course, we've also recently been reviewing a number of retail laptops for our Back-to-School Roundup, some of which have been excellent values. And, sometimes, finding a good laptop model in a retail setting can feel like looking for a needle in a swamp.
Do incremental add-ons appeal to you, or do you prefer discrete, prepackaged machines, like Gateway's NV5807u, where the fixed specs potentially lead to reduced production cost and consumer savings? Do you like the freedom of choice, or the savings of a fixed box?
In the meantime, read our review of the Gateway NV5807u.
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On Sale Now: $649.00
View the latest prices for Dell Inspiron 15
Scott Stein, a New York Jets fan and CNET senior associate editor, has written about tech, entertainment, video games, and viral culture for outlets including Laptop, Wired, Maxim, Esquire Online, Asylum, and Men's Journal. He also appears on the Digital City podcast. In his spare time, you might see him performing improv in New York City (when he's not being a dad). 
The preconfigured systems are probably good for the typical consumer. More advanced users often have special needs and/or a desire to tinker with the configuration; that's what the options are for. Grandma and Grandpa will probably be fine with an off-the-shelf box.
me, i build my laptop with the best processor, best vid card, minimum memory (easy to upgrade aftewards, and WAY cheaper) and smallest hdd.
then go hit up newegg and get me a 500gb hdd and max memory for way cheap :P
I headed to gateway website and found Gateway® NV5814u, Gateway® NV5815u, Gateway® NV5807u and Gateway® NV5810u have same specs, except their availability with different chain stores and last one with 2 years warranty as opposed to others with 1 year. Does everybody sees the same or I missed something.
I would buy this laptop, if and only if, it has potential to last for at least 2 years and is not really plastiky.
dj
I recently picked up a fully loaded Lenovo T400 (P9500, dedicated graphics, 3gb ddr3, 320gb hd, 9 cell, bluetooth, fingerprint reader, WiMax, 3g, seriously the whole shebang) for $1k or roughly half price! The only thing I plan to change is the OS. Lappy shipped w/ Vista Business preinstalled and I can't step up to 7 for free b/c its a refurb.
One of the things that OEMs do is give unique models to each store they sell in; this prevents retailers from having to take a hit on price matching guarantees, since laptops don't make any margin for the retailer and having to take $100 off a laptop because your competitor did isn't going to make the accountants very happy. As such, retailers typically sell similar models in slightly different permutations (one's got bigger hard drive, another has a little more RAM, the third a marginally faster processor, etc.), so if you're shopping retail, shop AROUND; you'll probably find a retail unit that'll suit you very well with just a handful of tradeoffs, and possibly some ehnancements.
Finally, I'll also note that it can be beneficial to custom build a machine that doesn't have a "canned" counterpart. The Dell XPS M1730 I'm typing this on right now isn't sold through retailers. Boutique laptops like Alienware and VoodooPC are also better off being built-to-spec; most are done exclusively that way.
Joey
When you factor in retail margins and inventory carrying costs (which are massive for technology products that loose 30% of their value every 12 months), it should be a lot cheaper to build a laptop to order (in China ? so don?t give me guff about labor cost economies of scale when labor costs $2 an hour) then to ship a pre-configured laptop to Best Buy, have it sit on the shelf 30 days and suffer their 30% markup.
But DELL and Gateway have forgotten what made them what they are ? selling custom order kit to the masses. They don?t want to put their retail clients at a disadvantage and they have identified people that want custom gear for what we are ? suckers that will pay 2x more for something with 5% more performance (thanks Intel). And their online competitors only cater to L337 gamers that are more then happy spending Daddy?s money for a custom painted case for their $5,000, 15 pound laptop that doubles as a space heater.
We need an internet only company that offers a moderate amount of customization options for a reasonable price. There are a ton of places that offer this for Desktops (AVA Direct), but its pretty hard to find for laptops. Maybe part of that is my own fault ? I trust AVA Direct to build me a desktop ? but I'm really worried about the construction quality on non-branded laptops! Maybe more reviews from CNET of the non-uber elite custom laptops from some of the boutiques would help!
2.5 years later and it's still running strong and not a scratch anywhere. Sure I could've bought a $1,000 Dell or Toshiba, but it did fine for the kind of work I do.
Cheap laptops work just fine as long as you treat them right.
- by dmorgen518 August 11, 2009 12:28 AM PDT
- I'd prefer to configure my computers myself. Although some view it as the more costly option, it works out to a better deal for me. In Best buy for example I may find a Dell desktop for close to $1000 with a 1.5 TB HDD and a Blu-Ray drive, both of which I don't need. However, it also sports a relatively weak processor, lets say an Intel Q8200 and only a 256MB video card. When i build a computer to my own specifications i can pass on costly options like Blu-Ray drives and uselessly large hard-drives, and spend the money the money i saved on a more powerful processor (say, an Intel i7920), and a 512MB (or more) video card. However people who are less specific in what they want from a computer can often get a better deal from a retail setup.
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