A Solid Work Horse
Written: May 30 '01
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Pros: Fast CD-ROM, good processing speed, durable, long lasting battery
Cons: Speakers, display, heat management
The Bottom Line: Dell sets the standards for other laptops.
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| adamarket's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 3500 A400GT |
If you want to play safe in the Stock Market, you buy Mutual Funds. If you want to play safe in buying a laptop - you buy Dell.
I bought my Dell Inspiron 3500 from my dotcom employer when it went belly up in April. I've used it for about two years now and have very few complaints on its performance, except when the display used to go out after I first got it. Turns out Dell had released a whole slew of laptops with a faulty video driver. A visit to the Dell site and a download later cleared up that whole mess.
So - with a 366 MHz Pentium II processor, 128MB of RAM and a 6 Gig Hard Drive - what do you really need to know?
1) Well, my Inspiron gets hot after about two hours. The base gets so hot, in fact, I have to cover my lap with a cushion or some similar buffer.
2) The Active Matrix screen seems kind of pixelated when playing games. Dealing with Office applications or the web, it's a very sharp picture. Playing games - kind of chunky.
3) The worst aspect of this Inspiron are the speakers. I think Dell was going for the scratched record through a tin can feel. Seriously, on my ex-commute, I'd try to play a sound for the person sitting next to me on the ferry and they couldn't hear. Tiny sound, not to mention tinny sound. I usually use my headphones if I want to listen to music, etc.
So there you have it. Sturdy and stable. Just what you'd hope for from a functional piece of hardware like a laptop.
Adam
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 450.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium II
Processor speed: 301-400
Screen Size: 14
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): Under 4
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Epinions.com ID:
adamarket
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Member: Adam Carey
Location: California - San Francisco
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 1 member
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