The Dell Inspiron 3700 -- updated 3/14/00
Written: Feb 06 '00 (Updated Mar 14 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cool-looking, nice mouse options, fast, bright display
Cons: Modem incompatibility, some keys in inconvenient location
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| tanster's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 3700 R500GT |
Before I get into the meat of this review, I just want to say that this is not the computer I originally wanted. I had ordered a Winbook XL3 originally. It’s a beauty of a machine, except for one serious usability flaw; see my Winbook XL3 review if you’re interested!
And now, on to the Inspiron....
Ordering and delivery
• The Dell ordering experience should be the benchmark by which all other company ordering sites are judged. It is well-organized, with lots of detail on each product. Once you know which machine you want, you can customize it and automatically see how much it will cost before you even add it to your shopping cart.
• Delivery was swift: I ordered the Inspiron 3700 on January 28, and received it on February 3, less than one week from start to finish!
Out of the box experience
• The start-up poster is rather text-dense, and includes instructions in four other languages on the same page, making it even harder to find the easy 1-2-3 steps. It does, however, include instructions on how to switch components out of the media bay, which is probably one of the first things you’ll want to do.
• Dell ships the Inspiron with the floppy drive pre-installed instead of the DVD drive. This means you have to switch out components before you can install any programs.
The specs
• Pentium III/500
• 14.1" active matrix display
• 12GB hard drive
• Swappable LS120 Super Disk floppy drive (120MB per disk)
• Swappable 6x DVD drive
• 256MB RAM
• Windows 98 Second Edition
• Microsoft Encarta 2000
• Microsoft Office 2000, Small Business Edition
No doubt about it, the Inspiron looks cool
The Inspiron has a distinctive “half-moon” design; a half-moon is embossed on both the outside case and palmrest. The case color is dark gray, but you can also order it in “Tahoe Blue”. According to user comments on CNET (see “For More Info” section below), though, the blue is more like a purple. Some of these same users also say that the Inspiron has a “cheap plastic look,” but I don’t understand why. The case is solidly constructed, there’s nothing loose or jiggly about it.
Nice keyboard
• I’m used to laptop keyboards with chicklet-sized buttons; since laptop displays have gotten wider, however, keyboards have been able to be wider, too. The Inspiron has a full-size keyboard, with nice wide Shift, Enter, and Backspace keys.
• Keyboard is initially possessed by the devil: As I started typing away on the Inspiron, I noticed the cursor would sometimes jump to a totally random place on the page, sometimes to a completely different window! I thought I had a defective keyboard. Then I discovered that the motion of tapping the pointing stick is initially assigned to a mouse click; as I typed, I would accidentally touch the pointing stick, and unknowingly launch myself into another cyberspace! Turning this option off (Control Panel >> Mouse) solved the problem.
• Keys in the wrong place: The Insert, Delete, Home, End, PageUp, and PageDn keys are located at the very top of the keyboard, in half-sized buttons. This has driven me a bit crazy: you can’t easily press Ctrl+Alt+Del, and I’m used to the Home/End and PageUp/Dn keys in a column along the right side of the computer.
Love the two sets of pointing devices
• This has got to be one of the most ingenious designs ever -- not only does the Inspiron 3700 come with a pointing stick and a touchpad, it comes with two sets of left/right mouse buttons! One set of left/right mouse buttons is located directly below the keyboard; this is the set to use with the pointing stick. The other set of left/right mouse buttons is located right below the touchpad.
• A potpourri of mouse options: You can activate the pointing stick, the touchpad, or both. If you use the pointing stick for regular mouse functions, you can assign other functions to the touchpad. For example, moving a finger up or down on the touchpad can scroll the screen up or down; moving a finger from right to left or left to right can activate the Back or Forward browser buttons. This makes Web surfing a breeze!
• Autojump: My absolute favorite mouse function is called Autojump. Whenever a dialog box appears on your screen (those little windows that have OK, Cancel, and Help buttons), the mouse cursor automatically moves over to the default button (usually OK), saving you the effort of moving the cursor there yourself. This is an awesome feature; I wish it was on all computers!
Swappable media bay option
• It’s extremely easy to swap components out of the media bay. This bay can hold a diskette drive, a CD-ROM drive, a DVD drive, a SuperDisk LS-120 drive, a Zip drive, a second battery, or a second hard disk drive. I have the SuperDisk drive (like a 3-1/2 floppy drive, except it holds 120MB per disk) and DVD drive. The drives easily click into place so you know you’ve inserted them in the bay correctly.
• Note, however, that the Superdisk drive can’t be connected externally. A little bit more of a pain, but not horrendous.
Bright display
• The Inspiron comes with brightness buttons on the keyboard. But, thanks to a tip at the Dell support site, I was able to make the screen even brighter than what can be customized through the keyboard.
Modem incompatibility
• I have a Xircom RealPort network/modem card (type III). This card is not compatible with the Inspiron, at least not by default. I spent a good two hours trying to figure out what was wrong, and I finally solved the problem by going to the Xircom site and following the instructions at http://www.xircom.com/techdocs/1090.html. It’s a painstaking process and you must follow the instructions exactly as written (I had to do it twice), but it finally did the trick!
An ominous warning about overheating
• The Inspiron can get very hot. In fact, the manual states on the very first page: "Caution: Do not allow your portable computer to operate with the base resting directly on exposed skin. With extended operation, heat can potentially build up in the base. Allowing sustained contact with the skin could cause discomfort or, eventually, a burn."
• Just yesterday, I happened to leave the computer on for about seven hours when I went out to dinner. When I returned, the Inspiron display was dark, even though the power was still on, and its Power button was frozen into the “on” position! I finally unplugged the computer and let the battery drain overnight. I then turned it on without any trouble. I’m not sure if this problem was caused by overheating, but man, I’m never gonna leave the computer on for that long ever again.
Battery life
A 100% charged battery, with continuous use, will last about 2 hours and 45 minutes. At around 10% remaining on the battery, a pop-up message will appear, recommending that you save your work.
All in all
After solving several of the initial problems I encountered with the weird keyboard behavior and the incompatible modem, I’ve been quite satisfied with the Inspiron 3700 -- I’ve ordered five computers from Dell over the years, and with this latest purchase, I will continue to be a loyal fan!
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Dell Inspiron 3700 configuration and price, as of 2/6/00
• Pentium III/500, 256MB RAM, 12GB HDD, 14.1” XGA display, 6x DVD, 120 SuperDisk drive, Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business Edition with Encarta, SuperDisk 3-pack.
• As of 2/6/00, this configuration costs $3,795.
For more info
• Dell product site: www.dell.com
• Cnet: www.cnet.com (an Editor’s choice review, plus user comments)
P.S.
• For those of you who have read my Winbook review as well, the distance between the “F” key and the left mouse button is 1-3/4” on the Dell, but a whopping 4” for the Winbook! (The Winbook is not made for small hands.)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tanster
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Location: Palo Alto, CA
Reviews written: 111
Trusted by: 331 members
About Me:
Happily reviewing cool gadgets and SF Bay Area restaurants since 1999. Pass the gravy, please.
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