A Desktop Replacement (And Just As Heavy)
Written: Mar 06 '00 (Updated Mar 08 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast and powerful, excellent graphics adapter, big screen
Cons: Heavy, pricey, optimistic battery life, touchpad is no mouse-replacement
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| DavidGriffiths's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 7500 R500VT |
A couple of weeks ago, I was shipped a box the size of a 15 inch monitor, and just as heavy. Inside was my new work machine - a Dell Inspiron 7500.
Due to the amount of travel I now do, this laptop seems to be an excellent alternative to my Dell Pentium II desktop.
Traditionally, laptop performance has sort of sucked.
Intel and AMD develop the mobile versions of their CPU's after they release the desktop versions. Thus, they are always one generation behind. You can now get a desktop with a 1 ghz processor, but it may six months before a laptop of the same configuration is available.
To add insult to injury, laptop components have to be power-conscious. Hard drives spin slower to burn less juice, your CD spins down earlier, and so on. After all, battery life is an important factor in determining how useful a laptop is. A high-performance laptop with a 1 hour battery life is not very useful for a five hour flight.
I didn't exactly have high expectations for my laptop - I was willing to trade performance for mobility.
I've been pleasantly surprised. My laptop (with a Pentium 3 500 and 256 meg of RAM) is almost indistinguishable (performance-wise) from my Pentium 3 550 desktop (256 meg of RAM). They both run Windows NT 4.0, with the same service pack.
Even better, Dell has wisely offered the ATI Rage Mobility graphics card with the Inspiron 7500. This is the best video card you can get for a laptop. It's fast enough to play any game that will run under NT (I haven't been able to try any Win98 games, as I don't have it installed).
The screen on the 7500 is a beautiful, bright, crisp 15 inches - the max resolution is about 1400 by 1050. Considering that most 17 inch monitors only have a 15.5 inch viewable area, this thing almost has a 17 inch monitor. You can get a bigger screen (15.4 inches), but the maximum resolution is only 1280 by 1024 - I would rather have the smaller screen and higher resolution.
The battery life is supposed to be 3.5 hours (and that's what the power meter reads) but that's pretty optimistic. Anything that spins the hard drive or CD will significantly reduce the battery life. After installing software (a 10 minute job), the power management dialog reports that you've burned almost an hour of battery life.
A great laptop, but (as always) a few negatives:
First, you pay for the performance in weight. This thing is heavy (almost 12 pounds). I would recommend ditching the provided nylon case and getting a laptop backpack.
Second, gaming software does not run well. I can play Age of Empires 2 on the laptop, but two co-workers who have the same computer, purchased at the same time, get the dreaded blue-screen-of-death. I had to do a reformat and fresh install of NT and all drivers to get it to work.
Third, Dell does not have the eraser as the mouse-replacement, but rather ships with a touchpad. It takes a bit of getting use to, and I can't see it permanently replacing the mouse. It does the trick when on the road, however.
Finally, my Inspiron 7500 shipped with NT 4.0, Service Pack 5. I received a coupon for Windows 2000, but it means a painful, long re-installation (Windows 2000 is not a quick installer). This is no longer an issue, however. Dell offers the choice of Win98, NT or 2000 pre-installed.
I like this computer (I'm writing this review on it now), and aside from a few small issues, it is almost the perfect desktop replacement. I'm tempted, however, to classify it as a "luggable" rather than a laptop. If your looking for power, this is the laptop. If weight is more important than power, look elsewhere.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
DavidGriffiths
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Member: David Griffiths
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Reviews written: 90
Trusted by: 79 members
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