First Impression of 1420 vs 1405 vs D620/D630 vs HP/IBM

Compare to 640m/1405, improvement in almost every aspect except four items below.
- no xD support
- mine comes with AUO panel, color doesn't look as good as SEC but light leak problem is much better over the SEC parts. Overall I still prefer SEC panels.
- Alps touchpad instead of Synaptic (hate it at first but after I turned off dragLock, it is much better now.)
- Burner seems a bit noisy but this is not a 1420 fault, like the LCD panel. Dell just get whatever cheapest bid. The Optical drive is from Optiarc.
+ ergonomic is much improved. IR receiver and headphone are located at front, USB on both sides. Rounded corners feel good when carry it around. Media buttons are logically grouped: Media Direct on the left by itself, volume control on the right, skip,play,stop in the middle.
+ Slightly slimmer than 640m (same as D620/D630 at the front, same as 640m at the back)
+ solid build, magnesium top, metall material bottom, vs ABS plastic top and bottom on 640m. Palm rest is same material for both models.
+ 10 to 15% better battery life without WIFI, thanks Santa Rosa.
+ better performance, much better integrated video.
+ much better look and feel.
+ hardware based WIFI switch and WIFI finder. I just spent a few hours to fix a x60 WIFI soft button problem a few days ago.
+ better speaker placement and probably better sound too.
+ Webcam options
? firmer keyboard

Compare to D620/D630, built quality is almost as good as D620/D630.
+ S-Video out
+ SD/MS card reader
+ 1394 port
+ stereo speaker
+ better battery life when compare to D620, probably similar to D630.
+ MediaDirect, Expresscard remote option.
+ Webcam option with built-in microphone
- no Serial port
- no replicator port for business users
- slight thicker at the back
- If you have the JetBlack, the lid will attract more fingerprints than the D620/D630
- No fingerprint scanner
- No TPM support
- No stick mouse option.
- No ambient ligth sensor. (sounds good in theory but not very useful in practice)

Compare to HP Business Class and IBM Thinkpad. This is not a fair comparison, all I can say is the new Inspiron has much improved build quality. The Inspiron is now similar to Latitude without the replicator I/O and TPM, definitely a major step forward in the right direction.

 

I chose the D630 over the new Inspirons, HP Business series and Thinkpad series.

 

The D630 is basically D620 with Santa Rosa. Nice notebook but the new 1420 is very close. I will prefer 1420 as my personal home notebook, D630 or IBM Thinkpad as my business notebook. HP nc notebook is nice too.

 

I do not have a camera but most definitely can record audio. I just did it just now. Go to Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> Sound Recorder and try it out for yourself.

 

Thank You, glad to be corrected. The microphone volume is very low, maybe adjustable. Nice bonus as it is not advertised and mention anywhere in the spec a few weeks ago.

 

Interesting. I hadn't noticed that the volume is low. I actually discovered it when I used Fraps to record some video of World of Warcraft - the only option to record the sound on the 1420 thanks to the changes to the audio stack was to use the microphone - it actually worked out very well. And talking from approximately two and a half feet away or so produced perfectly intelligible audio.

Hopefully you didn't take offense at my Lex Luthor image, I was trying to inject some humor and that was the first thing that came to mind.

I did have one other comment - in the advanced power options it does mention use of an automatic brightness function - do you know for sure that the 1420 doesn't have that?

Otherwise I'd say the remainder of your commentary is spot on.

 

Nice picture

On the D630 there is a light sensor close the the power button. The BIOS also has an entry to enable/disable the Ambient Light Sensor too. I don't see it on the 1420. Again I am more than happy to be corrected again.