Like carrying a brick around
Written: Apr 27 '01
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Pros: Big screen! Big screen!
Cons: Heavy as a brick, Windows bugs abound, key popped out, some design stupidities
The Bottom Line: Don't get suckered by the 15+" screen: try another Pentium II instead!
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| piyo's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 7000 A400LT |
It's a Pentium II with a fast processor, I can't complain about that. But what sets apart the Dell Inspiron 7000 from any other Pentium II laptop?
I've had this model for 1 1/2 years, and I use it for law school. The weight problem arose: I had intended to bring it to school every day to take notes with it. But because it weighs about 8 pounds (why, oh why, didn't I get the modular model) *plus* all the required wiring and the laptop case itself... let's just say, I soon gave up on that use of my laptop. It became, in effect, a desktop. With the 15+" screen, it almost seems an adequate substitute.
The batteries run out real quick, much quicker than expected.
The speed of the processor is not fast enough to read a movie file from the CD-ROM completely uninterrupted - will freeze, pause, etc.
Some design stupidities:
(1) Weak latches to open/close top. After only about 2 months, one of the latches became loose and ineffective. It's inevitable because they made the top part slightly jut out over the base (to accommodate the extra large screen on the identical base for the cheaper, smaller-screen model).
(2) Why does Dell put the CD-ROM drive directly over the floppy drive? Or more specifically, the CD-ROM drive eject button RIGHT over the floppy drive eject button? That leads to the extremely vexing problem that everytime I reach for the floppy button to eject, I will inevitably eject the CD-ROM. Of course if I was running something from the CD-ROM, it crashes, but even when I'm not, just the act of popping the dang CD-ROM back in will cause the computer to interrupt whatever it's doing to try to read it for about 3-5 seconds.
(3) Left-click button on touch pad getting temperemental already.
(4) My "i" key popped out for no reason. I don't even take it anywhere, I just type large amounts at home.
And, can I blame Dell for what appear to be Windows bugs?! There are two MS Word documents that I can't delete, move, or rename simply because I named them with periods, e.g., "con.2.13.99" (to record the date). A computer "expert" couldn't figure out how to remove them. It says the file is "too long" but won't let me rename it, either. And the computer crashes almost everytime it goes on standby. Of course, they make it nearly impossible to remove a pre-installed program, hence the anti-trust lawsuit.
Dell's online customer service is fair at best. If anything goes beyond "did you turn it on?" they invariably recommend that I send the laptop in to be looked at. Who wants to do that? And here I was, foolishly thinking that on-site service for one year was part of my warranty. It looks like your laptop has to be a bomb to avoid having to send it in: my friend with a Dell desktop was refused on-site service for a serious problem, instead they mailed him a new HARD DRIVE and instructed to call in for installation "advice."
All in all, I regret buying my $2,500 Dell Inspiron 7000.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 2500
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium II
Processor speed: 301-400
Screen Size: Greater than 15
RAM: 64
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): Under 4
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Epinions.com ID:
piyo
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
"Buy it! Buy it! Buy it!" ~ The motto of a 22-year-old shopaholic!
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