Solid and Powerful Laptop
Written: Dec 08 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small, light Weight, Fast, Large HD, High Quality Screen, Large LCD, Multiple USB ports, Easy to Network
Cons: Battery Life, Weight
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| soupcraze's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG |
For my mother's buisiness, she had two Pentium4 PCs, but she also needed a computer to take on the road. So I decidied to go out and buy a laptop computer for her, I didn't want to spend too much money on one though, so I decided to look at Dell and Toshiba. I personally like the American companies for computers, so I decided to buy a Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG. It's also a very highly rated laptop, and considered one of the best, here's what I found out with it:
Price:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG runs around ~$2200. That is a very good price. It comes with Dell's 5 year parts&labor warranty. The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is a very high quality laptop actually, it has all of the high quality components of Dell. The LCD is very high quality, the CD-ROM drive is very durable and fast, and finally there is a large hard drive that comes with it (LARGE FOR A LAPTOP). The price for the Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is great!
Warranty:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG came backed by a 5 year parts&labor warranty from Dell. The 5 year warranty is the highest warranty from Dell. Dell is good with their warranties, they take care of your problems very quickly with very few hassles. The warranty is a great feature to have with the computer.
Customer Support:
Dell has good customer support. They have some of the best within computer companies. only Gateway exceeds them. When you call Dell by phone for support, you actually get someone on the other end of the line. They help you out with your problems right over the phone, and if you can't fix up the problems. You can send the computer back for repairs at Dell (NO CHARGE).
Installation:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG was already pre-loaded with Windows ME, and other software. We only had to turn it on, and there we had it. Installing external devices is very easy, the computer automatically detects any new devices that are plugged into it. I got the Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG with 2 USB ports, they were very useful for easy hook-ups of printers, scanners, cameras, etc... Installing the Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is a breeze, and installing new software or devices is also incredibly easy.
Durability:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is a very durable computer with very solid components. My mother carried it along with her many times, and it hasn't gotten a single dent in it. it is a very solid laptop, that will last a very long time. The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is capable of being carried along for a long time, nothing will break. It survived many long buisiness trips, it's just a very solid laptop.
Software:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG came pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows Millenium Edition. There is a lof of software, such as photo editing programs (Kodak Imaging) pre-loaded into the OS. There were no other CDs except the OS that came with the laptop. Even though there is no other software that comes on CDs for the Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG, there are already many useful programs already loaded on the OS.
Video and Graphics:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG comes with a 14" high contrast LCD. It provides very smooth video and graphics. The video speeds are very high, and the pixels blend in very well. The screen though also has a drawback, for examnple if you're working with spread sheets (i.e. Microsoft Excel), you have to scroll to see most of the screen. Therefore, this laptop shouldn't be used as a complete replacement for a desktop. For most of the hardcore work, my mother uses our Dell Dimension 8100 or Gatewat Performance 1500xl PCs. Other than utility programs, DVD movies look and osund great on the Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG. The video and resolution comes out very clear. The video display on the Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is great, it has excellent quality graphics, and playing high end games is also great on this laptop.
Sound:
The sound system on the Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG consists of built in speakers. They are incredibly strong, and the sound is perfectly good. The sound doesn't compare to that of digital external speakers. The sound does get fuzzy if I jack it up very high, but it does remain at normal quality when it plays at moderate or lower volumes. The sound is decent, it isn't very clear or smooth, but it does get the job done.
Navigation:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG uses a touch pad which I absolutely hate to use. That's why we attach a USB mouse into the laptop. Wherever there is little space, we're forced to use the touchpad. The touchpad is actually very responsive, even though that is good for most part, it still has a drawback. Sometimes I accidently tap it twice when I don't know it, and I accidently open a file or do some action when I don't want to. The touchpad is ample for navigation, but installing mouses is incredibly EASY. You can install them by either USB or parrallel ports. I have found parrallel ports to work more easily though. They are more responsive, and you don't have to set up or locate any external devices when setting them up. The mouse if hooked up onto the parrallel port works instantly.
Ease of Use:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is very easy to use. It has simple buttons to press when turning it on, or adjusting the sound or LCD colors. You can eject the DVD-ROM by simply pressing a button (Doesn't get any easier than this). The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG uses a Windows ME interface, and very many people around the world are very familiar with the Windows interface. This laptop is very easy to use, no problems at all for anyone. Even people who aren't good with computers can use the Dell Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG.
Internal Storage:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG comes with a 6 gigabyte hard drive. That is very high storage for a laptop actually, a while back, Pentium II computers had only 7GB hard drives! My Gateway G6-350 still runs well on a 9.7GB hard drive. The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG can hold very many programs in it, and many MP3s too =) The 6GB can serve very well, and that is a large amount of space. For many users, it's a lot more than enough.
Memory:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG comes loaded with 128MB of memory! That is A LOT for a laptop. Many PIII or even P4 laptops run on 128MB RAM! The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG does and will not lag for a while. It is capable of extreme multi-tasking because it is incredibly loaded with RAM. I was able to run 6 windows of Netscape, 2 of Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Word at the same time, still cruising at a high speed! The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG can really multi-task a lot, no doubt about that.
Disk Drives:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG comes with a standard floppy disk drive, and also a DVD-ROM. They both come in handy, the floppy disk drive comes in handy for transfereing small files between computers, and the DVD is great for viewing your favorite DVDs!
Proccessor:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is powered by an Intel Pentium III processor at a clock speed of 600MhZ! This is the speed and power of a truly high-end laptop. The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG can load up programs very fast, and execute actions fast too. The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG cruises at incredible speeds, I was able to load up Adobe Photoshop in 13 seconds using this laptop. I was also able to load up Microsoft Excel within seconds! The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is a speed demon, and a laptop that will toast all others in its class.
Battery Life:
Here's a major drawback with the Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG, it's an incredibly powerful system, that uses a DVD-ROM. It's battery life lasts only around 2 hours when you're actually using it. That is a very poor life span, I usually use this laptop (So Does My Mother) with an outlet. The battery life is simply too short on this laptop.
Portability:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is a relatively small laptop by size, but is quite heavy. It's weight is a big drawback, sometimes carrying the Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG simply gets tiring or annoying. The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is not the lightest laptop on the market... But the other sides of this laptop outweigh the issue on weight.
The Verdict:
The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is a great laptop that is incredibly high quality. It has high quality parts, that allow it to acheive new grounds in performance. It can be a gaming station, or even a little movie theater. The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is built "Dell Tough", and will survive a very rugged life style. It is quite heavy though, it sometimes makes it a hassle to carry around. For a DVD and PIII laptop, ~$2200 is a very good price. The Dell Inspiron 5000 R600LG is well worth the price, you just get an incredibly high quality computer for the price.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2219
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 601-700
Screen Size: 14"
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 4-6
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soupcraze
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