My brief Inspiron E1705 experience....

I ordered an Inspiron on June 12th, 2006. It shipped on the 16th and I received it exactly 1 week later on the 19th. Shipping was fast.

My first impression with this laptop was not very good. The PC ships with McAfee Security Center. During installation MSC had to download off of the internet and reboot 6 times before I was able to actually use the computer. This was very annoying to me. MSC also would give error messages downloading Spamkiller and crash. I gave up on the Spamkiller updates.

After McAfee was done I tried using the computer (I ordered it with the T2500 Core Duo, GeForce 7900 GS, and a 100 gig 5400 RPM drive). My Inspiron 8200 with a P4 @ 2.4Ghz and a 60 Gig 7200 Hitachi drive I bought 3 years ago seemed faster.

I did the CTRL+F11 and restored the drive to original condition. I copied the drive image onto a Seagate 160 Gig USB drive.

I then installed a fresh copy of XP Pro with NOD32 antivirus( www.eset.com) I installed all the drivers on Dells website. They don't have drivers on the website for the Express Card 54 slot.

Anyway...notebook is much faster with all the bloatware off of the computer.

A few moments later I noticed that the word INSPIRON on the front of the computer was missing half of the letter S. I knew the computer had only been carried around very carefully by me....so what was up? I LIGHTLY rubbed the letter P with my finger and found that the paint was still wet. I now have a IN IRON laptop.

I also have a line that pops up in the LCD...intermittently.

I called Dell and I'm sending this thing back for a full refund.

Other dissappointments with this laptop...

No built in MIC, no built in camera, no CF card reader, no PCMCIA slot, no GIGABIT ethernet, mediocre LCD screen(1440x900 model), can't use 2 batteries like I could in my Inspiron 8200.....and the stupid Restore partitions on the harddrive eat up too much space(give me a DVD with my restore software and let me have full use of my drive).

I'm looking for a Clevo laptop now.

 

Even though you posted a negative comment, Im glad you did. Im in the market for the E1705, and I like to hear the good with the bad.

 

I highly recommend that you go HERE and give a looksy before you make the same mistake I did.

I am ordering this computer loaded....but with no RAM and no Harddrive. I will buy the RAM and Harddrive from Newegg.com and save about 300 bucks.

Good luck!

 

Thats nice but too much money. I configured a E1705 loaded with tv tuner last night and it came to $1313.

 

I got my at June 1st, been using it for a month. I opt out my anti virus option cause I know Mcafee sux big times. I got myself Trend Micro pc-cilin 3 pack from trend micro itself. $49.99 and I can install on 3 computer instead and I gave up on NIS long time ago.

I got myself the true-life 1920x1200 LCD upgrade instead. Never regret it. For Battery, I got the 60 watt instead of 80watt, so the battery life is kinda weak to me. That one I wish i went for 80watt version. Ohh well..

The weakest point of all, I agree with you, no camera and no mic.. luckily with bluetooth, i can use my bluetooth headset..

I dont think it's that bad, since i got myself 7900GS which allow me to play some pretty up-to-date games. Now I saw the new alienware 5750 and I wish I got that instead though. hehehe but for $1400, it's a deal with the configuration i had.

 

Please do not double post. You've already created a thread related to your issues with the E1705. There is no reason to create another thread when the subject is still the same.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=61657

SG