DELL Inspiron 6000 - awesome technology at an affordable price
Written: Oct 17 '05
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Pros: Price and service just can't be beat.
Cons: *&^% touchpad takes a lot of getting used to.
The Bottom Line: If you can build a better system at a lesser price and can find tech support to stand behind it, go ahead and buy it.
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| poseidon's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 6000 (I6000L5) PC Notebook |
I’ve never really cared for laptops. I’ve had a few of them that I’ve used at work – back in the day when I had a job – and I always found laptops… well… lacking to use a term. In the past, my employer had provided us with IBM ThinkPad’s. I’ve had three different ones, and having to state that I enjoyed them would be a great overstatement.
As some of you may know, I quit my job at the end of August and have reentered the world of higher education. I’m currently enrolled in an MBA program with a concentration in Marketing. Things have been very different for me in the last few months, but I am enjoying life more and have to admit that going back to school as an adult is fun, especially pursuing the degree on-line versus the traditional method attending classes.
Upon registering for school, I decided that I needed a few technological gadgets in order to succeed. I didn’t want to be tied down to one desk and one chair in a small room in my home for the next 18 months, and I didn’t want to have to run my life around my school schedule. I wanted some flexibility. I wanted to be able to travel. But, I wanted to be able to keep up with my schoolwork and not fall behind or miss anything important.
My solution? I needed one of those dreadful laptops that I hated so much.
Through my previous employer, I was able to buy through DELL on the Employee Purchase Program (EPP), which offers better discounts and a variety of different system configurations than can be found otherwise on DELL’s general public website. Not only do you get an additional 4-12% off, but you are able to purchase warranties and Express Tech Support options that you cannot purchase through the main website.
My desktop is a DELL 3000, and I have been so impressed with it that I decided I wanted my laptop to be a DELL as well. I started pricing out systems, service plans and various options, and found DELL to be a winner hands-down.
I designed a DELL Inspiron 6000. I wanted the Pentium M processor instead of the Celeron, I wanted a wide-screen display, and I definitely needed a system that would handle Wi-Fi. Knowing that, the Inspiron 6000 was the right choice.
I’ve had an opportunity to use this laptop nearly every day since it was delivered to me. I’ve learned how to deal with a few of the quirks, but my overall opinion is that I am highly impressed – so much so that I rarely use my desktop anymore (does anyone need a nine-month old desktop?).
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY LAPTOP
I love the portability. The Inspiron 6000 has an internal Intel 2200 B/G Wi-Fi network adapter. Not only does it pick up my Wi-Fi signal, but I could (if I wanted to) catch six or seven others belonging to my neighbors. I’ve taken my laptop on the road, and I’ve been able to access the Wi-Fi signals of friends and family when I’ve required it.
I love the wide-screen display. I have a 15” LCD monitor on my desktop, and I can’t believe it, but the 15.4” display appears to be so much larger. The wide-screen format is great for watching DVDs (it helps make a long plane ride tolerable) and there simply seems to be a lot more viewing space at the same resolution as my desktop. The WXGA display is clear, bright and easy to see from many angles (horizontal viewing +/- 40 degrees, vertical viewing +10/-30 degrees). The native resolution is 1280x800 and a contrast ratio of 300:1.
My Inspiron has the Intel Integrated Graphics system. There is an option to upgrade to the ATI Mobility Radeon 300x graphics card, and I would definitely recommend this option. I didn’t take it because, at the time, I couldn’t afford to do so. I’ve heard that the new version of Windows that will be released in late 2006 will require a lot of VRAM and, while the integrated graphics system is good enough for my needs, this is something to consider.
I love the speed. Strangely enough, this has a slower processor than my desktop, but it appears to run faster. The 1.6gHz Pentium M 725 processor runs smoothly and quietly (much more quietly than my desktop 3.0gHz). The DDR2 RAM, at 512mb, is sufficient to handle my schoolwork, surf the ‘Net, and watch movies. I would probably opt to increase the memory to 1GB and am, in fact, looking at prices on E-Bay to do so. It isn’t that the computer needs it, but the price of memory is cheap and I’d like to buy it while it is cheap.
The sound quality is great. I spend a lot of time watching and listening to streaming video and audio, as this is how I receive the lecture material on-line for school. The sound is clear and crisp, with little noticeable distortion. This is far different from the ThinkPad laptops that I was used to before.
WHAT I DON’T LIKE ABOUT MY LAPTOP
Really, I have no complaints. There are a few options (some mentioned above) that I wish that I purchased when I designed the system.
QUIRKS WITH MY LAPTOP
The main quirk that I had to get used to was the touchpad. My previous laptops all had that “eraser” mouse which I hated but got used to using. This laptop has the other option – the touchpad. Prior to buying my Inspiron 6000, I had never before used a touchpad.
The biggest quirk is the scroll bars on the touchpad. I’ll watch the screen, navigate around the screen with the touchpad, and my fingers will traipse over to the scroll bars – typically the vertical scroll bar on the right side. Suddenly, my screen starts moving up and down instead of my mouse pointer moving around. It took me nearly a month to figure out what I was doing wrong.
The second biggest quirk, which I learned how to overcome, was the “tapping” function on the touchpad. For those of you who are laptop stupid (like myself), “tapping” the touchpad simulates a left-click action on the mouse. I’ll assume it was developed and designed with ease in mind. Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware immediately that this function even existed. It generated a call to DELL Technical Support (to be discussed in a bit) for me to figure out what was going on.
As it turned out, the “tapping” feature was set to the most sensitive setting by the factory. So, anytime that I touched the touchpad, I was inadvertently tripping the “tapping” feature, causing programs to get executed when I didn’t want them to be, causing cells in Microsoft Excel to be highlighted when I didn’t want them to be, etc. I discovered that in the Control Panel, you could adjust the sensitivity of the “tapping” feature or even turn the darned thing off.
DELL SERVICE AND SUPPORT
DELL service and support is awesome. As I stated above, I had to call them within a few days of receipt of my new laptop. They promptly set up an appointment for a service technician to come to my house and to diagnose the problem and replace the keyboard, if necessary. With the expedited service that I obtained through the EPP program, I was not on hold very long (I’d estimate maybe three minutes).
I never had the technician show up at my home, because I had to call and cancel the service appointment after discovering how to reduce the sensitivity of the “tapping” feature. But, even when I called to cancel, I was still not placed on hold for any real period of time. I found the technicians to be friendly and helpful, and I even was able to create a new question for them to ask in their on-line and over-the-phone diagnosis protocols (Have you tried adjusting the “tapping” settings?).
Standard warranty on the Inspiron is 90-days. With the EPP program, you can upgrade it to four years. I went ahead and decided that I would likely keep my laptop for three years and purchased the warranty for that period of time.
On a side note, I have contacted DELL support on one other occasion, and that was for my Dimension 3000 desktop. I received equally great treatment and waiting times on that problem.
ADDING COMPONENTS TO THE INSPIRON 6000
Adding most components is done with ease. There are four USB ports – two on the rear and two on the right side. The right side also has a fire wire port. There is also a multi-format card reader to transfer images from your digital camera, etc.
I went ahead and purchased a keypad as I deal with a lot of numbers for school, and the laptop keyboard does not have this feature. I would also recommend, if you travel, to purchase an auto/air power adapter. Laptop batteries apparently are not designed to be charged and discharged regularly and have a limited lifespan. I’ve decided that I’m only going to run my laptop off the batteries only when I don’t have a choice.
You can purchase a second battery for the Inspiron 6000. If you do so, I would recommend purchasing it with your system from DELL, as the price is lower than if you decide to purchase a battery later. Of course, eBay is a good source as well. My battery is a 6-cell lithium ion (53 WHr) and, for an additional $99, you can add a 9-cell lithium ion (80 WHr) battery.
One of the really neat things about purchasing a DELL versus some competitors is that you do not void the warranty by opening the case. DELL will not warranty non-DELL-installed items, and if you have a service call, you’re expected to remove all of the non-DELL-installed items prior to having your service technician arrive. So, if you need to upgrade something on the computer, you can crack open the case to your heart’s desire.
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
When buying a laptop (or a desktop) from Dell.com, you’ll be offered a lot of options that you don’t need or want. I’d recommend not purchasing anything that you don’t see yourself using (obviously). However, I would also recommend considering what you might want to use in the future when designing the system. Most of the time, DELL will offer you a discounted price with the system. So, if you think that you’ll want a DVD burner down the road, price it out at DELL and then price them elsewhere. Make an informed choice before you make your purchase. Even items like carrying cases are cheaper with the system than after the sale – and that’s even with the EPP discount.
I think it is more important to think about what you want in a laptop versus a desktop. Desktops are easier to change and swap components than are laptops.
At times, DELL will offer you freebies, such as a free printer. I would recommend not taking the printer if there is some sort of credit applied. The DELL 740 is about as low-end a printer as you can buy and you can get a much better inkjet printer for a better price. But, every so often, they’ll double your memory for the same price, give you a bigger hard drive, etc. I would recommend, if you’re designing a DELL system and you’re not being offered any freebies or upgrades in the process, that you wait a week before ordering.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I am really happy with my Inspiron 6000. I have seen comparable systems at Best Buy, CompUSA and Circuit City. In my opinion, DELL gives you a whole lot of bang for your buck. If you are able to make a purchase on the EPP website instead of the standard website, you’ll realize an even greater savings. They build a quality product at an affordable price, and their technical support and service is a pleasure to deal with.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 798
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
poseidon
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Member: Jeffrey Schwartz
Location: Sunrise, FL, USA
Reviews written: 511
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