My New Dell Vostro 1400 Arrived...finally *Pics*

[mynameis]

I ordered it back on the 17th when they were on sale and it just shipped out yesterday. I got it today thanks to the shipping center being so close. It ended up costing a little over $700 USD after tax.

Specs:
-Intel Core 2 Duo T5470, 1.6GHz
-1GB, 667MHz DDR2
-128MB nVidia GeForce 8400M
-120GB 5400rpm HD
-WXGA+ Glossy Screen (1440x900)
-DVD-RW Drive
-WiFi and Bluetooth Internal
-Vista Home Basic

First Impressions:
-Great laptop for the money.
-The screen is a little dull(on par with other cheap laptops), but I like 1440x900 in a 14in.
-No latch to keep it closed, just a magnet. Not sure how I feel about that yet.
-9-cell battery that is came with is huge, sticks off the back more than I imagined and makes it a bit heavy.
-Defiantly better overall quality when compared with my old Dell Inspiron 600m
-The scroll sections of the trackpad are awesome.
-Dell didn't include a Windows install disc and they partitioned the hard drive into 4 partitions. One is the restore partition, not sure about the others yet.

I thought others might be interested in a couple quick pics since Dell's site was a little lacking last I checked.

[soupnazi]

Thanks for the pics. I'm pretty interested in the new Inspirons that use this new chassis.

1. Hows the keyboard feel? I hear it's almost as an IBM thinkpad.
2. Does the plastic overall feel more solid?
3. How's the battery life?
4. Have done any gaming on it?
5. How do you fine 1GB ram on VIsta?

[kpxgq]

i got one too.... the LCD screen is of poor quality.. it dithers like a 6-bit panel.. you can also see the uneven backlighting in the above picture

also the hsf cover is warped a bit along the edge of the laptop (its the cover thats on below the firewire port

those are the only quibbles i had.. i grabbed this for $700 shipped

- T5470 1.6ghz Core2Duo
- 1gb DDR2
- 120gb HDD
- 8400GS + 1440x900 screen
- DVDRW
- 9 cell battery

i added 2gb of ram, swapped out the T5470 for a T7300 (2ghz with 4mb cache) and then swapped out the 120gb Toshiba drive for a 250gb Hitachi.. came out to about $900 after all the upgrades

keyboard is top notch
plastic is plastic, but the top cover is made of magnesium alloy, so thats a plus
i get anywhere from 4 to 7hrs battery life with the 9-cell
gaming is pretty good... HL2 runs at 60+ with Highest settings

[mynameis]

1. Hows the keyboard feel? I hear it's almost as an IBM thinkpad.
2. Does the plastic overall feel more solid?
3. How's the battery life?
4. Have done any gaming on it?
5. How do you fine 1GB ram on VIsta?

1. Feels great, no complaints
2. Overall a lot more solid than the Lattitude D630 and pretty much every other cheap laptop I have held recently.
3. If I unplug it, it says it has 4 hours, but I am not sure what it will actually end up being.
4. WoW runs pretty amazing even at 1440x900, IMO. I'll do more here in a bit and let you know.
5. 1GB seems to be fine since I have Vista Basic, but I would like to upgrade it.


I agree that the screen isn't very great, but it isn't sub-par by any means.

[kpxgq]

I agree that the screen isn't very great, but it isn't sub-par by any means.

what are you comparing it to? i have had just about every dell midsize laptop since the 8600: 6000, m140, D620, e1505, 700m, and the vostro's screen is by far the worst

2. Overall a lot more solid than the Lattitude D630 and pretty much every other cheap laptop I have held recently.

in what ways? i found the build of the d630 to be far superior.. while the 1400 is a solid laptop, it is still based off the inspiron 1420 line and has small issues here and there (the screen, the cheap chrome buttons, the slight plastic overhang on the right side, the warped hsf cover, the loose battery)... the latitude has none of these problems

[mynameis]

what are you comparing it to? i have had just about every dell midsize laptop since the 8600: 6000, m140, D620, e1505, 700m, and the vostro's screen is by far the worst

I had a couple Inspiron 8200s and an Inspiron 600m before this and currently I frequently use a Lattitude D630. None of the above mentioned looked/look tons better if better at all than the Vostro screen.

in what ways?

When I pick up the D630 is really feels like the plastic is flexing a lot. Similar to how my 600m felt, which when it wasn't sitting on a perfectly flat surface, would warp so that they keyboard would pop-up slightly so that it made a very annoying noise while typing. The Vostro just seems a bit more solid. Besides the cheap chrome buttons, my Vostro doesn't exhibit any of the issues you are mentioning.


How did you manage to swing that kind of upgrade with just $200?