THE Full-featured laptop
Written: Dec 02 '00
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Pros: Fast, Expandable, Great Screen, Awesome DVD, IEEE 1394
Cons: Wussy Keyboard, A Little Heavy
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| mkwhitley's Full Review: Dell Inspiron 8000 Series |
I have been looking for an excuse to purchase a laptop for years and upon entering medical school I finally found my excuse. So about a month ago a began looking at notebooks. Did I want a desktop replacement? A subnotebook? A lightweight? After considering my options, I decided that I wanted a desktop replacement machine. As a former computer salesman (not for Dell), I had heard good things about their products, so I decided to check them out. After considering all of my options I chose the Inspiron 8000 because of its power, flexibility, and configuration.
My computer has the following setup: Pentium 3 800MHz, 192MB RAM, 20GB hard drive, 8X DVD, internal 10/100 modem/NIC Combo, 14.1" SVGA+ screen, 16MB ATI Mobility M4 video card, harmon kardon internal speakers.
Other features include 53Whr Li-Ion battery w/ express charge, IEEE 1394 port, 2 USB ports, hot keys above keyboard, 2 PCMCIA Cardbus slots, Digital Audio and S-Video outs (via dongle), touch pad and pointing stick mouse devices, and more. My system has Windows 2000 Pro on it.
The best features of this computer in my opinion are a phenomenal screen with SVGA+ resolution, great DVD playback, huge amounts of ports, dual pointing devices, and swappable drives. You can actually add a CDRW, extra CDROM, 2nd battery, or ZIP drive to the media bay which comes equipped with a floppy drive. This flexibility is awesome and I plan to maybe add a CDRW in the future. The computer runs all of my applications very quickly (photoshop, office, etc) and I am pleased with the software provided by Dell (especially Streets 2001 and Money 2001). Windows 2000 is rock solid and provides a solid platform for computing. DVD playback is perfect, although the internal speakers suck (but what can you expect from a laptop?). Game playback works well, but a faster desktop would probably still be best if you are a hardcore gamer. The internal mini-PCI Nic/modem is great and is actually a 3Com unit... that impressed me. I also like that Dell didn't load the machine full of useless software like some companies do in retail machines. The wrist rests are swappable for color units, but I didn't order that option. In addition, Dell provides a 3 year on-site, next business day warranty in the case that something does fail. Nice. So far their customer service has been stellar also.
The only negatives about the machine are the keyboard, which seems just a little harsh and pecky, but livable, and loud DVD rom drive (typical of laptops). It is a little on the heavy side, but not near as heavy as people make it sound on the net. I carry it in a messenger bag on my shoulder to school every day and around campus and it puts less strain on my shoulder than my bag did when I was carrying a load of textbooks (granted they were medical texts...very large).
Overall I think that I made out like a bandit with this system I paid less than $2400 for a system that rocks and really replaces my desktop. I would highly recommend this system to anyone looking for an affordable, flexible, solid, desktop replacement computer.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2400
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 701-800
Screen Size: 14"
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
mkwhitley
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Location: New Haven, CT
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
Enjoys skiing, playing guitar, and racquetball but as a medical student, spends 24/7 studying.
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