dell latitude d420 laptop review

The Dell Latitude D420 is the smallest notebook currently offered by Dell. It is a fusion of the discontinued Dell Latitude D410 (latitude d410 battery )and X1. It combines notable traits from both and offers great portability, power and versatility. Starting at $1199 it also offers great value featuring an Intel Core Duo ULV processor, 12.1in widescreen LCD, ExpressCard slot, a host of wireless options, and great battery life.

Dell's business-minded Latitude notebooks have always been more about function than form, but the Latitude D420 (latitude d420 battery )manages to pack some decent specs into a package that is both small and attractive, making this ultraportable the smallest laptop Dell currently offers. With almost a full workday's worth of battery life, the Latitude D420 stands up admirably to other similarly configured systems in its price range, such as the Lenovo 3000 V100. The 3.7-pound system has just gotten an upgrade to include Intel's Core Duo processor, and at $1,534, it's a solid choice for both consumers and small business users who need power and portability at the same time. Dell's business-minded Latitude notebooks have always been more about function than form, but the Latitude D420 manages to pack some decent specs into a package that is both small and attractive, making this ultraportable the smallest laptop Dell currently offers. With almost a full workday's worth of battery life, the Latitude D420 stands up admirably to other similarly configured systems in its price range, such as the Lenovo 3000 V100. The 3.7-pound system has just gotten an upgrade to include Intel's Core Duo processor, and at $1,534, it's a solid choice for both consumers and small business users who need power and portability at the same time.

Like most laptops of its size, the Latitude D420's wide-aspect 12.1-inch WXGA UltraSharp display has a native resolution of 1,280x800. The small screen at that resolution makes for some potentially hard-to-read text, but we didn't have any trouble with basic Web surfing or word processing. The display's crispness partially makes up for the loss of impact that comes from a smaller display. While not the brightest notebook screen we've seen, it was easy to see in a brightly lit office environment.

The build quality of the Dell D420 is great overall. It feels very solid and the steel hinges are very tight though not as tight as the X1's. The magnesium alloy casing felt rigid and when pushing the back of the LCD it did not cause LCD distortion. Unlike the X1 which uses the hinges to keep the LCD shut the D420 goes back to the more common latch design.

Another major change was the placement of the battery. On the X1 it was placed to the back of the notebook. This offered a number of advantages. When using the extended 6 cell battery the battery protrudes a little and can be used as a grasp for holding the notebook with one hand. On the D420 (inspiron b120 battery , inspiron b130 battery )the battery is placed in the front. The 9 cell battery sticks out a bit. Unlike the X1 battery the D420 battery does not serve a secondary function. There are some benefits however. I for one like to have my ports in the back and the front placement of the battery enable you to open the LCD with one hand which was very hard to do on the X1.

Aesthetically the D420 is a smaller version of the current line of Dell Latitudes. I prefer the darker, more business-like feel to this laptop however it is nothing to write home about. An interesting difference between the X1 and D420 lie in the placement of the power, hard drive and battery indicators. On the X1 they were placed at the bottom of the palm rest. When the LCD was closed the LED were hidden which was rather inconvenient. On the D420 the indicators are on the right hinge which is a small but definite plus.

Even without benchmarks the performance difference was obvious compared to the X1. The D420 (xps m1210 battery)runs everything I throw at it fine including some light gaming. The Core Duo U2500 at 1.2GHz processor is very fast for its clockspeed. In fact, it is comparable if not faster than the Pentium M 2GHz in my Inspiron 710m for everyday computing. I can easily run a virus scan and watch a HD movie (720p) at the same time. The other two options for processor are the Core Duo U2400 at 1.06GHz and the Core Solo U1300 at 1.06GHz. The U2400 is a sweet spot for those looking to have a Core Duo system yet also wants the lowest power usage and heat output.

Memory is extremely important in today's computing. The D420 (xps m1330 battery )offers up to 2GB of DDR2-4200 (533mhz). This, however, is an extremely expensive option. 2GB is achieved by using a 2GB stick in addition to the 512MB soldered onto the motherboard. Due to motherboard limitation only 2GB instead of 2.5GB is addressable. A more realistic upgrade is 1.5GB of RAM. This is highly recommended for running this system under Windows Vista due to the integrated GMA950. 1.5GB will cost an extra of around $90 if upgraded aftermarket which is a very reasonable price.

The D420 uses Toshiba's 1.8' hard drives. The spindle speed is 4200rpm. While this is rather slow it is not a huge drag on the system. Hard drive capacities come in 30GB, 60GB, and 80GB. 100GB may be an option soon.

In terms of optical drives the D420 is very similar to the X1. It features no internal optical option but does provide an external D-Bay. To some the lack of an internal optical drive is a deal breaker, however it lowers the weight and size of the system significantly. For important discs I use imaging software to copy it onto the hard drive as an ISO. This way I can access these discs even if I don't have the D-Bay on hand. The MediaBase also has an optical drive and with the D-Bay the D420 can be turned into a 3 spindle system.

Unlike the X1 which is dead silent, the D420 (inspiron 1501 battery )is rather loud. In a quiet room the fan is noticeable at medium speed. However it is no where close to being an annoyance. I can work comfortably in the library with the fan on max without being a disturbance. What is an annoyance is the placement of the vent. The vent blows hot air directly at the hands of a right handed user which becomes uncomfortable rather quickly. When the notebook is doing intensive work, the right side of the notebook gets much hotter than the left. However, it is a lot better than the X1 even though the Pentium M ULV on the X1 ran a lot cooler. I tested the temperature of the CPU under load with CoreTemp and it topped out at nearly 90C while the highest the X1 got was around 70C. Still, working on the D420 (latitude d620 battery )is a lot more comfortable over an extended amount of time than on the X1.

The Dell Latitude D420 (latitude d820 battery )is a great notebook for those who want an ultraportable design without sacrificing computing power. The build quality of this notebook is excellent and the price very competitive. Despite some design flaws, notably the location of the vent and the useless brightness sensor, this notebook excels in its primary function as a business ultraportable. Compared to its predecessor the Dell Latitude X1, the D420 (latitude d820 battery )is a great upgrade that will be all ready to handle the demands of newer software and Windows Vista.

dell latitude d410 laptop review

The Dell Latitude D410 is a 12.1" screen portable business laptop. It shares some similarities with the ultra light Latitude X1, such as having the same 12.1" screen size and no built-in optical drive to keep weight down, but it is overall quite different and more of a cross between an ultraportable and thin-and-light workstation. With its optional 2.00GHz Pentium M processor (using the latest Intel Sonoma chipset), 512MB of RAM (upgradeable to 2GB), a full size keyboard featuring dual navigation and nice overall design and build, the Latitude D410 is an enticing portable laptop.

In the litter of refreshed Dell Latitude business laptops, the D410 (hp pavilion dv6000 battery)is the runt--but by no means is it meek. On the strength of its new Intel Sonoma parts, the updated Latitude D410 raced through CNET Labs' benchmarks, earning our fastest mobile performance score to date for an ultraportable. With a reinforced frame and new features such as a Trusted Platform Module chip, the Latitude D410 is a speedy, secure, and smartly designed notebook for executives.



At 1.3 inches thick, the Latitude D410 is slightly stockier than its predecessor, the D400 (dell latitude d410 battery). Otherwise, the two laptops are about the same size, measuring 11 inches wide and 9.4 inches deep. Weighing 3.9 pounds, the Latitude D410 still falls within the range of ultraportable laptops.

First of all let me say this is hands down the best looking Dell laptop I've used. I last used the Dell Latitude X1 and was quite impressed with the simple non-flashy design. But I really dig a bit of a darker look to a laptop, and the Dell D410 with its dark charcoal grey and silver finish is rather striking. It reminds me a bit of the Fujitsu LifeBook styling, which I like a lot. The dark finish and industrial looking fan vent also gives the D410 a bit of a muscular look, the Ford Mustang of notebooks if you will. The silver latch on the screen adds a nice finishing touch and professional look.

The build is sturdy, this notebook doesn't flex. The chassis uses a tri-metal blend of aluminum, magnesium and steel while the case shell is constructed of a very rigid plastic on the body and keyboard area. The lid is constructed of magnesium alloy that offers great protection of the screen and a great look as well. The screen hinges are sturdy, you won't get any wobble on the screen unless you're on one heck of a bumpy plane ride...or if you're like me and push the screen back and forward to test how much it wobbles, just to be picky. So the build is overall good, but then instead of using a nice flap over the PCMCIA slot Dell put a dummy piece of plastic in there as a dust protector when you're not using a card. This shouldn't be the case with a business notebook, that's a cheap finish and solution and it kind of ruins a perfect 10.0 on the overall build.

The layout of this notebook is rather odd in a few ways. The battery is located at the front of the notebook, this is a first for me. Here's the good thing though, the battery doesn't get very warm at all, and since it is located under the palm rest areas you won't get any warmth there. That's right folks, no complaints of "my right hand is getting sweaty because the palm rest is a 110 degrees". The back of the notebook is a different story, but I'll get that to later (see heat and noise section). When you have the extended life battery in it sticks out at the front. My first reaction was to think that's really dumb, and to be honest it does look a little odd to have a lip at the front of your notebook sticking out. But now I'm used to it I think it's a great area for providing extra support for the wrists and resting them while typing.

Another odd layout move is that the headphone jack is all the way at the back of the right hand side of the notebook. What a bad location, it's hard to fumble and find and you have to stretch the headphone cord all that much farther, plus there's no color coding between the headphone and microphone jack so it's hard to see which is which until you get used to it. Also, the number and size of air vents on this notebook is rather impressive, there's 5 total. On the Latitude X1 there are zero. But with a Pentium M 2.00GHz processor and the cramped nature of internals in an ultraportable it does require this number of vents, so the D410 certainly looks a lot more industrial than your average ultraportable.

Like with the desktop-replacement d810 and thin-an-light D610, Dell (dell latitude d820 battery)has made some satisfying enhancements to the D410's design. For one, the lid's been reinforced to better protect the screen. The keyboard has also been made sturdier, resulting in a more solid feel as your fingers strike the keys; as with many ultraportables, the D410's keys may be too small for some users. The decently sized touch pad and pointing stick each have two matching mouse buttons; unfortunately, the touch pad's mouse buttons are somewhat cramped. Helpful status lights show when Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are activated. Finally, the D410 has a double dose of security: a Trusted Platform Module chip, which sits on the motherboard and serves as a virtual storage locker for your data, and a dedicated slot for smart cards, which can carry clandestine information such as passwords.

The Dell D410 does a good job of providing a nice number of mainstream ports, but unfortunately we don't get FireWire (which is available in the X1), and we don't get any type of media card reader...which is a real shame. We do get 3 USB 2.0 ports, which is very generous for an ultraportable computer. I like the fact there's a PCMCIA card slot for accessory expansion, something the Latitude X1 lacks. Let's just take a tour around this notebook to see everything that's available in terms of ports.

The system offers an average number of connectors, with Ethernet, modem, two USB 2.0 ports, VGA output, and one PC Card slot, as well as headphone and microphone jacks. If you're looking for an ultraportable with more built-in connections, check out the Sony VAIO VGN-T150P/L. Dell also sells a $219 Media Base which adds a parallel, video, serial, Ethernet, and two more USB 2.0 ports, in addition to a headphone jack.



You won't find the Latitude D410 on retail shelves or Web sites, as Dell sells the system only through its own Web site and toll-free number. CNET's Latitude D410 series review includes a discussion of the various configurations.

The 2.0GHz Pentium M processor configured in this notebook doesn't just race past the 1.1GHz ULV processor in the Dell Latitude X1, it laps it. This notebook is in truth probably overpowered for the use of Office and web type applications. So your next question might be, well that's great, so I can use this thing as a gaming notebook right? Hmm, well you're still strapped with an intregrated graphics solution in the form of the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (integrated graphics). If you have 512MB or more, the graphics solution will borrow up to 128MB of system memory, if you're under 512MB then it will only borrow 64MB. So I recommend boosting memory up to 1GB so it has plenty to share with graphics. Even then you're not going to be able to play Doom 3, but there are 3D games and almost any game that's 2-years old will run on this system. As far as using everyday applications, this notebook effortlessly runs those and makes it easy to keep multiple applications open for switching between (I'm guilty as charged for having 20 things open at once, and luckily the D410 doesn't mind this).

I mentioned before that the D410 was a champ in terms of the wrist rest area staying cool and comfortable. I also noted there were a lot of vents on this notebook, certainly more than typical on an ultraportable. The Dell X1 has no vents, it uses passive cooling. With a 2.0GHz processor, the insides of the D410 would melt without a fan and vents. And so while these vents do a good job of keeping the notebook cool where it counts (keyboard and wriste area), the underside at the back of the D410 does get toasty, especially if you're pushing the notebook. I was converting a bunch of wma files to iTunes format and after 30-minutes of that there was some serious heat buildup on the bottom, I certainly wouldn't have wanted the D410 in my lap at that point. Also, the temperature of the room environment plays a big role in the notebooks ability to cool, so keep that in mind. If this notebook is on a flat surface (not your lap or bed), in a cool room and is being used for typical business applications then heat buildup isn't a problem. But if room temperatures creep above 75 and you're blocking vents by having the notebook in your lap, all while maxing the 2.0GHz processor out at 100% CPU usage, then you might experiment with getting some bacon to sizzle on the notebook's bottom surface.

As far as noise goes, I'm a bad tester to go by, but for me it wasn't a problem. I'm always either listening to music or I have some kind of background noise to keep my sanity and that most certainly blocks any fan noise. Having said that, I can say this machine is definitely not as whisper quiet as the Inspiron X1 -- that thing was silent. You experience a low volume electrical whirrr noise as the notebook works to cool, but it's so quiet that if you put a pair of headphones (normal basic headphones) on without even playing music the noise is blocked (I just tried this, a spontaneous non-scientific experiment).

Like with the desktop-replacement D810 and thin-and-light D610 (dell inspiron b120 battery,dell inspiron b130 battery) , Dell has made some satisfying enhancements to the D410's design. For one, the lid's been reinforced to better protect the screen. The keyboard has also been made sturdier, resulting in a more solid feel as your fingers strike the keys; as with many ultraportables, the D410's keys may be too small for some users. The decently sized touch pad and pointing stick each have two matching mouse buttons; unfortunately, the touch pad's mouse buttons are somewhat cramped. Helpful status lights show when Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are activated. Finally, the D410 has a double dose of security: a Trusted Platform Module chip, which sits on the motherboard and serves as a virtual storage locker for your data, and a dedicated slot for smart cards, which can carry clandestine information such as passwords.



The system offers an average number of connectors, with Ethernet, modem, two USB 2.0 ports, VGA output, and one PC Card slot, as well as headphone and microphone jacks. If you're looking for an ultraportable with more built-in connections, check out the Sony VAIO VGN-T150P/L. Dell also sells a $219 Media Base which adds a parallel, video, serial, Ethernet, and two more USB 2.0 ports, in addition to a headphone jack.



You won't find the Latitude D410 on retail shelves or Web sites, as Dell sells the system only through its own Web site and toll-free number. CNET's Latitude D410 series review includes a discussion of the various configurations.



Though its $2,254 (as of April 2005) price is on the high side, our Latitude D410 test unit included a few standout components as well as some average parts. The unit featured a 2.0GHz Pentium M 760 processor, 512MB of 400MHz memory, an Intel 915GM chipset with an integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 900 engine that borrows up to 128MB of video RAM from the main memory, and a slow, 4,200rpm 40GB hard drive. Our test unit also included an external DVD/CD-RW drive that connects to the notebook via USB 2.0, as well as Intel's newest integrated 802.11a/b/g card.



In CNET Labs' tests, the Latitude D410 wrung every drop of speed from its Sonoma-class Pentium M processor and chipset, earning the best mobile performance score we've seen to date from a laptop of its size. The Latitude D410 surpassed other corporate and consumer ultraportables, such as the HP Compaq Business Notebook nc4010 and the Dell Inspiron 700m, by 9 percent or more, though both the nc4010 and the Inspiron 700m had slower processors and memory than the Latitude D410. Despite its exceptional performance in our tests, the Latitude D410 (and most of the other Sonoma-based laptops we've tested) did not deliver the explosive speed burst we'd hoped to see in Sonoma-based systems. The D410's 11.1V, 4,800mAh battery triumphed in our Labs' drain tests, lasting more than three and a half hours--at least 50 minutes longer than the nc4010's and 700m's much smaller cells.



Our Latitude D410 test unit shipped with a decent software package, including Windows XP Professional and Dell's OpenManage, a program that lets a company's IT manager monitor system stats, install software, and more from a remote location. The system also included the useful Sonic RecordNow 7.3 Deluxe, which takes care of disc-burning tasks, and CyberLink PowerDVD for viewing DVDs. As with many business systems, Dell doesn't bundle a productivity suite with the Latitude D410.



Dell backs the Latitude D410 with a long, three-year warranty that features onsite service. The company's 24/7, toll-free tech support line is available for the life of the laptop. Your Web support options depend on whether you're using the Latitude D410 for home or business use--Dell has different sites for each purpose--though both offer the same satisfying resources, including downloads and FAQs. And all users can access the handy forums, which are organized according to specific components and are moderated by Dell's own tech reps.

The Dell D410 offers great battery life. With just the standard 6-cell battery I achieved 3:40 minutes of battery life using screen brightness at 6/8 level, using the computer to write a document and surf the web (so wi-fi was on). If battery life under 4 hours isn't enough, then the extended life 9-cell battery is available. I used the 9-cell battery during a 35 hour trek back from Hong Kong (many flight transfers and delays involved in that trip) and squeezed 7 hours of use out of the 9-cell battery. That was while using wi-fi at the various airports, using IM to chat, MS Word to write this review and with 6/8 level brightness.

hp pavilion dv6000 laptop review

Hewlett Packard is one of the most prominent manufacturers of notebook computers today, and any trip to Best Buy will make that abundantly clear. Well, as of this writing, one of the notebook PCs they have on sale right now at Best Buy is the HP Pavilion DV6000. I picked one up a couple months ago for $800. I was in Best Buy a couple weeks ago and it was on sale for $749. So, this is certainly an affordable notebook PC. So, how does it perform in everyday use? Let’s check it out.

HP has slowed down in notebook manufacturing but at least they do announce a new notebook once in a while. Introducing the new mobility high-end notebook from HP, the HP Pavilion DV6000 which is powered by Mobile AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core processer running on Microsoft Windows XP Professional (optional Windows XP Home). It has one more choice of processor for you to choose, the Mobile AMD Sempron processor which is for the budget users. DV6000 (dell inspiron e1705 battery )boasts a 15.4-inch widescreen TFT LCD with HP BrightView technology. An optional graphic cards is added if you like: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7200, standard NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 and NVIDIA nForce Go 430 chipset with AMD processors which I think is the most expensive among three. On the connectivity side, it has integrated wireless support for 802.11b/g, configurable 802.11a/b/g, Wireless LAN and Bluetooth technology, An IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port is added to support most of the future devices, three USB 2.0 ports can be found at the back of the notebook and ExpressCard/54 slot is located at the side. Watching movies on this notebook should be great with the integrated Altec Lansing stereo speakers. You can add-on a HP Pavilion WebCam and dual stereo headphone jacks if you have extra cash. It only weighs 6.5 lbs. DV6000 (hp pavilion dv6000 battery)is now available on HPStore with the starting price of USD879.

First, The Specs

In my eyes, the DV6000 is proof that PCs are affordable as hell today. These specs compare quite favorably to my desktop, all in a sub $800 notebook.

• AMD Turion 64, dual core processor


• 2 GB DDR2 memory


• 15.4″ WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)


• 256MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 7200


• 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive


• LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support


• 1.3 Megapixel Webcam with mic built into screen


• Altec Lansing speakers built in


• 3 USB ports, ExpressCard/54 Slot, Video Out, Integrated Consumer IR, 1 RJ-11, 1 RJ-45


• Windows Vista Home Premium

Now, when you look at this unit on HP’s website, you will see there are different spec configurations for this model. The above happens to be what I have in the unit I am typing this review on.

Use in the Real World

Now, I am not and never have been a big benchmark guy. If you are into computer reviews that load you up with benchmark specs, go to another site. What I am interested in is real world use. I bought this notebook to get work done, not win any contests. So, how does it perform in that regard?

One of the things that sold me on this laptop was the screen. The screen is gorgeous. It is wonderfully bright and clear, and provides a respectable 1280×800 resolution in a widescreen format. Yes, there certainly are notebooks with higher resolution. It really comes down to preference. While other units may give you higher resolution, some may find it hard to read on small screens. For me, I thought 1280×800 was a good resolution to use for a 15.4″ screen. My only complaint with the screen is that the glare is really bad when trying to use the unit outside. It gets so bad that it’s more like looking in a mirror than into a computer screen. Inside, however, the screen is beautiful.

The fact that this unit uses AMD rather than Intel means that it generates more heat. Intel processors just seem to run cooler in notebook computers. All benchmarks aside (because I don’t care), the performance of this notebook is quite good. It actually opens many apps much faster than my desktop PC, which is using an Intel Pentium Core Duo. So, I have no complaints about speed, however, yes, it does generate some heat.

The built-in Altec Lansing speakers will certainly not compare to the larger speakers you would plug in externally, but they do generate a nice sound for the size. For multimedia use, the speakers will get the job done.

The DV6000 comes with a thin, little remote control for use in controlling HP’s multimedia player. HP (dell latitude d820 battery)is using a proprietary multimedia player for playing DVDs called QuickPlay. It ties in with the remote control as well as the QuickPlay buttons on top of the notebook. The player is decent, but many times I found myself simply wanting to use Windows Media Player rather than the QuickPlay popping up full screen. Also, the fact that it is tied into the QuickPlay buttons can be a little annoying at times. Several times I have rested my fingers on the top of the notebook and accidently pressed the DVD button and launched Quickplay. No matter what I’m doing, that interrupts the workflow badly.

 

For digital photography, I find the built-in card reader really convenient. Since my Canon camera uses SD cards, I can just pull the card out and plug it directly into the notebook to pull images onto the computer. This means I don’t have to track down the USB cable that came with the camera. Nice and easy.

But, It Uses Vista

Like almost every PC on the market today, this unit comes with Windows Vista. Now, on my desktop, I can rattle off a bunch of annoyances with Windows Vista. Many of us that follow technology all the time have many complaints about Vista, and I still stand by the fact that Vista was NOT ready for market upon it’s release. But, judging by the DV6000, Vista does seem to run better on completely proprietary machines. I do have occasional annoyances with Vista on the DV6000.. For example, sometimes it will lose it’s screen resolution settings when coming out of sleep mode. This is an issue with Vista and will be fixed. Other than that, though, Vista runs significantly better on this notebook machine than it does on my desktop. No complaints, really.

Like all pre-built computers, it comes with some pre-installed software. It comes with a 60-day trial installation of Office 2007. Since I don’t care to fork out several hundred dollars just for a ribbon interface, I opted to install OpenOffice, which gets me 95% there for free. The DV6000 comes with some other pre-installed crap, much of it I ended up removing from the computer.

Note to HP

I am pretty happy with the DV6000, but I need to mention a few annoyances for the benefit of HP. When I was at Gnomedex recently, HP was there and we had a lengthy discussion about notebook design. HP does indeed listen to feedback, so here is mine on the DV6000 (dell inspiron 1525 battery).

• The QuickPlay buttons at the top are too easy to hit by accident, as I mentioned above. Some obvious way to control or disable those buttons would be nice.


• We need some kind of anti-glare surface to the screen. It’s practically unusable in sunlight. I realize that the surface it does have plays a role in the crystal clear colors I see indoors, but something has to be done to make this thing more usable in sunlight.


• AMD is good for economics, but it generates a lot more heat.

Conclusions

The HP Pavilion DV6000 is a really nice, solid notebook computer and you really can’t go wrong with this unit. The price tag makes it very affordable. The unit sports a nice, sleek design and good all-around performance. It also offers a solid balance of features which really makes this entertainment notebook usable as a desktop replacement. In fact, I enjoy it so much I find myself spending more time working on the DV6000 now than I do my main desktop computer.

So, despite a few annoyances, you really can’t go wrong with the DV6000 if you are looking for a solid, balanced work notebook without spending too much money.

dell latitude d820 laptop review

Traditionally Dell has had two primary sections in the notebook department, one for business and one for consumers. The business section, unsurprisingly, would consist of notebooks right for business, a spartan or basic configuration containing only those options truly needed to do your work. Consumers, on the other hand, had more choices in terms of options for multimedia enhancements, different designs, or maybe even more cutting edge technology built-in. But now times have changed and both selections have overlapping configurations for each notebook flavor.
The business section is basically divided into two series, Precision and Latitude. Precisions are more cutting edge technology, sacrificing some stability for the latest features, which might have some instability possibly caused by new drivers. Latitudes are the more conventional choice for businesses offering increased stability due to being built on a proven platform.

Today we have the pleasure of reviewing the Latitude D820 (dell latitude d820 battery)series which falls into the high-end of the Latitude range and it’s our very first of many new notebook reviews here at TweakTown. While this notebook is listed under Dell's business section it actually boasts some nice features for an entertainment system, including a WUXGA display (that is 1900x1200 pixels to you and me) and HD audio.

Is this a perfect all round notebook for work (boo!) and fun (yay!)? Let us get cracking on this review and find out

As a high school graduation gift, my parents bought me a Dell Latitude D820 15.4" widescreen notebook. While Dell's Inspiron line is squarely aimed at the consumer market, the Latitude line is geared more towards the academic, small business, and corporate user. This is evidenced by the Latitudes' superior build quality, sober styling, lack of media-centric features, and higher price. Price-wise and size-wise, the Latitude D820 (dell latitude d620 battery)sits atop the thin-and-light 14" widescreen D620 and the budget oriented 14" standard-aspect D520 in the Latitude lineup. The D820 is an updated version of the D810 and features the Intel Core Duo processor to replace the D810's Pentium M as well a significant weight reduction from the D810. According to CNET Labs

Features Overview

While the HP had the nicest graphics card of them all (ATI Radeon x1600) and would have allowed me to play the latest games, I ruled it out because of price (>$2,000). My budget was limited to ~$1,500 max.

The IBM ThinkPad has long been legendary in the corporate world for its durable portability, excellent support, and strong management software suit. I came to the decision, however, that I did not want to pay the significant premium for the ThinkPad's class-leading ruggedness, which I probably had no use for anyway. The ThinkPad T60 was aimed more towards the road warrior. I, however, was not going to be traveling much with the laptop save for the occasional trek from the dorm to the library and back.

That left me with the perennial value-king Dell. For hundreds of dollars cheaper than a similarly spec'd 14" ThinkPad T60, I was able to price out a 15.4" Dell Latitude D820. A comparably equipped D620 checked in at about $150 less. I settled on the D820 (dell inspiron 1525 battery)because I figured I wouldn't be traveling much with this notebook and would not be carrying it to class on a daily basis. Thus, I thought I would benefit more from the increased productivity of the D820's 15.4" screen (and higher resolution) than the increased portability of the D620.

Shopping Experience

When we purchased my machine, Dell was having a sale which involved a $350 instant rebate on all Latitudes, sweetening the deal some more. I configured the machine on the Dell Small Busines website. Almost every component of the machine was highly configurable, something that IBM/Lenovo and HP could learn from, and the online shopping experience was, overall, very pleasant. After having pulled the trigger, I realized that I did not select the option for the Bluetooth card. I called up Dell Small Business and asked them to add the card. It was too late to modify my original order but the associate was very helpful. Though the sale price was no longer in effect for the new order, she let me add the discount retroactively. The wait times to speak to an agent were negligible (definitely not the case with my past experiences with Dell Home) and the agent herself was polite and helpful. The total price for my D820 (after adding the Bluetooth card) came to $1496.25, which I felt was a good deal, especially since the Latitude line rarely goes on sale.

First Impressions

When I first uncased the D820 from its Styrofoam packaging, I was impressed by the solidness of its build. It felt sturdy and the laptop casing didn't flex when handled. The case is billed as being magnesium alloy and most of the notebook's body looks as if it is. The laptop was about as thin as I expected but it was a bit heavier than I thought it would be. It's not an uncomfortable heft but one that implies a certain quality of build. At first glance, the notebook is not awe-inspiring but it is pleasing to the eye with an understated charcoal gray finish. At first blush, a tastefully styled (though by no means beautiful) and well-built notebook. Also included in the packaging were the user manual, software and OS CDs, and the AC power adapter.

Build & Design

The D820 has a magnesium alloy body that is supposed to protect the laptop from flexing and the wear-and-tear of corporate travel and use. The whole underside and lid of the laptop feel like metal but, unfortunately, the wrist rests are plastic. Thus, there is some amount of flex when handling that area but by no means is the amount of flex disturbing. The rest of the notebook, however, is very rigid.

Screen

The screen is most likely the Achilles heel of the D820, if it has one. The screen is 15.4" diagonal and is matte, not glossy. The trend in most consumer notebooks is towards the glossy screens which feature vivid colors and higher brightness for the benefit of gaming, movie-watching, and photo-viewing. Most business machines, however, still come with the old-style matte screens which are more suited for office rather than multimedia tasks. Unfortunately, the D820's matte screen is not very bright and the higher brightness settings drain the battery quickly. A cool feature is the automatic light-sensor which adjusts screen brightness based on ambient light conditions. This is useful when running on battery power or when using the notebook in different settings but I ended up turning this feature off because it oftentimes results in an unacceptably dim screen.

My D820 came with the WSXGA+ (1680x1050) screen. The other options were the base WXGA+ (1280x800) screen and the ultra-high resolution WUXGA (1900x1200). I am used to the WSXGA+ resolution on my Dell monitor and I chose it because I thought it was a good balance between screen real estate and legibility of fonts and icons. I could have gone with the highest resolution option and increased the Windows DPI and font sizes (indeed the WSXGA+ and WUXGA models ship with 120 DPI setting out of the box) but browsers and other applications do not always adhere to Windows settings. I changed the 120DPI setting to 96DPI because it made Windows fonts too large and screwed up graphics on web pages. I think I made the right choice here because the WUXGA display would have yielded fonts and icons too small for even my young eyes.

Sound & Multimedia

It is no secret that laptop speakers are bad. They usually feature tinny sound, distorted highs, and nonexistent bass. The Latitude D820's speakers are no exception though admittedly not the worst I've heard. The D820 (dell inspiron 1520 battery )being a business machine, I didn't expect any better. At least on the D820 you get stereo sound with a speaker on either side of the keyboard; on its cousin the Latitude D620 there is but one speaker. The volume is adequate for me but I don't like to listen to music at high volumes. Using Sennheiser HD-202 headphones plugged into the side-mounted headphone jack, the sound improves significantly and is clear, accurate, and mostly distortion-free. The sound subsystem on the D820 is controlled by the Sigmatel audio chipset.

The D820 provides just volume control and mute buttons above the keyboard as opposed to the various media buttons found on most consumer laptops. While not absolutely necessary on a business notebook, it would have been nice to have a few more control buttons like play, pause, etc. for controlling Windows Media Player, PowerDVD, or WinAmp.

Processor & Graphics Performance

My D820 came with a 1.83GHz Core Duo processor and by all measures it's a speed demon. I choose two 512MB sticks (total 1GB) to take advantage of dual channel memory capability which in theory doubles the bandwidth of the pipe from the RAM to the memory controller. I also chose the 667MHz RAM over the standard 533MHz. I wasn't sure of the utility of this faster memory but my logic was that the Core Duo has a 667MHz front side bus and I would need the RAM to match that speed if I were to maximize performance. Startup times on my D820 (dell inspiron b120 battery )(dell inspiron b130 battery)are fast but not as fast as I expected. The machine takes 28.34 seconds to reach the login screen from a cold boot. Thus far the laptop has been snappy in every day usage such as internet browsing and word processing as well as during benchmarking. Applications load quickly as do Control Panel and My Computer and there's a good degree of responsiveness to all user inputs. I have not had a single hang, lockup, freeze, or BSOD so far. I haven't installed any games on this machine so I cannot attest to the performance of the Quadro NVS 120 graphics solution, the workstation version of NVIDIA's consumer GeForce 7400 graphics solution. Do not expect stellar game performance out this card however my D820 received 670 3DMarks on the 3DMark06 benchmark.

Heat & Noise

For the most part I was very pleased by the amount of heat and noise emitted by the D820 (dell inspiron e1705 battery ). When idling or performing everyday tasks the fan speed is very slow resulting in relatively silent computing. When performing more demanding tasks (such as during the Battery Eater Pro burn-in and battery life test or rendering 3D graphics) the fan speeds up but it is not at all offensive. The only caveat is the Philips DVD-RW drive. Compared to the rest of the notebook, it sounds like a turbofan engine spooling up when it reads a CD or DVD. Moreover, the drive is not well damped causing the whole notebook body to shudder as the drive spins.

Dell has designed the D820 for excellent heat dissipation. There are two exhaust vents: one on the side and one on the rear. The left wrist rest heats up a tiny bit after a long period of operation and the right wrist rest stays completely cool throughout. Touching the underside of the laptop after the ~2 hour Battery Eater Pro stress test I found that the laptop was warm but certainly not hot enough to preclude lap-top usage for an extended period of time. The power brick stays cool even after days of keeping the notebook plugged into the wall. In short, Dell has done a superb job of managing the heat emitted by the D820's high performance components.

Conclusion

In summary, the Latitude D820 is a very nice choice for the desk jockey professional or student. This machine, with its 15.4" widescreen, is not meant for world travel but for flexibility, productivity, and a little bit of portability. At a pinch it can be used on a plane or on a lap but, for the most part, I would not travel extensively with the D820. For its form factor, however, I do not think you will find a better balance between portability and build quality than the Latitude D820. I would wholeheartedly recommend this notebook to anyone looking for an effective tool to get some serious work done.

dell inspiron 1525 laptop review

Dell has been on something of a roll recently. Its new range of XPS notebooks, the M1330 (dell inspiron 700m battery )and M1530 were both great machines, while its desktop offerings, like the XPS 420, haven't been half bad either. But let it not be said that Dell has had things all its own way, because there have been a few turkeys lodged in there too - the XPS M1730 springs to mind.

Another underwhelming effort was the previous Inspiron laptop, the Inspiron 1520. Though it introduced some new elements, such as a range of colourful finishes, it was bulky and uninspiring in a time when notebooks were becoming slimmer and easier to handle. Indeed, the new XPS notebooks were very much the response to such criticisms and Dell seems to have taken the lessons learnt there and applied them to its replacement, the Inspiron 1525.

If you don't like the specifications of the particular Dell Inspiron 1525 (dell inspiron 1525 battery )we tested, you can easily configure your own online. That's an important difference between this unit and most other inexpensive laptops: you can customise it down to the smallest detail - even lid colour - before finally clicking the 'Buy now' button .

Our review unit will please those for whom good performance is a priority.

Equipped with 2GB of memory and the best notebook CPU Dell offered for this model at the time of our review (a 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo T5450), our £429 Windows Vista Home Premium machine earned a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 78. That's 17 percent faster than the average sub-£500 laptop's score of 65.

The Dell Inspiron 1525 is wedge-shaped but svelte at 2.8kg, including a 15.4in 1,280x800 resolution screen, a DVD writer and a good keyboard. The port variety and layout is fine (the Dell Inspiron 1525 is one of the few notebooks in this price range with an HDMI connection).

And the Dell Inspiron 1525 gives multimedia lovers lots of entertainment features: an instant-on button, a webcam, and even dual headphone jacks. Alas, the raspy-sounding speakers take some of the shine off the 1525's entertainment appeal.

The real beauty of the Dell Inspiron 1525 (dell inspiron 8600 battery )is its customisability. For instance, our glossy screen (a no-extra-cost option at the time of our review) was pretty reflective, so you might be happier with Dell's standard antiglare screen. From a base configuration of £329 inc VAT, you can build your perfect sub-£500 laptop that includes a lid in any one of 11 different colours (£30 usually), Bluetooth (£30) an integrated mobile broadband card (£89), and so on.

An entry level 15.4in notebook, the 1525 (dell latitude d600 battery )shares a very similar wedge shaped base to that of the XPS M1530. This is definitely not a bad thing. Dell quotes a starting weight of 2.7kg with a four-cell battery, but we found it weighed exactly that with a standard six-cell battery. This is a very decent weight for a notebook of this size, while the quoted thickness of 25mm to 37mm, front to back, means it feels slim and elegant.

An entry level 15.4in notebook, the 1525 shares a very similar wedge shaped base to that of the XPS M1530. This is definitely not a bad thing. Dell quotes a starting weight of 2.7kg with a four-cell battery, but we found it weighed exactly that with a standard six-cell battery. This is a very decent weight for a notebook of this size, while the quoted thickness of 25mm to 37mm, front to back, means it feels slim and elegant.

Overall, initial impressions of the Inspiron 1525 are almost entirely positive. Its new slimmer and lighter frame is a massive step forward, while the selection of lid designs is exhaustive. Inside things look good too; with nice textured sliver plastic and handy touch-sensitive media controls ripped more or less directly from the XPS range. Dell has also borrowed a trick from HP by sinking the touch pad into the chassis, and the keyboard is truly excellent, with light, crisp and responsive keys that make typing a breeze.

Again, the keyboard is identical to that found on the XPS range, but not everything is the same. You don't get a slot-loading optical drive and the battery packs lack the useful little battery meter that the premium line has. But, though the 1525 (dell latitude d800 battery )is noticeably cheaper, it doesn't look or feel like a cheap laptop, so you needn't feel embarrassed to own one - quite the contrary, in fact.

Dell received some much needed attention in 2007 with the introduction of the sleek, high performance XPS M1330 (dell latitude d610 battery )and XPS M1530 notebooks. Although these more expensive notebooks in the Dell lineup were praised for their looks and low weight, the Dell Inspiron 1520 was criticized for being yet another bulky and unattractive laptop. Dell listened closely to this criticism when they designed the new Inspiron 1525. The Inspiron 1525 is in fact 25% smaller, 30% slimmer and almost half a pound lighter than the Inspiron 1520.

In addition to the eight color options available on other Inspiron notebooks, the 1525 (dell latitude x200 battery )offers four new patterns. These designs are inlaid molds so there's no risk of the design coming off.

The 6-cell 56WHr Li-Ion battery provides excellent battery life for the 1525. With Vista's power management running in "high performance" mode, screen brightness set to maximum and wireless on, the 6-cell battery delivered 2 hours and 53 minutes of battery life. We're certain that the 6-cell could deliver three and a half hours of life with the notebook set to "balanced" or "power saver" mode and the screen brightness turned down.

There is also an available 9-cell 85WHr Li-Ion battery for those users needing extended battery life. One thing to mention is that with the 9-cell battery in you get an overall larger dimension for the notebook as the 9-cell battery sticks out of the back of the notebook.

dell latitude d620 laptop review

The Dell Latitude D620 (dell latitude d620 battery )is a 14-inch widescreen business notebook equipped with the latest Intel Core Duo processor. The D620 replaces the D610 and provides quite an overhaul in both design change and internal components. The new industrial charcoal grey and black look of the D620 conveys its strong build, which Dell calls "Road Ready", and with a slew of available built-in wireless communications this notebook is road ready in more ways than one.

Design and Build

The D620 is most interesting in that it adopts a widescreen format, a feature that hereto date really has been pushed more in the consumer channel of notebooks. Dell reckons that business-types will prefer this format too though. After all, a widescreen (available in WXGA and WXGA+ resolution) does allow you to more easily have two windows open next to each other at the same time. Side-by-side comparison of documents, web pages or spreadsheets is an example of common business tasks more easily done on a widescreen.

Aesthetically the D620 looks nice and professional. It is mostly a dark charcoal-grey (almost black) inside with silver accents and silver lid. This provides for an industrial and muscular look, quite the opposite of the light-grey and white design of the Dell Inspiron line of notebooks. All of the new Latitude notebooks (D420, D620 and D820 dell latitude d800 battery carry this new color scheme, in my opinion it is distinctive and professional looking -- it's not exactly elegant and sleek like an Apple or Sony, the Latitude favors deep and noticeable grooves as opposed to an Apple smooth all over look, but the look works. And it's certainly an improvement over the former D610 look which was business boring and all too typical with its grey and boxy appearance.

The industrial looking aesthetics are true to the actual build of the notebook. The D620 (dell xps m1330 battery )is very sturdy; it uses an all magnesium-alloy case. This results in strong overall physical protection of the notebook, worry-free of case cracks appearing or problems with excessive flexing. The hinges are constructed of steel, Dell claims they have been tested for up to 20,000 cycles (openings and closings) to assure freedom from loosening and wobble. The D620 hinges also have a new barrel design to withstand vibration better than past Latitude notebooks. Another moving part on the D620 is the screen latch, this is also constructed of metal to provide durability and a nice look to boot.

The most important thing to protect in a notebook is in most cases the hard drive (where all of your data is stored), data is irreplaceable and sometimes invaluable, while hardware not quite so. As such Dell has implemented StrikeZone technology that reduces the amount of shock experienced in the hard drive area during a drop situation. You can also get Shock Resistant hard drives in 60GB and 80GB capacities that offer further physical protection to data.

The D620 weighs about 5.6lbs with a 6-cell battery, optical (dell inspiron 1300 battery )drive installed and the power cord and adapter. Given the fact this notebook is a magnesium-alloy casing and not too much plastic is used, the weight is pretty impressive. It's not the lightest thin-and-light by any stretch, and it is thicker than the ThinkPad T-series of notebooks for example, but it's still fairly comfortable to carry around in say a backpack without feeling the weight too much.

Processor and Performance

I've had the opportunity to use several Core Duo based notebooks at this point, and I continue to be impressed with performance. In case you're not familiar, the Core Duo is Intel's latest mobile processor that features two cores (part of the processor responsible for processing instructions) to enable faster overall performance(dell inspiron 700m battery)and be especially adept at providing good performance when multi-tasking with programs. In the D620 being reviewed we have the Intel T2400 1.83GHz Core Duo processor. For business uses this is certainly more than ample clock speed.

In terms of RAM, you can configure as much as 4.00GB of RAM in the D620, I can't really imagine why you'd need that much -- unless maybe you decide to turn your laptop into an enterprise level database server. The D620 supports RAM with bus speeds of up to 667MHz with the new Intel 945 chipset being used, this is an improvement over the 533MHz bus speed supported in the Dell D610.

The hard drive technology used is SATA and you can configure up to a 100GB storage size hard drive. Hard drives with up to 7200RPM configurations are also available for those that want the increased performance you'll get from a faster spinning hard drive.

One very noticeable thing that made for better performance out of the box with the D620 (dell inspiron 8600 battery)was the very clean Windows install this machine has. Unlike many consumer notebooks where you have a bunch of junk software installed such as AOL, Earthlink and trial versions of every software application under the sun, the Latitude D620 contains the bare basics and very little software outside of Dell security application and a few management tools. This is great, it means far fewer unnecessary background processes running from what is essentially junkware and therefore much improved performance and boot times. In fact, one of the major advantages of purchasing a business notebook is that the manufacturer will refrain from installing too much 3rd party software.

Keyboard and Touchpad

One of the most important parts of a notebook is of course the ease of input, aka how easy it is to type and move the cursor around the screen. The D620 keyboard is full size, it is nice and firm with no flex and overall a pleasure to use. As with typical Dell keyboards, the key touch is lighter than say a ThinkPad -- meaning you don't have to push a key quite as hard to register a keystroke, but it's a bit more easy to accidentally brush a key and register a keystroke. Depending on your typing style you may or may not like this, very fast light touch typers tend to like Dell keyboards though.

Screen

The D620 is offered with a WXGA (1280 x 800) or WXGA+ (1440 x 900) display. The WXGA+ will give you about 26% more screen real estate. As mentioned before, Dell is adopting the widescreen format with the thinking that it allows business users to more easily display side-by-side document windows. The widescreen format also offers a lower overall profile, this is good for in tight spaces such as a plane, and actually means the notebooks footprint is about 2% less overall.

The D620 has a built-in ambient light sensor built-in that will control the screen brightness when on battery. For example, in a dark room the screen will dim as less brightness is needed to see the screen, but in bright light the screen will crank up in brightness so it is easier to see. When on power the screen will automatically become brighter. You can override the ambient light sensor to control brightness yourself of course.

As far as screen quality, the brightness is decent, but certainly (dell inspiron b120 b130 battery)not the best on the market and nowhere near as vivid as some of the high-end screens for consumer notebooks. It is a matte screen so you won't get any reflection from office lighting. There is some backlight leakage from the bottom and the overall picture is slightly washed out. Below are some pictures of the screen in the dark, notice the light leakage from the bottom on the all black Windows XP screensaver background.

Wireless Communications

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and IrDA are all things we've seen in the past with the D610 of course, the broadband cellular communication addition to the D620 is new and much welcomed. Dell provides the option of configuring your D620 with an internal antenna for either EVDO or HSPDA, depending on the region you live in and cellular provider you have. My review unit D620 came configured with the Dell Wireless 5700 EVDO modem. I love the fact that there's no ugly side antenna or extra humps on the notebook where the antenna sticks out as just about every other WWAN equipped notebook uses (such as the ThinkPad T60 or Sony VAIO TX). Rather, Dell (apple macbook pro 15" 17" battery)puts the antenna in the screen and the D620 looks the same whether do or don't have the WWAN option.

EVDO via Verizon is a real treat, if you have an existing Verizon wireless account it's $60 a month for unlimited data transfer and if you don't then the cost is $80 a month. You also have the option of paying $15 for 24 hour access to the Verizon EVDO network. If you're a highly mobile worker EVDO can be a real blessing and keep you from fretting about where you'll find the next hotspot to send/receive email or connect to your corporate intranet from the field. As we know, when you don't need a wi-fi hotspot they're all around, but when you need a hotspot to access the net and help land a critical business deal the trail goes cold.

Speaking of finding wireless hotspots, Dell has included a unique feature called "Wi-Fi Catcher" located on the left side of the notebook. You can use this switch to turn off all wireless radios by putting it in the Off position, but far cooler than that, push it all the way forward and it will blink green as it searches for a Wi-Fi network and if one is present it glows solid green, if none is found it shows orange. This Wi-Fi Catcher works whether the notebook is on, off or in standby mode. So there's no need to boot up and search for wireless networks, just push this button to find out.

Battery

The D620 can be configured with a 4-cell, 6-cell or 9-cell battery. The battery location is rather odd relative to other notebooks in that it is at the front and not the back of the laptop. If you get an extended life 9-cell battery it will stick out of the front a bit and create a sort of lip that extends 0.9". I have the 6-cell type battery and it does not stick out at all. With wi-fi on and screen at mid-brightness and doing tasks such as web browsing and emailing I got 2h 36m of battery life. That's decent, but not great. There are certainly thin-and-lights with better and I prefer to see 3 hours or a little more for a thin-and-light travel notebook. If you were to upgrade to the 9-cell you would certainly exceed 3 hours, but at the cost of extra weight and increased notebook size.

dell inspiron b120 , b130 laptop review

I recently acquired a Dell Inspiron B120 (dell inspiron b120 b130 battery )notebook. Essentially the B120 is a starter machine, at the very bottom of the Dell totem pole. The configuration that I got had the Celeron M360 (1.4Ghz) processor with 400 MHz FSB, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive, 14.1" wide screen, a CD-R/RW/DVD ROM, 4 cell Li ion battery, power supply, bundled Windows XP home (SP2) and other software. Along with the B120 a Targus CTM300 case (since the one made by Dell was out of stock) and MS-Office for students were also purchased. I paid Cdn$599 (for the computer only plus taxes), the shipping was free. I went with Dell since I had heard good things about their quality and service. I used to own a Compaq notebook (386SL) nearly 13 years ago. That machine had a 386 MHz processor, 10" monochrome screen, 4 MB memory, 60 MB hard drive with windows 3.1 operating system and had set me back by nearly $1,200 bucks -- and the Canadian dollar was stronger back then! The Dell sounded like a really good deal and it is amazing how much power comes for a fraction of the price these days compared to a decade ago.

I bought this Dell notebook from a student who decided to sell the laptop because it did not have a wireless card built-in, and it was too much of a hassle for them to carry a USB adaptor with its trailing tail. I decided to make a clean start when I took over the notebook and got to test out the PC restore software in the process. It turned out to be really easy. Boot the machine, hit CTRL-F11 and the machine is restored to factory-fresh' state in a few minutes with the operating system and bundled software. This was way faster than reinstalling windows from XP CDs and all the service packs and software that were included, some of which were freebie junk, but others weren't. The cost of this convenience is of course that the restore' utility claims a little over 3 GB of the 40 GB hard drive and one has to be careful to not get rid of the 2 hidden partitions (easy to do if you are poking around and do not know what you are doing). I have had the opportunity to repeat the restore a couple of times after that and am happy to report that it worked perfectly each time. The reasons for the restores were software-related and had nothing to do with the system supplied by Dell or any defects (apple macbook pro 15" 17" battery)therein. What else have I done with my chance acquisition -- well I did try out both Linksys and D-Link USB adaptors and both worked well but the software with the D-Link turned out to be a bit quirky. Wireless access, once established worked well. The modem and network cable also work fine, as do the 3 USB 2.0 ports and the CD writer. Some of the supplied software, such as MacAfee (with messages that remind me of the irritating MS office paperclip pop-up') got a bit on my nerves and I chose to replace it with another time-tested antivirus software. I also removed the jukebox and AOL and a few other unwanted goodies that Dell so kindly' provided.

Performance

As more software got added to the computer, I noticed a noticeable slowing down particularly during booting and screen refreshes and in the page file activity (disk activity during boot and slow screen-refreshes as the virtual memory got used actively). The proverbial handwriting was on the wall! It was time to add more memory, obviously, particularly given that the video took up 64 MB of the 256 MB (shared RAM). Having heard about the pros and cons and hypes around dual channel memory and its latency etc., I first tried to add a 1 GB module made by Kingston. Unfortunately, the Kingston SODIMM would work only by itself but not with the DELL supplied Nynya 256 MB module (probably some density conflicts). So I next tried an Infineon 256 MB module purchased from Dell to pair with the original 256 MB. This worked very nicely even though it was more expensive than buying from other sources. With 512 MB on-board, the computer works quite fast and the hard drive gets a lot of rest, as does the battery since hard drives are power hogs!

Overall, my needs are very simple: email, web-surfing, word processing, spreadsheets, access-based databases, a bit of web design, some digital photo-retouching (Nikon software), an occasional movie and some music and web-access, as well as speech recognition for dictation (Dragon) and an astronomy type calculating program. What I have works very well now and unless something breaks I hope to be happy with my system for some time to come. Oh, and I added a USB Fantom Titanium external hard drive for backup. It is a 80GB drive and works like a charm right out of the box. I returned the Maxtor One Touch II external because there were problems with its touted restore operations and software reinstallations (hence the 3rd PC restore on my B120 -- that story, some other time ... sigh!).

At one point I got a bit concerned by the fact that the computer was not shutting down unless I hit the shutdown or restart options twice. This turned out to not be computer specific but due to some application hogging the resources and not (dell )shutting down in the first go. The first shutdown or restart terminates the application and the second one actually turns the computer off. In my case it was the Dragon speech recognition software. Once I deselected its quick-launch mode, the problem was history. The standby and hibernation functions, worked flawlessly even when the quick launch mode of Dragon software was selected. I generally prefer to use the hibernation mode to shutdown the computer since it is faster and I haven't experienced any problems or flaws even when I had programs running at the time of invoking the hibernation. Indeed that is the bonus of using this mode because the programs are already launched when you reboot the system from hibernation. It saves time.

I ran the super pi benchmark which tests the CPU (math processing) and memory as well as disk function, since some amount of writing to disk is associated in this test and this is what I got:

Overall, let us not lose sight of the fact that the Dell Inspiron B120 is an inexpensive notebook, and an extremely good value, and not just for students but their parents as well! For many of us, who are not all that much into computer games, we often do not realize how much we are oversold in the electronic warehouses and E-mags and E-reviews on the power and capacities of our computers that we really need and actually utilize.

Build and Construction

I suppose if your needs are modest, like mine, and games and video performance are not a big issue, then the Inspiron B120 will serve you well for quite some time. Construction is moderately sturdy with a reasonably bright screen, good power management options, though it would have been useful to have the option to drop the CPU (apple )speed when on battery just as Acer notebooks allow. My screen does not have dead pixels and though a bit of twisting of the notebook lid is possible (after all it is made out of plastic), the image held steady. I did poke at the screen a bit and found it to be firm. My ancient Compaq, on the other hand, had a squishy screen and even with slight pressure showed a dimple'!

Speakers

The speakers are quite tinny, with audible distortion and do not play very loud. On the other hand, when I plugged in my Bang & Olufsen earphones, they proved to be a bit too loud even at the lowest volume setting, but the sound quality was extremely good, much better than what I got from the built-in speakers, so the sound card is not going to disappoint you entirely. I tried my plantronics earphone/microphone combination that I use with my Dragon speech recognition software and they were quite (toshiba )decent, audibly. If you want to watch DVD movies and music, perhaps relying on the earphone/headphone would be more fruitful than the built-in speakers, particularly since the included software allows an audio experience that goes a bit beyond plain stereo imaging that is better experienced through earphones / headphones.

Optical Drive

The CD-ROM (CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-read) is quite speedy, and somewhat sensitive to CD imperfections (it chattered audibly when playing slightly off-centered CDs which ran relatively quieter on other units, though there were no functional problems; music played well, and programs loaded flawlessly). The CD tray (all notebooks, not just this one) was a bit flimsy, though it is holding out fine and unless you are all thumbs and have 600 pound fingers, you are not likely to bend and break it when placing CDs or smudging the oh so exposed laser diode. The supplied Sonic CD writing software works well, but shows the backup function as a teaser that you get only if you upgrade to the rather pricey full edition.

Software

The notebook comes with a wordperfect 12 office suite, with the trial versions of the spreadsheet and presentation software, with option to upgrade after 60 days, or you may simply choose to keep the wordperfect(ibm ) wordprocessor. You have to live with the nag' screen though. I generally use the wordperfect/corel office 10 with service upgrades and found the wordperfect 12 quite friendly with older files as well as ms-office components. It is more so the case with the corel presentation files which are now more tolerant of MS Powerpoint files.

Battery

The battery is a 4-cell unit and lasts a bit under 2 hours. A heavier 6-cell unit is available for those who need more mobile power. I haven't had the notebook long enough to gauge the true battery longevity which is claimed to last about 300 (sony )charge cycles (about a year if you use your notebook daily on battery power). Lithium ion batteries might charge faster, may not suffer from memory problems but we still need something with a longer lifespan. Work is in progress, from what I hear!

Heat

With any modern computer, heat is always a problem. I am happy to report that this notebook only runs warm and not hot (I have used it for several hours at a stretch, days after days) and I did not observe any use-related errors or sluggishness or worse. If you are concerned about heat, though, USB powered cooling platforms are available, though given that the notebook is not really slim, you might find the raise' a bit troublesome. I tried a thin cardboard wrapped in several layers or aluminum foil and it was quite effective in dissipating the little heat that the notebook produces. It is really a minor point. Incidentally, I have found the best posture to use a notebook to keep it on a table with the notebook set farther away at the back so that the elbows can rest on the table and the wrists on the notebook. This is somewhat different from what is recommended when using a conventional desktop keyboard. To each his own, as they say.