Good Price for a Solid Machine WITH UPDATE 12/12/00
Written: Nov 07 '00 (Updated Dec 12 '00)
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Pros: priced competitively, available in different colours (although you shouldn't buy a computer based on colour), available with different options, nice TFT screen
Cons: mixed reports on technical support
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| corndoggz's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 3800 C500ST |
UPDATE
One of the mouse buttons for the pointing stick broke. I called Dell and they sent a technician to my house two days later. The part's been replaced--no problem at all. As far as I'm concerned, their reputation for excellent customer service is well-deserved.
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I purchased this notebook as a replacement for a slowly dying Pentium II desktop. At the time, Dell had a $150 discount on all Inspiron laptops. I thought this was an excellent deal, but it's three weeks since I ordered the computer and Dell now has a different sale--so don't be in too much of a hurry, because there'll always be some discount or free shipping or something.
My Inspiron 3800 is a Celeron 600 with 64MB of RAM and a 12.1" TFT screen. Currently, the Celeron 600 is the slowest (and least expensive) processor they offer with the Inspiron. My Inspiron is Tahoe blue in colour--I'm sure you've heard about the cool colours--which is nice, but in reality, does absolutely nothing for the computer's performance. I also purchased the larger capacity battery and carrying case for $49 each. When I ordered, they offered to extend the computer's one-year warranty to a three-year one for $49. I chose this option as well.
A TFT screen is standard on the Inspiron series. This adds to the cost of the machine, but most notebook users will agree that TFT is worth the additional expense over passive-matrix or HPA displays. One thing to watch out for is dead pixels. My screen has three dead pixels and Dell says that a certain number of dead pixels is allowable and not covered by warranty. It's not a big deal, but I kind of wish that I had gotten a PERFECT machine for the amount of money I spent. I later discovered that most manufacturers expect between 3-12 dead pixels on their screens. As for the display quality, the screen is nice, bright, and clear. Another thing that's not obvious from Dell's web page is that the floppy drive is modular. There are two bays on the front of the computer--the right side bay holds the battery while the left is used for EITHER the CD-ROM or the 3.5" drive. A parallel cable is included so that both drives can be connected at the same time. If you use 3.5" and CD-ROMS often, it might be annoying to have to carry around the extra drive every time you travel. Another neat feature of this machine is the pointing device. It has both a touchpad and a pointer stick. The touchpad is a little sensitive for my tastes, but the included software allows you to turn it on or off. I turned it off because it got in the way of my typing. Other features of this computer include a standard 56k modem, two type 2 PC card slots, USB port, serial port, parallel port, video out port, and various ports for sound. The Inspiron 3800 weighs around 6 pounds with the battery.
Since I'm moving from a PII-300 to this Celeron 600, comparing speed would be like apples/oranges. However, from other reviews on the internet, I've found that the Inspiron 3800 is a speedy performer with most software apps. Besides the Celeron 600, there is a Celeron 700 available as well as Pentium III configurations. 600 mHz is plenty fast for the basic word processing and web browsing that I do. I have Windows ME on this system and it seems very stable. The only time it froze was when I tried to hot swap the drives and when I installed the PC card NIC for the first time.
I purchased this computer over the comparably priced Gateway, Toshiba and HP models largely because of Dell's award-winning technical support. However, I have read some horror stories from Dell owners. My guess is that the quality of tech support help varies greatly depending on which operator happens to answer your call. Don't expect miracles--the tech support employees are people too. You might also want to brush up on your negotiating skills before calling--sometimes knowing what to say can get you more quickly to the next step.
The price of the Dell Inspiron 3800 makes it competitive with other similarly-equipped machines. There is sometimes a wait time from when you order the machine to when they ship it (mine was a week, and it was in transit for a week), so allow for that when you're making your purchase.
Overall, this is a good machine that does what I need. I can't say how long it'll last, but it looks sturdy, and I have Dell's reputedly excellent technical help for the next three years.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1399
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: 501-600
RAM: 64
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 4-6
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Epinions.com ID:
corndoggz
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Member: Jerome Gaw
Location: Claremont, California
Reviews written: 38
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
Graduate student in Claremont, California. Electric bassist in a few local bands.
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