I bought this Dell Inspiron 1000 about a year-and-a-half ago when I was working in the US. I saw an ad in the paper.....actually Dell advertises pretty much everywhere. The only way that you can buy a Dell is by ordering either by phone or on the internet. I called the first time to select a model and the customer service was pretty good. Since the basic model that I got was packed with 2.2Ghz Celeron, 256MB, CDRW 24X/DVD 32X, 30GB, (less than I expected)Windows XP with a card for wireless access, I went ahead and placed an order over the phone, it arrived quickly. It cost me around $700 after the rebate.
I was excited to open the package and they also sent me an additional laptop carry bag with it, which is pretty kewl. It’s not one of those inexpensive ones and lots of other software with it. The only problem with the software was that they bundled it with Corel Suite of products instead of Word etc. The other one is the bulkiness of the laptop, well it’s pretty heavy for a laptop about 6.6lbs(2.7kgs). I think the higher end models of Dell are lightweight.
As for the performance, I would say it’s a ok if you like to use the system for basic needs like surfing, word processing, watching movies or burning discs. I’m changing some of the ratings of the review as I’d been having problems with the system off late. The first was the battery which initially gave me about 1.3hrs now gives about just 7 mins and the other one is the wire that connects the adaptor to the laptop doesn’t stay put and one has to keep wriggling it to keep the laptop connected to the power. This is a very bad design aspect of this laptop and there are lot of people who have had this problem and the company should have corrected this problem a long time ago. This is also mentioned on their website at dell.com if you visit the community forums and look under power management or video problems. There are a host of people with this kind of a problem.
If you’re planning on buying this laptop, be prepared to get frustrated with the power problems or go for some other laptop.