Great desktop replacement for its time
Written: Aug 05 '01
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Pros: dvd-floppy combo, true desktop replacement, large LCD, great performance
Cons: heavy, large, sound card issues
The Bottom Line: Overall, the Inspiron 7000 is a great laptop. It truly is a desktop replacement with great performance. My only major complaint is the sound card issue with win2k.
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| kache's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 7000 A400LT |
I've had my Inspiron 7000 for three years now. I got it just before my freshman year in college. The laptop has performed well during the time, and I have mostly good things to say about it.
The specs on my i7k are the following:
p2 300mhz, 192mb ram, 8gb hdd, 2x dvd-fdd combination drive, 15" XGA, and 8mb ATI Rage. I also have the port replicator for the i7k. Although nothing special now, at the time of its purchase, the laptop offered the best features. It was one of the first laptops to offer a dvd-drive, 15" LCD screen, and 3d-graphics. I wanted a laptop as close to a desktop as possible.
Ordering at dell.com was easy, and the site had a nice status page that showed at what production stage the laptop was in at the moment. Dell's estimated ship date was accurate. When I received the laptop, it was fairly simple starting it up and getting right to work. It came with a nice diagram on how to get started, and the instruction manual is informative and easy to understand.
As for actual use, the i7k has performed well. Typing isn't difficult, and the touchpad is also comfortable. Of laptops that I have used (Compaq, Dell, IBM, Sony, Fujitsu, Gateway), only some IBM Thinkpads have nicer keyboards. Of course, keyboards are a matter of personal preference. One of the best things about the i7k is the large LCD. With 15", it's almost as large as the viewing areas of some 17" CRT monitors. It's still bright with good screen uniformity. The dvd drive works as advertised, and I have watched several DVDs on the laptop. However, lag occurs every once in a while, most likely because the dvd playback is not hardware based. Also, the laptop is heavy (9 pounds) to carry around for extended periods of time, but I didn't get it with portability being the greatest priority. For others who actually commute daily with their laptops, the i7k or the new i8000 series are probably not the best idea.
Even now, I can run the latest programs, all except for the latest games that require more than 8mb of video ram. My i7k has been upgraded to Windows 2000, which leads me to my only complaint. The ESS soundcard has some issues with Win2k. MP3s play with an intermittent clicking noise every 5 seconds or so. The clicking sound isn't loud, but if you listen closely, it's there. The clicking wasn't a problem with win98, and from what I gather on the Dell forums, the problem has to do with the ESS drivers for win2k. Dell still has not updated the driver to correct the problem. Having heard so much about Dell customer support, it's disappointing that they haven't fixed the problem. However, I'd rather have win2k's stability than not have the clicking problem so I'm staying with win2k. The sound card issue is the only major complaint I have about my i7k. No product is perfect, and Dell support is still pretty good with updated drivers for everything else. Compared with other companies, Dell support is top-notch (along with IBM), which reflects poorly on support by the industry as a whole considering Dell isn't that good.
Overall, the Inspiron 7000 is a great laptop. It truly is a desktop replacement. My only complaint is the sound card issue, but that shouldn't be much of a problem if you don't use win2k. If you can get the i7k cheap on auction, definitely do so or better yet, buy the new Inspiron 8xxx series that replaced the Inspiron 7xxx series.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 3500.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium II
Processor speed: 201-300
Internal Storage: DVD
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Epinions.com ID:
kache
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Reviews written: 2
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