This review is after using the product for more than a month, Pre Sales - Nothing to say much of the legendary Dell online order system, managed to get a free optical mouse and a pair of in-ear Creative headset from the sales manDelivery - I was promised a week-end delivery but had to talk a half day off from work to get the notebook on a week-day, was a bad experience but was tolerable.Initial Impression - When I first opened the delivery box and took the notebook in my hand my first thoughts were "Man! this is heavy", tipping the scales at 2.7 Kgs will not qualify this for a light weight notebook. The fit and finish was as expected, the finish was exceptional, quite aligned with the Dell standards.
Looks were very solid and the machine didn’t look fragile. Packing was again very good and would have saved the machine from any kind of fall. Kudos to Dell for such a good laptop finish at such a price (paid Rs. 36087 inclusive of taxes and delivery).Detailed Review - One thing that I want to communicate to all the reader is that this notebook is only for those who want a mobile replacement for a desktop, please do not expect much from this machine.
n normal use the battery back-up is around 2.5 hours and if you are watching a movie the battery is sucked out as if its powering a heavy duty motor and dries out in less than 1.5 hours. Windows Vista Home Basic is irritating for those who are in a habit of using Windows XP, you will be lost at times and would curse the new OS, but since this is nothing to do with Dell lets move forward. My notebook has a Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T6400 processor with 2 GB Dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM, graphics card is an Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, so gamers please avoid this machine, this will play some usual games but will not satiate your gaming needs when the game gets tough (NFS Carbon, Doom 3 to name a few).
Sound volume level is quite low and if you think that you can play music on it while its in the living room and you enjoy cooking then you are wrong, buy a good set of speaker for the purpose. The glossy finish attracts a lot of dust (and finger prints), so stick to red and black matte finish and avoid glossy pacific blue color due to the dust problem, Dell please rectify if you read this. Hard disk access LED is missed a lot so are the other tell-tale lights. Dell has in this model kept all the indications (wireless on/off, bluetooth on/off, Battery Status, Sound Controls, etc.) and controls via the keyboard. There are 3 USB ports, which will be enough for home use. Great Product!! Ah!! yes I forgot to mention that it has an integrated 1.3 mega pixel webcam with LED light and mic