A big, fast disappointing machine
Written: Jan 02 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Amazingly huge screen. Sleep mode that works.
Cons: Too heavy/big. Weird, awkward design.
|
|
|
| robert's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 7500 A433LT |
Nothing like a change in jobs as a means to procuring a shiny new notebook. Too bad it was a step down from my Tecra 8000 to the behemoth by Dell also know as the "Inspiron 7500". This thing is absolutely, amazingly massive weighing in a 10 pounds plus-or-minus a bit which leaves me to wonder, really, what I am getting beyond a big screen for hauling its mass around and who is the "target user" for this thing.
There is something good about all this size -- it seems to have helped Dell get a few things right in this machine that most seem to escape most other manufactures. Obviously, the screen is hugely addictive in size but more subtly, the graphics card does pixel mapping to allow use of the WHOLE THING at resolutions below 1024x768 -- great for testing graphics/Web pages at 640x480. Its enormity also allows for a second pair of 'Ctrl' and 'Alt' keys on the right half of the keyboard -- great if you have an affinity for keyboard shortcuts. The third bit of amazement [and I'm not sure if its size helps with this] is in the form of a sleep/suspend mode that ACTUALLY WORKS 9-times-out-of-10!
So what's bad? Yes, it's huge but oddly, they are mostly things that should be remedied by having a lot of space to work with. Battery life is just acceptible given the screen size. There is no dedicated reset button [that is, you have to hold down the power button for 5 seconds to do a reset] Yes, this is really minor but after living with it for 2 months, I much prefer having the one touch of the Tecra. The Home-End-PageUp-PageDown-Delete-Insert keys are super tiny and awkwardly ghetto-ized up in the top right corner of the keyboard. The power-cord, PC Card slots and audio controls are all packed into a small area on the back left side of the machine making for a lot of clutter, tangled wires and easily knocked out Ethernet connection and/or accidentally knocked volume control. I've also experienced weird behavior from the touch pad [erratic movement] and the PS/2 mouse port does not support the scroll wheel on the Intellimouse.
So what does this mean? The 7500 is a weird machine that I would not recommend for anyone who actually carries their notebook -- it would be a pretty good machine to use in-and-around [but not outside of] the home or a home office. I cannot see any real advantage to purchasing this notebook beyond the large screen although the extra 0.9" is not worth the extra bulk if you ever plan to move it very far.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 2200
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium II
Processor speed: 401-500
Screen Size: 15"
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 4-6
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
robert
|
|
Member: Rob Rekrutiak
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 6 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.