I bought an Inspiron 3800 series notebook for work 2 years ago. Some of the concerns I have had may have been solved in more recent models but my hope is this will give customers a good idea of what to expect.

Some of the positive features of the 3800 notebook are toughness, reliability, customer service and ergonomics. this is one tough machine, I have dropped the computer (in the padded briefcase provided at purchase 2 or 3 times with absolutely no damage. Also the LCD screen at two years has suffered very minimal damage or markings being used daily on a construction job-site. In the span of two years I have had no software, processor, or card problems. When I have had problems (keyboard) I have found dealing with Dell technical support to be very painless. The keyboard is laid out very logically and comfortably for a laptop computer and the touch pad, while taking a while to get used to, is responsive and easy to manipulate.

Some of the problems I've had include keyboard failure on 4 separate occasions, DVD-ROM failure once, and limited flexibility in payment plans. The keyboard failures were not total but were all one string of keys that stopped working (F8, 8, i, k, and ,). These keyboards were all promptly replaced under warranty with minimum hassle. The last keyboard was replaced with a slightly different model and appears to have solved this chronic problem. The DVD-ROM never worked properly from day 1, it had difficulty picking up discs when inserted and this problem steadily got worse until it rarely could pick up disc inserted. This also was replaced under warranty and the problem has not resurfaced. The payment plans offered by Dell I found were a little inflexible as you could chose different periods of time over which to finance the computer. However this was a minor issue as I could have financed it through my bank or other financial institution instead of through Dell.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 3300
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 501-600
Screen Size: 14
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20