The computer: Heavy, low volume and poor sound quality, poor battery life. Great 3d graphics, fast processor, large screen.

Let’s not talk about the 3 defective LCD panels that Dell sent me. The quality assurance was somewhat to be desired. The screen is bright and performs well with all applications. The errors I saw in the screen came when I played DVD movies. On the screen you could see nodes and antinodes of bright and dark along the top and sides of the screen.

DVD playback - Played just fine no hitches. FYI You cannot output this to your TV.

CDRW - worked just fine on my testing

Sound quality: whets that you say - you can't hear it. It has very poor volume and awful sound

Weight: Quite heavy.

Screen size: be careful for what you wish for you will get it. The large screens on computers are nice - if you don't travel. Think carefully about this

The service
The shortened story for you. I bought a refurbish computer and Dell sent one with the wrong components. After several hours of phone calls. The computer went back. I then ordered a new one because I needed a computer in a hurry. A few days go by and I have not heard from Dell about the computer. They lost the order. OK then I ordered it again. It arrives a week late and with a bad LCD panel. Back it goes after several hours of phone calls. It returns to me in an astonishing 24 hours with a new panel. This panel is also bad. 1 full day on the phone, countless unanswered emails later the computer goes back. Guess what it comes back with yet another bad LCD panel only this time it took 3 weeks to get to me. Humm sounds like some bad things happening. I had also requested call tags but they never came and I was nearing the end of my 30 day trial period. CS assured me they had extended this period, however in subsequent calls I found out that this was not recorded in their records. Humm! The only way I could return this computer was to place all the charges in Dispute the AMEX and write 30 + emails a day until some one got off their rear ends and sent a return tag. Dell was horrible to deal with. Dan Jennings my sales rep - never returned a single phone call or email once the order was taken.

OK final words of wisdom:

Know what you want from your computer. Laptops are not desktop replacements. They don't have the graphic abilities, speeds, expandability that you will have in a desktop. Desktops are more versatile for multimedia - bottom line. Even with the NVIDIA graphics for this notebook.

You cannot use large screens effectively on planes! I travel for work all the time. I am on the road 100% of the time. I fly first class all the time. I do not like the
Large screen it becomes cumbersome.

I appreciate good volume control for CD and DVD while in the hotel room.

I will upgrade my computer every 3-4 years by virtue of the functionality and ability to run software. Great multimedia now does not equal great performance later.

I am really turned off by dell and their products and I will do everything to advise you to save your money and go elsewhere. I bought the compact Presario 1215us a 1 GHz machine with all the functionality that I need. It was about 1000 dollars less then Dell with all the same features in the exception of the graphics capability. I don't generally play games so 3d is not a huge issue. I have played NHL 2001 and it works fairly well. But for MS office, multimedia CD and DVD it’s great. Think about your needs and don't be blown away by tech specs, they are everything.


Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 2200
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 801-900
Screen Size: 15
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20