Dell Inspiron 1420 Testimonials

Recently Dell has launched its new line Inspiron lappy with sleeve design & personalize lappy. You can customized your lappy based on the color you like on the front panel of LCD screen. Even it's not fully colorize of its exterior, but still it's a good start for Dell move into better & trendy design.

Purchase Experiences
I have done few researches on the Internet included reviews & pricing on several lappies. Finally, I have raised my order on this model on the day before PC Fair July 07 ( I called the sales assistant before this, she mentioned to me that this July PC Fair Dell will has a better offer. Credits to her (Ms. Quinn)). Therefore, I have called her on the day before PC Fair but I can't get her on phone caused she is engaged on line. I left a message to her & she called me back after few hours.

After discussed with her on the Inspiron lappy in terms of price & delivery period. I have selected Espresso Brown Inspiron 1420 with some customized features plus lowest price offer. After few minutes, I received my quotation on my mail. It's confirmed my order. At here I should personally thanks to Ms. Quinn for her excellent sales services. No wonder people said Dell sales & after sales service is excellent. Thumbs up to Dell.

I read in some forums that mentioned this hot selling lappy need to wait 1 month plus to get it delivered. However, this is not happened to me. I get this nice lappy in 1 week time. I'm quite impressed on the this since a lot of people still waiting for their lappies. Based on my experience, you should call the sales assistant directly rather than online purchase cause you may know the status of order & products information more specific. For example, what model & color that is hot selling plus times to delivery. Furthermore, sometimes you may get a little surprise as well which you can't get in Dell online shopping.

First Impression

Back to the Dell Inspiron 1420. I open the big box, it comes with a nylon light bag, a box of software & manuals, AC power adapter, phone line & the Inspiron 1420 lappy with battery plugged in. After disassemble all the boxes & covers. Finally, I put the lappy on the desktop & power it on. It's takes me around 15 mins to load some settings & extra Dell software, Then the Vista is ready to use. I'm quite impressed with it caused I have done 2 lappies (Core 2 Duo T7100 & 1GB RAM) with Vista installed & filled with disappointment. One is Toshiba & one is Fujitsu, both took me 1 hour plus to get into Vista. Think if you want Vista to run well, 2GB RAM is needed. Overall, it took me around 1mins from power on to Vista & ready to use.

My Inspiron 1420 Specifications

• Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.50Ghz
• 2GB DDR2 667Mhz RAM Dual Channel
• 120GB HDD & DVD+/-RW Drive
• 128MB Nvidia Geforce 8400M GS Display Card
• Dell 355 Bluetooth Module, Intel Wireless-N Adapter
• 14.1 WXGA Display with TrueLife & Expresso Brown Color Kits with 2MP Webcam
• 9 cell 85Whr Battery Pack & 90W AC Power Adapter
• Nylon Lightweight Carrying Case

Build Quality
First, I will start with built quality. The lappy color kit is espresso brown. It looks elegant & solid. Seem it's not as beautiful as Sony Vaio or Macbook but it offers better design than typical lappies. Surface is micro satin finish & it's easily prompt to fingerprint (Especially oily hand). The bottom part of lappy made with rubber kind of surface. It's good for handling & not easily slip when you hold it on hand. However, this lappy is quick heavy & bulky with 9 cells battery attached compared with conventional notebook nowadays. Think for a man it's still okay to carry around, therefore not really recommended for a girls. : )

 
The keypad is the same type which is used in Dell XPS1330 lappy. This is a nice keypad to type & you feel more comfortable even typing for long hours. I didn't noticed any hot temperature on the keypad as I normally encountered on most of the lappies, but I do feel some warm when I use it on my thigh. It's quite cool & silence for the CPU cooling fan & HDD noise as well. Thanks to the Dell excellent hot air ventilation design.

Screen
LCD screen that I chose is WXGA with TrueLife up to resolution 1280 x 800 at 60Hz. Screen is sharp & color is vibrant, but it's a little bright for my eye especially in full brightness mode & color became plain then. Talk about its screen, I have read in forum that a lot of people complained on the LCD light leakage problems. My lappy also has this problem but that's only minor light leakage on the bottom of the screen in an acceptable level. It's not as serious as other users lappy I have seen before. Think this is the Dell LCD batch problem I guess, caused as I know Dell taken LCD panels from different vendors. If you are lucky then you may get the right LCD screen with less defect. For example, mine is LG LCD panel with Device ID LPL0000. I read some forums that it's in perfect condition if you are lucky to get Samsung LCD panel with Device ID SEC****. If you got AUO LCD panel, then this is even worst.

Also, I found out that the LCD panel where DELL logo located is quick hot when you touch it after using for a long hours. As I know, this place is where the LCD inverter located. If this inverter (Used to control brightness & contrast) is hot all the time then the LCD panel will soon dim & not functioning well in future in a short period. Don't know it's caused by Dell TrueLife LCD technology or what?

The viewing angle for this LCD is limited & approximately 130° typical degree of its viewing angle.

Moreover, the LCD equipped with 2MP webcam & dual microphone. It's useful for video conferencing & chatting software such as Skype. Also, it enables user to take snapshot & record video with resolution up to 1600 x 1200 pixels. However, it's really slow when try to record video at higher resolution. The lappy comes with a handy tool namely Creative Avatar, which enable create avatar which react based on the user face impression & voice. Also, you can upload your photo & create your own avatar. Cool!

Power/Battery
The battery comes with lappy is a 9 cell 85whr Li-on battery pack, which typical lappies come with 6 cell battery pack. I have tested it level with running common tasks such as Internet surfing, DVD movie viewing & 3D gaming. It drained off at an average of 3 hours 15mins after I have done 3 times testing on it. It's on the good level for a laptop with 9 cell battery pack equipped. To prolong the battery pack life, it's advisable take out the battery when using at a station with power plug socket available or AC adapter plugged in. As I understand, normally Li-on battery can be recharged around 300+ times until it start to malfunction. Also, the 9 cell battery is a bit loosen when you plug into the battery slot. Think Dell should take notes on this.

In the battery slot, there is one SIM card slot. I'm not sure with its existence purpose. I think it provides user to slot in SIM card into it & use it as mobile broadband services such as 3G & EDGE. This is good if true, at least extra features which common lappies don't offer. The AC power adapter is 90W which is needed for lappy with discrete graphics installed such as Geforce 8400M GS. If you purchased this lappy with integrated display then you many takes the 65W AC adapter. I found out that the 90W AC adapter is extremely hot when operated after long hours, which it's common for Dell AC adapter as I experienced before. Think Dell should works hard on this.

Gaming
I have tested some 3D games on it. Such as Spider-Man 3, The Transformers & few online 3D games. For the Nvidia Geforce 8400M GS 128MB. It's on acceptable level when running on common resolution 1024 x 768 pixels. When it goes to higher resolution & advanced effects enabled then everything is lag like hell. It's understandable it's still a lappy. Not as powerful as desktop or high performance lappy can cope with. For its size, it's still pretty nice to handle lightweight 3D games & online gaming. At least it meets my requirements as a casual gaming platform.

As for usual 3D card benchmarking, I have tested it with 3DMark06 & it scored 1505 points with core clock at 400Mhz & memory clock at 550Mhz. After I over clocked it up to 550Mhz core clock & 750Mhz memory clock. It boost the score to 2015 points. Temperature for the core is around 70°C. Think this is not the max level of the Geforce 8400M GS & still more rooms for it to fill up.

Networking
The wireless adapter I have is Intel wireless-N mini adapter (Prepared for future wireless-N standard), I have no problem connecting it to my house Aztech DSL605EW WirelessG ADSL modem. I have excellent connection around my house area & it's constantly running at 54Mbps all the time. It also comes with WI-FI Catcher switches which enable user to detect availability of wireless access point in the area without power on the lappy. It's useful for user to detect the nearest WI-FI hotspot without looking around. Beside the WI-FI switches is a 8in1 memory card reader. It can support SD/MMC Card, Memory Sticks & xD Card.

For me, I have a difficult times when I try to insert my xD card into it, which I can't get it fit in. (Not good in insert thing! : )). Luckily, I got help from forumer & finally can get my xD card to slide in. Thanks to Mr. hikaru_x. If you experience same problem as me, you should locate the xD card on bottom of the slot & put it in. Then it will slide in as usual.

Conclusion
Overall, Dell has done a good job on this Inspiron 1420 lappy. It's not the best of all, but neither is it the worst. It comes with high price/performance ratio compared with other lappies you may found in town. Without doubt, for its price & performance. This makes it one of the hot selling lappy in the market. I will give 3.5/5 stars for this excellent budget lappy. It's highly recommended by me for those who want a all around mid-ranged lappy which worth while.

Pros

• Nice design at last.
• High price/performance ratio lappy.
• Excellent performance.
• Long battery life.
• Excellent Dell sales & after sales services.

Cons

• LCD screen is so so quality.
• Heavy & bulky compared with same level lappies.
• Dell offers like buy market shares. You need to monitor it all the time.

P/S: Purchase Dell products is like purchase market shares. You have to be patient & monitoring their prices & offers from time to time to get a best bargain. However, it's advisable to buy their products during PC Fairs, where you may get the best of the best offer from Dell.