Bluetooth required
Written: Sep 11 '06
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Pros: Slim Profile, lightweight, durable case
Cons: Poor sound, not bluetooth or wireless ready (without network card)
The Bottom Line: A wonderful machine for surfing the net, great to have as a 'guest' computer for people staying over at the house.
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| rhameolution's Full Review: Dell Latitude™ C400 PC Notebook |
I bought this laptop off of my brother when he bought a new Macbook, the lightweight design and slim profile of this computer are definite high points, however the lowpoints bring it down.
The CD/DVD/Floppy drive need to be plugged in seperately to access those media devices. This wasn't too much of a problem for me, however, I just copy files I'll be needing from discs to the computer and leave the drive at home. A downside of this little machine is it's lack of wireless networking capabilities, I had to buy a wireless network card as well as a bluetooth adapter. The only problem with this is the fact that there's only one USB port, and it's only USB 1.1, so if I have the bluetooth adapter plugged in, I can't plug in an external harddrive.
As far as speed, I'm quite impressed with the fact that my machine is only 789 MHz with 256 MB of RAM and it does quite well with running Winamp, Firefox, and Windows Movie Maker all at once. For big applications (such as any MMORPG, or Photoshop) you'll need to stick to bigger machines, this little laptop won't be able to handle them without lot of thinking and downtime.
Battery life leaves much to the imagination, while I did buy this used and expected to have to buy a new battery, the new battery still only lasts about 3 hours while running only firefox, if running photoshop/moviemaker you're lucky to get maybe 1.5 hours. While running Windows XP, this machine does it's job well (save for the above mentioned) however with running Suse Linux, this is where the machine really shines. Everything in Suse was meant for ease of use, and this machine utilizes that very well, startup is fast, and applications all work dependably. The only downside I found with using Suse Linux over XP was the network card, to access the internet with Linux I need to plug in the Ethernet cord.
Well, that's that, if you're only using this for email/internet you'll absolutely adore this machine, however there is no wheel so you'll just have to deal. As for movies and music, you'll need to have it plugged in or it will lose battery life quickly.
Final Thought:
--A great machine to take to starbucks and just surf the net.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150.00
Operating System: Linux
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 701-800
Screen Size: 12 inches
RAM: 256
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
rhameolution
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Reviews written: 1
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