What a screamer
Written: Jan 13 '00 (Updated Jan 13 '00)
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Pros: fast, reliable, durable, long battery life.
Cons: low video memory, cheap speakers.
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| ravnwood's Full Review: Dell Latitude Cpi A400XT |
Of all the laptops I've used, this has to be the best. First of all, Dell's are extremely durable and reliable. This is my second Dell Laptop, and I've never had a problem. When I did have a problem with one of the accessories (PC Card modem), Dell shipped one fedex the next day.
Secondly, there is the compatibility. I'm never one to accept the factory software load, so when I did decide to reload Windows, Dell made it a snap. On Dell's website, you enter your Service Tag Number, and it automatically identifies the model you have. When you browse the downloads, you are presented with drivers and utilities that are relevant to your computer configuration. (No need to wade through all the other stuff) Since Dell is a name brand, Windows found all the major devices without any trouble.
Third, this machine is fully loaded. The 400 MHz Pentium II just screams. The active matrix LCD display is huge, but tends to fade near the edges. The older, smaller LCD was brighter, but the bigger screen allows you to beef up the resolution to 1024x768 with no degradation in color depth.
Mine came loaded with 128 MB RAM on one chip. That leaves a free socket to add more memory later. I prefer the synaptics touch pad to the other laptop's pointing devices. Also, Dell's new drivers adjust the sensitivity of the touchpad. This fixes an annoying problem the older models had where you accidentally hit the touchpad when you are typing, and send the cursor flying across the screen. This got real annoying when you inadvertently deleted an entire paragraph.
This laptop is small and relatively light weight. They use two modular bays, so you can change out batteries, floppy drives and cd-roms. (I believe they also offer Zip or tape drives too) The floppy drive and CD-Rom drive only fit into the right-hand bay, so you can't have both installed at the same time. They do provide a cable for the floppy so you can hot swap it onto the parallel port whenever you need unexpected floppy access. The docking station also comes with a bay so I just leave mine in there.
The battery has been significantly improved. The hi-capacity battery offers over 5 hours of life (compared to the 3.25 hours of the old one). With both batteries installed I easily get over 10 hours of usage time. The battery is a "smart" lithium ion of course, so you cannot over charge it.
The CD-Rom is a 24x variable speed. It keeps pace with my desktop CD-Rom at home, and is a significant improvement over the old 4x Dell used to sell.
The combination sound/video card was beefed up. The overall fidelity is improved, although the speakers still leave a little bit to be desired. When turned up to an audible level, they tend to sound tinny. The video memory was bumped up from 2 MB to 2.5 MB, only a marginal improvement. I'd still like to see 4 MB.
The power supply went from a two-pronged to a three-pronged grounded plug. The old model just used a standard $2.99 "cheater" cord, which was convenient when I traveled overseas. Since the adapter steps down voltage from as high as 240, I just had to spend a few bucks on a European cheater cord. The new three-pronged plug is proprietary to Dell, so if you travel abroad you'll need to buy the adapters that can take prolonged use. (I just kept my old power supply)
The leather case came with loads of pockets for all my junk. It also offers maximum protection, and the zipper can be locked tight.
Overall, the Dell is a power desktop that gives lots of bang for the buck. I'd recommend it to anyone.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): company supplied
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium II
Processor speed: 301-400
Screen Size: 14"
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 7-9
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Epinions.com ID:
ravnwood
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Location: Northern Virginia
Reviews written: 31
Trusted by: 11 members
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