Latitude D620 - Malaysia versus Ireland!

I recently had an opportunity to compare two D620 laptops: my own D620 (made in Malaysia) and a D620 manufactured in Ireland.

The Irish D620 is IMO slightly superior in terms of build quality. For example, the lid on the Malaysian D620 creaks a bit when its opened and closed. The lid on the Irish D620 has much smoother action, does not creak, and seems to "click" a bit better with the base when closed. The Irish D620's keyboard also seems a bit more level than the Maylasian D620, although the feel of the keyboards is more or less identical. Finally, the base plastics around the DBay on my D620 are ever so slightly warped, making an uneven gap between the optical drive and the base plastic. The Irish D620 does not exhibit this.

These differences make little difference while using the machines, but the Irish D620 seems a bit nicer in terms of fit and finish.

Can anyone else comment on build quality of same model machines built at different factories?

 

malaysian. it seems fine to me, but i have nothing to compare to. my sister has a d600 and it's a piece of junk not worth mentioning.

 

You may want to note that the laptops made in Ireland are designated for the European market while the Malaysian made ones are mainly for the rest of the world. Another interesting fact is that buying a Dell laptop in Europe is a lot more expensive. So in my opinion, the price pays a small part in the built quality.... As the saying goes "what you pay is what you get!"

 

Really??? The Irish D620 I saw was shipped to a large corporate customer here in the United States. I don't think that the Ireland models are solely for the European market.

Interesting about the Dell laptop being more expensive in Europe though...