How is the build quality on the Inspiron?

I've been looking at a few different laptops and the Inspiron 1420 caught my eye, mainly because it's one of the only notebooks in my price range that I could get a Blu-Ray drive on.

It would be coming with me everywhere, moderate-heavy travel. I don't do offroad or a lot of flying or anything but a lot of intra-city commuting. Is it going to hold up against that kind of use?

Also I was wondering if you guys could give me a general idea, or point me in the direction of an article, of what kind of performance I might be able to expect from the 8400M

Thanks

 

Go with the Vostro 1400 it has better build quality than the Inspiron 1420.

The Vostro 1400 aswell as the 1420 have magnisium-alloy lid and bottom making it a pretty sturdy notebook. Personally i own a vostro 1500 (similar in a way) and find build quality stunning.

The 8400m GS is a good lower end card for playing older games. Also can play some newer games at low quality.

 

Quality is mediocre...you get what you pay for. If you get a good warranty then you really don't have too much to worry about. Obviously if you can afford to go with the Latitudes then do so, the quality is better.

8400 will not play any of the latest 3d games or do intense CAD work but for everything else it is fine. Not exactly a good match for a BR equiped machine IMHO but meh, it could be worse.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

 

Hummm, thanks for the replies. I'm not gonna cry a river if I can't play Crysis...would like me some WoW and maybe Starcraft 2 when that comes out.

If I was going to forgo the BD drive to get a business notebook, I'd probably pass on the Vostro in favor of a Latitude or something from Lenovo. Do have to admit that the Vostros have always caught my eye though

 

People really rag on Dell on the net. It really isn't true.

I used to work at Best Buy, and I have owned an Asus laptop. NOTHING compares to my good old Inspiron 9300, and my newer 9400.

My total problems as it relates to build?

My 9400 has 4500 hours of run time over the last year. My issues? The paint partially came off the media buttons on the front. Hinges are still tight, no rattles, still quiet.

My 9300 is 3 or more years old now and it's only issue is the hinges are getting loose. An easy fix if I felt like it.

Now compare that to garbage like HP or Toshiba... LOL. You can push lightly on the back of the screen, it will flex. The speakers are, as a rule, horrible. The laptops themselves are cheap plastic and assembled poorly. I doubt most of them would last 4500 hours of use, that's for sure.

The most overrated brands are Asus and Lenovo. I have owned Asus, and it's the most overrated brand on the internet. Those guys really did some wicked marketing. I won't even go into was a POS my Asus laptop was.

As for Lenovo... I have played with them in stores... I think the appeal lays only in a pointer stick. The screens are inferior, and the build quality is nothing exemplary. For that, you pay a hefty premium over other brands...

 

The build quality is suprisingly great. Better for sure than apple, toshiba, and compaq. For the price I would have to say that you won't actually find better. Some of the business decisions that dell makes are senseless and aggravate me, however, once I actually owned the computer I found the quality to be unbelievable. It was quiet too (the antec coolers are loud though). Not a bad investment for my purposes.

I have only been using this one for a few months but by this time the apple had broken down at least twice.

 

Quiet is certainly appealing to me...but then my current laptop is a VAIO K23 so a freight train would be quieter

I guess I'll keep the 1420 on the bubble then for laptop I'm considering. As it stands, it seems like it's one of the few 14.1'' notebooks that offers BD which seems like a point in its favor.

 

I have 1420 myself. It is an excellent laptop with good build quality. It is a bit heavy for a 14". If you want something lighter, Latitude would be the choice. I have a D620 work laptop and it is quite a bit lighter. You should look into D630, the new model. However, you will pay a bit more for it. Or you can try Dell Outlet for a bargain. One thing though is that if you don't need a laptop now, wait until the new E series Latitude comes out. They look much better...

 

I can tell you this from experience Algus, i have owned a dell inspiron 9300, and my current inspiron 1720, the 1720 hasnt been in the woods yet, but its going to be!

as for the 9300, it goes into the woods alot, both in a truck and on a four wheeler, or a atp (all terrain pickup) style four wheeler. and the only problem i have had with that 9300 is that the mother board went out on me, but i did have dells warranty and they came right out and replaced it.

my friend has a vostro, and i have inspirons, personally i cant tell a difference, to me they look like the same laptop, only his is black, so i dont know, although from a marketing stand point, they could just be calling one a business style laptop because that seems to be the status quo catch phrase for now..... (i know people will disagree with me on this forum because i have heard it over and over again, that inspirons build quality sucks and vostro is much better, however side by side i really dont see a whole lot of differences, in the quality!)

For a further thought i can tell you that these inspirons can and will take more punishment than they deserve, and they will take it, as for the lenovo, my father has one of these for his company and they take them on and off trains, and in and out of their vehicles, the companies IT guy told him they are switching to the dell latitude line up because of the problems they are having with the lenovos (related to quality)

i can just tell you what i have seen/know and there it is!!!

by the way i know i kind of brag about dells, and i am sure there are better computers out there ( well i know this!) and i dont have stock in dell (wish i did though) but for the price in my opinion, you cant beat what they give you!

 

If I were you I'd get a Dell Inspiron 1420 or Vostro 1400. I have personal experience with the 1420 (my sister's laptop) and I love it. My sister loves it. I even converted both my sisters from Toshiba's to Dell's and they both love them.

Also, at my dad's work, he said that they had IBM's/Lenovo's, and many of his coworkers found them to be too cheap of materials to use. He said one guy picked up his laptop and the corner of the laptop material broke off. Really cheap in my opinion.

I honestly think you should get a 1420 or 1400.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys. You're certainly tempting me into deciding on the 1420 over a Lenovo, though I wonder what the people frequenting the Lenovo forum would say

Basically I've spent all day reading reviews, checking prices and such and I think I've narrowed it down to being between a 1420 and a ThinkPad R61, which also has BD

Pros of the 1420 seem to be the price and an 8400M might be a bit better for playing WoW then a Quadro.

Pros of the R61 were supposed to be better build quality but from the way you guys are talking it seems that only the better processor is going to be a pro of the R61 in the end...plus it costs quite a bit more without a Dell coupon.

I guess after looking at all the laptops I looked at the best way I can describe what I want is something that has all the features of the 1420. I'd go with an m1330 if it offered the BD drive. I just want to make sure I've got something that I know is gonna hold up through at least 2 years of solid use.

I try to treat my lappy as best as I can but it goes everywhere with me and I've found that even with taking excellent care of my VAIO, it's picked up marks from all the travel it's done.

Either way, I think Im gonna wait until the summer models start coming out to see if there's any other options available. Don't need it until the start of next semester in August so I have plenty of time to decide.

Really appreciate all the feedback guys. Thanks a lot.

 

The longer you can hold off, the more models that will have BDROM and the cheaper they will be.

 

Even though this is very true...^^^^

I would also like to add one thing, my cousin (bless his heart), no matter what your political views may, he just got back from afgahnistan, with his inspiron, not sure on the model, but its a 15 inch, and its the silver kind with the white stripe around, lol (not sure if that narrows it down much either!?) but that computer survived a war zone, with temps ranging from below 30 degrees at night and well into the 90's (if not above) during the day, (thats according to him).

just thought i would let you know, and as far as lenovo goes i dont know why your are leaning that way, but judging from the one I am seeing every day (lenovo t61) (pop's work comp)
as far as i am concerned its a mute point.

good luck with your purchase, of course no matter what you decide on, a new comp, is a new comp, and they are always sweet!!!

 

Is it true the the vostro line, in terms of build quality, is much better than inspiron ?