Dell Mediocre 2650 is unimpressive...
Written: Sep 06 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Quality of Tech Support: |
|
|
|
Pros: Wireless internet, DVD and CD burner combo, projector output
Cons: speed, weight, and battery life
The Bottom Line: Look somewhere else.
|
|
|
| eatmor's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 2650 (265RHU) PC Notebook |
Why I have this Notebook
The University of Tennessee's college of business decided they would teach us a lesson in wasting money by requiring us to own laptop computers. I already owned what three years ago was a top of the line machine that still competes as a competent computer. Therefore, I was not excited about "needing" a laptop.
Surely there is something I appreciate in this machine?
There are a few qualities in my Inspiron 2650 I really enjoy. The mobile DVD player is one of them. I also like the output to a projector, which is great for presentations or watching The Simpsons DVD. Wireless networking is my favorite. I bought a wireless router so I could access the internet on my laptop anywhere in the house. That has worked out well.
On campus, they university provides wireless access that works 90% of the time, so this computer is convenient in boring classes. Furthermore, I read how the campus Krystals restaurant is going to offer wireless access as well, so that will be a nice option to eat and surf the web. Finally, my DVD drive is a combo CD write/rewriter. It writes fast.
What is disappointing about my Inspiron
Speed is a big disappointment. I have a 2.0 gig Pentium 4 M with 512 megs of RAM, and it is not much faster than my 700 mghz AMD with 512 megs of RAM. I still use my desktop more for that reason.
The weight of this notebook makes it uncomfortable to carry from class to class even though I have an convenient backpack carrier. I cannot place this computer in my lap for long without my legs feeling like they are burning underneath it.
Worst of all, battery life is about half of what I was told it would be. I was told I should get three hours out of the battery, but I get only an hour and a half if I am lucky. Fortunately, I bought a second battery.
Overall
I cannot really recommend this machine. It is just below my expectations. Technically that is disappointing. I recommend looking to a different line.
Problems
My laptop had trouble with screen freezes during certain Java applets and while dvds were playing. After owning the computer for five months Dell contacted me for a "proactive replacement" better known as recall of the motherboard. It was a little difficult to get a technician to fix it, but eventually Dell took care of it. The problem is solved now.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 2300
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
eatmor
|
|
Member: Nathan Brown
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Reviews written: 54
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
Crazy
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.