First Impressions on Vostro 1400

I was extremely impressed on Dell's fast productivity of the Vostro and the quickness to get it to me via DHL, kudos to Dell.

This computer fells and looks extremely nice I must say. I am most impressed with the keyboard, it is absolutely amazing. It is also extremely fast, even booting.

Now for the screen situation....I have been reading all of the dreadful stories about the grainy screens. Frankly I was really nervous upon the arrival of the Vostro. In the meantime I have been using a Sony Vaio Fz150 which was fairly nice. The screen compared to the Sony is not as good as but Sony specializes in screens so I was content. I really dont know how to tell if a screen is grainy or not. I made a few adjustments in the graphics control panel such as moving the brightness up to 60% which made a difference. It definitely isn't as bright as the Sony and isn't quite as sharp but I really didn't expect anything that could match the Sony screen wise. And I'm not to sure what screen exactly I have. I went to Device Manager and right click on monitors to properties and go to details and all it says is Generic PnP Monitor. I really really want to know what kind of screen I have.

Battery life with the 9 cell is amazing.

One gripe I have is that the DVD-RW drive is quite LOUD when loading a game, it rattles a lot? Is that normal?

All in all I am very happy with it so far!

Can someone please help me out trying to figure out what screen I have.

Thankyou and if you have any questions go right ahead!

 

Right click your Generic Montior and go to Properties. Then click the Details tab, and then the Hardware IDs dropdown selection. It'll say some initials there.

 

Oh okay thanks.

It says it is a SEC4457.

Are people having good experiences with those models???

 

Haha it's like we got the same computer. I just bumped another thread asking about the screen...check it out, it's like 3 posts down, Vostro 1400 LCD screen quality.

 

Yours vibrates? Mine makes a noticeable sound but doesn't vibrate the computer

 

Do you like your screen Jabberwhacky? Because I really don't see any problems with it.

It doesn't really vibrate but sometimes I'm scared it is going to take off and fly away lol. Is it normal to make a loud annoying noise though?

 

I haven't heard any LOUD NOISES! (anchorman) but I haven't done anything beyond jimmy someone's unsecured wifi and poke around on the net. I tried playing a DVD (namely Dave Matthews Band Live in Central Park) and I got an error saying that the DVD's region (US/Canada) doesn't match the DVD player's region, and as such, it won't load. So that's cool. It gives me an option to switch the region, but when I click "Do that" it opens the regular Dell Media Direct, with no option in site in any way relating to DVD region.

As for the screen, I really don't. I literally can't find a an angle where it looks "normal." It's either washed out (too white) on the bottom or muddled and black on the top. When I center my view as best I can, there is still noticeable whiteness on the bottom and the top is noticeably dark. All I've done to test this is set the background of Windows to black; I can move my head like half an inch and see a big difference in the look. The Recycle Bin goes from a black mush with a slight silver lining all the way to a very iconic Recycle Bin complete with Recycle symbol and a translucent effect.

Plus, the glossy coating is REALLY glossy. I had read opinions going both ways, some saying it's not bad and makes for a snazzy screen and some saying it's like a mirror, and I gotta say, mine is like a mirror. This is unfortunate since I do like the size of the 1440x900 res; I was afraid it'd be too small, but it turned out well. Now I get to downgrade to the 1280x800 just so I can have a matte screen. That is, if I decide I can handle the washiness, which I probably can't.

 

I'm in the same boat here... Got my laptop yesterday, happy with everything but the viewing angles of the screen. I wouldn't be able to describe it better than you did - having exactly the same issue.

I wonder if other types of panels are any better in this regard. Mine's also SEC. I actually like the crispy/bright gloss (never thought I would). I'm tempted to order a second build with a matte screen... But I'm guessing those aren't going to be as bright... may be try wxga gloss? well, i'm at a loss... may be I'll phone cust support tmrw and see what they have to say.

This is starting to drive me crazy - less than a month ago I went thru the same set if problems when I bought my Samsung 226BW lcd monitor and got a really sh*tty one despite good reviews. Turned out Samsung was using 4 different panels to manufacture these monitors and quality of those panels ranged from 5 stars to ... 1. So, depending on what panel you get, you end up either with a sure-winner or a complete junk. And now here, the same lottery... *sigh*

 

Well the first impression was pretty good while it lasted.....

The screen "graininess" was livable. But the cd-drives noise when you are installing something or playing a DVD is absolutely ridiculously loud and unacceptable. Also, I use the up and down arrows to browse the web. Well after about a day of use the up arrow squeaks.

$1260 for that??? later dell.

Few questions regarding dells return policy.

I ordered the 30th of Aug. Is there return policy FULL MONEY BACK? Do you send it back and do you have to pay the shipping? How long does it take to get your money refunded?

thanks

 

since it's pretty easy to upgrade 1400's CPU(only 4 screws work), get a T7700/7500 from ebay could save a hundred or more bucks

 

https://dcse.dell.com/ifr/Vostro_NB/Vostro_1400/td_Processor.asp

 

I recently returned a monitor to Dell. When I called customer service to get RMA number I asked if I was supposed to pay for shipping it back. The rep said "yes" but also asked if that was okay with me. I figured since there was nothing wrong with the product it was fair, so I said yes. If anything was wrong with it - I would have demanded Dell to pay for the return.

How long it takes to get your money back probably depends on the method of payment you used and on your bank/credit card. In my case, Dell received the monitor on Aug 22nd and refund showed up on my AmEx on Aug 30th.