hmmm well i want a dell but my dad(the one whos pitching in the other 400) says no but i can convince him... i was wondering
Just show him the discounts you can get and how you can configure it to exactly what you need without paying for junk you don't want. There's an awesome coupon over at FW (yeah yeah, don't hit me) that will give you 20% off $1,000 purchase. So you upgrade the base laptop (which is $650 but it is a Core Duo and not Core 2 Duo based laptop) to over $1,000, discount at 20%, means you got a superior laptop at $800 with no need for rebates or the God-forsaken groups of Black Friday. I've heard Dell has good deals in late fall/early Winter, so it might be worth it to wait. However if you want it now, this is a pretty good deal, too.
I have no experience with Dell warranties, so I can't say how good they are if you're screwed. Personally, I hate laptops as they seem to break down all the time and are so expensive to fix or upgrade compared to desktops. This is one of the reasons why I wouldn't invest in a very expensive laptop. This is also why I recommend the Best Buy warranty route if you do choose to buy from there (which has bonuses, including the Reward Zone deal as well as the occasional 10% coupon and the ease of returning defective items to a real store). The extended warranty price is proportional to the laptop's cost. My niece got a 2 year warranty for her $400 laptop for less than $40.
how long does it take for the laptop to arrive at my house? lets say i order it oct 1st. when will it arrive?
There are estimated delivery times on the site which vary depending on how much you want to fork over for shipping. I doubt it would take longer than a week for the cheapest option. Just look the site over, it's free to browse.
also whats the diff between duo core and core 2 duo or is it the same thing?
I don't honestly know, except that the Core-based laptops are being somewhat discounted to make room for Core 2 generation laptops. I think Core 2 supports 64-bit instructions. Personally, I think as a regular user, you'll be fine with a regular Core Duo. It's a huge advancement over intel's previous mobile CPUs.
The only thing I have to add to that is don't pay a premium to get a Sony Vaio.
The extra premium you're paying is just for a prettier laptop.
Their support sucks (at least it did a few years ago when I owned a Vaio).
Which is why I didn't mention Sony.
They still suck, and they will always suck. Sony is the only Japanese-brand laptop I tell people to avoid, but people that are usually interested in Sony-brand laptops are ONLY interested in Sony-brand laptops.