Bryon's Two Cents
Written: Dec 08 '99 (Updated Feb 10 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: light weight, well-designed
Cons: Some components fragile...need gentle use
The Bottom Line: After one year and two months of everyday use...a well-
built machine.
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| ratbert99's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 3500 A366GT |
This is my first notebook computer I have ever bought and I have to
say....I'm pleased as punch with my Inspiron here. I have to admit I did
not research the purchase as usual and the decision was based
largely on Dell Financing it for me. I knew what I wanted and got everything *except* the Virus Program they promised me (not a biggie).
Knowing the deal with batteries, I got two extra batteries with the
knowledge that it can charge by itself without a external charger. The
indicators built into the batteries make life so easy and are a major
plus. I've talked to many owners of other notebooks that wish they had
this. Another nice thing is the disk drive that can be attached to the
printer port without having to remove the CD drive.
The DVD drive is great. I do not use the external cable to the
PCMCIA card because it looks so fragile. It's clearly something
you do not want to use very often. The DVD picture quality is
unbelievable thanks to that PCMCIA card and it needs to be left in there
and left alone! :) I'll warn you now...this will have you watching movies
instead of getting work done. Playing is OK...but work pays the bills.
I have learned to keep a CD in it at all times...especially if I know I may have to remove it. This way...the bay software does not identify
the drive as a disk drive.
I have heard rumors that Dell support is not what it should be. I would not know...I can take care of 99% of the myself so that's
not a major deal. I needed NT display drivers so I downloaded them and installed it with no problems. I did have problems with the so-called
"Sleep" mode...real nice. It goes to sleep and can't wake up! I had no problems removing and/or disabling the offending Win'98 components so that's no longer a issue. All in all...a very easy-to-use and well designed portable PC that will be used everyday for some time to come.
* Update 02/10/00 A year and two months of great service
* from this notebook. It even survived a nasty little
* little fall with little damage. I fully expect another
* three-fours years of good use out of it (her :) ).
* Major upgrade planned for ~05/00 New Hard Drive 32GB.
* I'll install it myself. This notebook has held up
* incredibly well for everyday five-six hours of use
* every day (7 days/week).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 3440
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: 301-400
Screen Size: 14"
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 9-12
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Epinions.com ID:
ratbert99
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Member: Bryon Harvey
Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 1 member
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