My Portable Office
Written: Sep 30 '00 (Updated Sep 30 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use, efficient, WONDERFUL
Cons: A little heavy
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| agklocke's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 3800 C450ST |
A few months ago, I was very ill and was unable to sit at my desk for long periods of time. Being the sole employee of my own business, not working was not so much an option if I planned to stay in business. A choice had to be made. Either cut back on my work load (which would mean to discontinue some of the zines I publish) or find another way to be able to work. Being that I don't have a ton of money, I looked into financing a laptop. However, I already have one computer that I pay for monthly through Gateway so I was certain they would not allow me to get another.
With that in mind, I checked out some reviews here at Epinions. High praise was given to the Dell Inspiron 3800 so I checked it out. I liked what I saw and decided to apply for credit to get one since there was no way to buy it outright. To my amazement, we were accepted and in a few short weeks, I would be the proud owner of my very own laptop.
The laptop was given a tentative date for shipping but I was very happy when it arrived a full week earlier than expected. Dell certainly was on the ball to get it out the shipping door. I was a bit surprised to see that I would have to remove and put in the A drive or C drive whenever I needed one or the other. Previous experience with a laptop from college did not prepare me for this as both drives were already in the computer. However, once I actually READ the instructions, this wasn't so hard after all. Plus, the laptop came with a video just in case you aren't into reading instructions. The video gave step-by-step instructions on how to interchange the drives, remove the battery, or use the drive slot for another battery if you needed to.
One thing I should have read ahead of time but did not because of my excitement, is that you should remove the PC card BEFORE starting the computer for the first time. It won't do major damage (from what I can tell) if you don't, but I did have to start from scratch to hook it up correctly. I also had to install most of the software that came with it. If I were a complete newbie to computer life, I would have had a harder time but it wasn't so bad. Basically, the laptop just didn't arrive ready to use like my first computer did.
Back to the PC card for a moment - I didn't realize that it was my modem card. I spent way too long trying to find the place for the phone jack until it finally clicked (almost literally) that I was supposed to hook the cord into the PC card. The instructions did not mention this part and my school laptop had had a regular built in modem with a phone plug in.
The bundle I ordered with the laptop included Microsoft Office for Small Businesses 2000, Norton Antivirus, Encarta Encyclopedia 2000 and Windows 98. For all of this, I am paying more than I should, I suppose, but people who buy on credit always do. Total price - $2500.00
Now that I have had the laptop for a few months, I felt it was a sufficient amount of time to start singing the praises. For one, my life has been so much easier now that I can work from bed when I feel bad. Or I can relax on the couch and save my poor aching back. Not to mention the ease at which I can be outside while my children play. The only thing I don't really care for is the touch mouse. Going back and forth between my regular mouse on the big computer to the touch one can be tricky and aggravating at times. In fact, I have accidentally rated reviews here wrong because of the touch pad. There IS a small finger mouse also but I found I dis-like it more so turned that feature off.
The only other thing I have a problem with again deals with going between computers. The keyboards are different and I make many mistakes on the laptop. But other than that, it is great!
The memory on this laptop is approximately half of what I get from my main computer but since I have only used less than half of the main PC's memory, I think this will work out just fine. With all the same bells and whistles as my Gateway, I believe I did pretty well here.
=> 32 MB RAM
=> 56K software modem
=> Huge screen
The unit is slightly heavy compared to other laptops I have seen or used, but isn't too bad. Also, it comes in various colors but I forgot to check one of the choices so received the default color, black.
* Computer experts - if I actually have a bad deal here, ummm ... I don't think I want you to tell me because I have enough to be depressed about right now! Smiles ...
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2,500.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 301-400
Screen Size: 11"
RAM: 32
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
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Epinions.com ID:
agklocke
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Member: Angela Giles Klocke
Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 195 members
About Me:
Writer, Photographer, Speaker, Woman
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