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As an owner of roughly 9 laptops in the last five years, I feel I am pretty knowledgable when it comes to them, so I hope my review of the Dell 1720 sounds informational and concise.
First off let me say this, I would never buy any dell computer not on a coupon, I bought mine on a 425.00 Coupon. With Tax I was charged 1348.52 out the door. Now because I have been told of the amount of times people called in with issues, and got free concessions, I decided to do the same thing. It took very little effort to get two 100.00 dollar refunds to my credit card, a free printer(79.99), and a digital camera (129.99) so realistically I paid less than 1000.00 for everything. But I will work through this review with the price of 1350 roughly.
I know dell has had a ton of issues with backorders and shipping, I am happy to report I experienced none of them. I was upset however to find that their automated line number always gave wrong information of which production/shipping step it was on. I ordered on 10/23 and from that day all the way until 10/27 the line said it was in boxing. Whenever I spoke to a dell rep they advised me the actual step it was on, a small inconvienence, but nonetheless annoying. The computer arrived 10/29. I didnt pay anything for shipping so I would say overall it was a success in these stages.
The computer arrived in one piece, which is not what I can say for the HP I ordered in late 05. The case was sharp, no dents, no dings, the system was sharp. I got the ruby red casing, and I will say this, its definately red, but mine was closer to magenta, or maroon then RUBY red, so look at the pictures on this site, before you order. Dell has also lightened up on paperwork they sent you, three small booklets and some backup CD's were really it. The computer battery came fully charged, which was another classy suprise.
The specs on my system went something like this, T7500 2.2 Core Duo, 2 Gb ram(I do not buy memory from resellers, too many problems), webcam, Audigy integrated, 1920x1200 resolution.
Once I started the system up and did the basic warranty checks(burned pixels, damaged screen, dislodged keys, overheating) and activated Windows, I was ready to start the new experience.
My first impression was the screen, I have seen some great screens in my day, from HPs, to Sonys, to Macs, this dell is right up there with the cream of the crop. Crystal Clear and sharp, text looks great and pictures look fantastic. Brightness was fantastc as well, indoors seem perfect in a lot of light or very little light, I experienced no eyestrain. Outdoors always wash out a screen a bit, but this one held up very well in my opinion.
The keys give a very firm, but smooth click when you hit them, and having the 10 key pad is an absolutely necessity in my eyes. Too many 17 Inch laptops omitted this, and I think its truly a waste of space. The touchpad plain and simple needs work. On a few occasions, it didnt respond as smoothly as I would like. I think thats a page they should take from HP, as their touchpads have been phenomenal in my experience.
I couldnt wait any longer to tear into the performance, which is what I really wanted to see. I dont use benchmarks, or overclocking tests, I just use realworld usage to measure performance. I am a mid level gamer and a lot of people told me even with the 8600 GT 256 card that this thing couldnt game. Boy were all the detractors wrong. This thing cooks with gaming and stays cool while doing it. I tried running all of the microsoft office programs at once, itunes, burning a CD, playing a game, and browsing the web and it kept up with no stress(I did turn the battery up to high performance, but I kept it plugged in the whole time. When I put heavy stress on it while on the battery only, I got about 1hr 30 mins, which was by no means great but it was to be expected with the 6 cell.)
I started off with a 6 hr marathon sessions of world of warcraft. This thing never skipped a beat, no framerate issues, no overheating like with HPs and some Toshibas. This thing was cool to the touch. Now world of warcraft isnt graphically intensive but on Gruuls lair(Wow Players know) it just took it all in with no slowdowns, and I couldnt believe it.
I played Far cry, with medium settings, and while not as strong as some higher priced laptops, it was still no slouch, I only needed small edits to the settings to get it to perform well. The auto settings on almost every game were appropriate.
I also tried Bioshock, RS: Vegas, and Elder Scrolls IV all with great success, where were the troubles I was going to see for using a dell laptop?
No lockups, no freezing, no crashes, no problems, I truly think this may be the best computer dell has ever made. I dont know what more you could have asked for. You could have paid a lot more for more performance, but for the price, this would be one of the best buys Ive ever seen. This is just my thought! I would feel just Ok paying the full 1775.00 for this machine without coupon though. Tell me what you think if you have this machine, or give your opinions, or for perspective buyers, ask me any questions or anything you want me to test!
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I received my 1720 on 11/2, and wow, I'm impressed. The screen is truly amazing at 1920x1200. Very crisp, and clear, with almost no light leakage. The notebook is amazingly durable, and tough. The keyboard, is very pleasant to type on, and the touchpad is actually pretty good, I just needed to turn up the touch, and pointer sensitivity and it works great. So far I couldn't be happier.
Oh, and the amount of bloatware on the system is unexpected. I only got about 3-4 bloatware apps., much less then what I was going to receive from the HP I was going to order. I got the laptop in just 6 days also. So far, great purchase!
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My Dell 1720 Review - Different than you'd expect
Discussion in 'Dell' started by thamann2000, Nov 3, 2007.
