Hello, I'm looking to buy a laptop for student needs, and programming (and general "office" stuff like word, internet, movies, music). Since I'm Dell fan I found my self 4 laptops: (Sorted from the most expensive)

1. Dell Studio 1555 (15.6")
Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T6500 2.1GHz ,800MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache
WUXGA 1366X768 White-LED Display with TrueLife
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
320GB Hard Drive Serial ATA 5400RPM
4GB DDR2 800MHz dual channel Memory
3 Year Warranty.

2. Dell Inspiron 1545 (15.6")
Intel® CoreTM2 Duo Processor T6500 2.1GHz ,800MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache
WXGA Ultrasharp With Truelife 1366x768
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
320GB Hard Drive Serial ATA 5400RPM
4GB DDR2 800MHz dual channel Memory
3 Year warranty

3. Dell Studio 1537 (15.4")
Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T6500 2.1GHz ,800MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache
WXGA WLED display Ultrasharp With Truelife 1280x800
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
250GB Hard Drive Serial ATA 5400RPM
4GB DDR2 667MHz
1 Year warranty!

4. Dell Vostro 1014 (14.1")
Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T6670 2.2GHz ,800MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500MHD Up to 256MB shared memory
WXGA With WLED 1280X800
250GB Hard Drive Serial ATA 5400RPM
4GB DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel Memory
3 Years warranty


As you may see they all more or less the same configuration.
I never had an experience with 14.1" only with 15.4" but its hard to find 15.4" these days, only 15.6".
So for my needs as student and programmer what would you recommend from the above (or something else that might be better than what I suggested). How is 14.1" for programming? How is 15.6"?

Thank you!

screen size isn't going to make the biggest difference in the world. What really matters physically is the keyboard (like is it too big, too small, can you find all the right keys, including delete, insert, home, and end)

Specifications are really only that relevant to the type of programming you are doing. For example, if you are writing graphics intensive code, like openGL or directx, you want to have a discrete video card. If you are only writing system software, it probably isn't that important.

I have:

Dell XPS M1530
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz Processor
nVidia GeForce 8600M Graphics Card
Hi-Def 1680x1050 Screen (15.4")
250 GB HDD 5400RPM
4GB RAM
Windows 7 Professional

and it's perfect for programming. The keyboard has a nice spring to it even after a year of use. I think I paid around $1800 for it last year.

Out of your options, I'd go with the Studio.

This post has been edited by bodom658: 8 Nov, 2009 - 03:06 PM

Thank you for reply!
What studio would you recommend the 1555 or 1537? The problem is that 1555 is a bit out of my budget, and I heard that 1537 is pretty bad and 1555 is the replacement of 1537.
How is the Inspiron series?