My journey to the Dell Vostro 1700 (Inspiron 1720)

Well, it's been three years since I got the Motion M1400 and it still works fine. Actually, I was looking to replace the more beaten up and less aged Compaq desktop. I mean, who'd have thought my tablet would be pristine, and my newer desktop PC would be full of dents and have the plastic doors broken off?

Anyway, obviously I'm more careful with my mobile computers than my non-mobile (hence shipped once, where the bulk of nasty damage was done) computers. The tablet? It's nice to draw on, but it's not so great as a development machine. I went through two bluetooth keyboards on it (very expensive, and they both just mysteriously quit working after their warranties expired) and ended up just sticking with one of those roll-up rubber membrane keyboards. Works fine once I get used to pounding on it with my fingers.

So, I initially started looking at Clevo 900 clones. There are a lot of people selling them. I don't know what I didn't like about them. Probably the fact that their battery is little more than a UPS option between having it plugged in or plugged in.

WUXGA (1920x1200) is a definite necessity, but that's available in lots of packages. Dual hard disks (non-RAID) is also pretty important. I program, and I need to see lots of text, and I'm too impatient to wait for compile times on one drive (one drive has tools/libs/includes, the other has the code, data and targets, so it's not just one drive seeking all over the place for files).

I looked at building a nice desktop around the Asus Striker Extreme motherboard. JNCS.com looked like the best option for that, but I veered back torward the notebooks. My power requirements are such that I want to be able to run it off solar, and I determined there's just no way to guarantee inverter power for that beast and my ancient 24" LCD monitor.

So I got back onto the notebook track and looked at the Sony VAIO AR590E. Gosh it's pretty. $3000+ just to begin, though. Too bad the non-blue-ray one doesn't have WUXGA. The TV tuner? Yeah, whatever. If I'm going to plug a 75 OHM cable into the computer, I may as well have a USB2 frob on the end of it, so it can plug into the hub with everything else. A little steep for my budget.

As it turns out there are lots of VAIOs with WUXGA monitors. Unfortunately, I learned long ago to be wary of notebooks with pictures that don't show off the keyboard. Sure enough, the 'shy one' had a 'screwed up' keyboard layout. I really hate it when a keyboard has a HUGE enter key and misplaced pipe/backslash key. Not quite as bad as Logitech/Microsoft massively re-arranging all of their keyboard layouts every couple of years.

Why is it laptop manufacturers can claim they have a 'full size keyboard', when it clearly isn't? Just delete the numeric pad and make the rest a completely NORMAL layout! Is that too much to ask? Apparently so.

Anyway, I digress from the main theme of my rant.

I went and visited the Dell site and then the Gateway site, then went back to the Dell site. Looking at the XPS notebooks, all I could do was yawn. That M2010 looked awesome the last time I was shopping at computers... a year ago. Now it's just big, junky and over-priced. I did look at their 'scratch & dents', and if they'd updated the monitor to 1920x1200, I might still have bit... but nope.

But then I wandered over to the 'business' section and noticed something that apparently everyone else has...

The Vostro 1700 is exactly the same as the Inspiron 1720.

Of course, Dell doesn't let you configure them the same. Oh, no. These are different Dell brands.

As it turns out, making a severely over-specced Vostro cost hundreds less than the Inspiron. Especially the RAM. It's the same RAM, but it costs $1000 to go 4GB on the Inspiron, and $450 to do the same with the Vostro. I'm still getting shafted with a phone pole for the price, but at least they cut the hardware off and lubed it before they rammed it up....

Anyway, yes, I'm perfectly aware that like XP, the 32 bit Vista can't use 4GB. Linux can. That'll be a little side project for later.

Another configurator oddity: The Inspiron 1720 has 7200 RPM drives and only ONE 512GB dual disk configuration. The Vostro has 5400 RPM drives and several smaller (up to 320GB) configurations, but no 500GB configuration.

The Vostro only comes with 'Business' Vista. BFD. A few extra whistles over the Vista Basic provided with the Inspiron, but nothing missing. They had a $536 'big deal' on the Vostro with the comprehensive 'breakage' warranty that consumed a big hunk off of my hesitation, and I had already lost enough hours that could have been billable to this quest that I decided to throw in the towel and settle for this...

Code:

 Item Number    	  Quantity    	  Item Description    	
222-9589 	1 	Vostro 1700, Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, 2.0GHz, 800Mhz FSB 4M L2 Cache
320-5553 	1 	17.0 inch Wide Screen UXGA TL LCD, Vostro 1700
311-7277 	1 	4GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 DIMM
320-5557 	1 	256MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 8600M GT
341-4894 	1 	DUAL HARD DRIVES, 320G (2x 160) 5400RPM SATA hard drive
420-7041 	1 	Genuine Windows Vista Business
412-1032 	1 	Dell Exclusive MediaDirect Instant Play Software Application
430-0493 	1 	Integrated 10/100 Network Cardand Modem, for Inspiron
313-5530 	1 	8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+R write capability, w/o Roxio Creator
313-4783 	1 	Integrated High Definition Audio 2.0
430-2430 	1 	Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini Card
320-5554 	1 	Integrated 2.0 mega pixel webcam 1700
410-1067 	1 	No Anti-Virus/ Security Software requested
312-0551 	1 	85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, Vostro 1700
412-0379 	1 	No software package
412-0359 	1 	Soft Contracts - Qualxserve
983-3920 	1 	Warranty Support,Initial Year
960-7621 	1 	Warranty Support,1 Year Extended
983-3940 	1 	Type 3 Contract - Next Business Day Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
987-6857 	1 	Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Initial Year
960-7641 	1 	Type 3 Contract - Next Business Day Parts and Labor On-Site Response, 1YR Extended
987-6858 	1 	Dell Hardware Warranty PlusOnsite Service, Extended Year
900-9987 	1 	Standard On-Site Installation Declined
960-7591 	1 	CompleteCare Accidental DamageService, Inspiron Desktop, 2 Year
412-0357 	1 	Soft Contracts - Business Complete Care
466-8755 	1 	Thank you for choosing Dell
430-2432 	1 	Dell Wirless 355 Bluetooth Module (2.0+EDR)
430-2433 	1 	Dell Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Bundle
462-4506 	1 	Purchase is NOT intended for resell
420-7185 	1 	Dell Support 3.4, No Install
310-8319 	1 	Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
310-8628 	1 	You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System
420-7179 	1 	Dell DataSafe 2.0 Online, No Install
600-0002 	1 	State Environmental Fee for display 15 inches, less than 35 inches
Add to your 2-year limited warranty* term. 	- $0.00
 
Save $536 on Select Vostro 1700 through Dell Small Business Division 	- $536.00
 
Product Subtotal: 	$2,243.00
Shipping and Handling: 	$0.00
Environmental Disposal Fee: 	$8.00
Tax: 	$173.87
Product Total: 	$2,424.87

Order Subtotal: 	$2,319.49
Shipping and Handling Total: 	$24.98
Shipping Discount: 	-$24.98
Environmental Disposal Fee: 	$8.00
Tax Total: 	$179.79

Total Charges: $2,507.28


Yeah, if you look, I sneaked in another bluetooth keyboard/mouse for the Tablet. Honestly, it still rocks for banging around, idle browsing in bed, doodling and the rubber condom on the edges keeps it nice. It still had enough 'oomph' left to fully install Adobe Production Premium CS3.

 

It looks to me that your the one assuming the position for that phone pole.

If you configure the notebook for 1gb of ram and purchase a 2x2gb kit for roughly $200 that would be another $250 saved.

 

Yeah, well if the 'inexpensive' RAM turns out to be incompatible, or otherwise bugged, most companies that sell it won't take it back. Those that will 'unconditionally guarantee' also tend to charge a lot more for the memory, making the difference a lot less than it seems.

I see the small additional price for RAM as the premium for being 100% warranted under Dell's 2 year contract. If they discover my 'intrusion' into the box to upgrade something, they'll tend to find an excuse there to void the whole warranty, meaning anything that breaks will make the whole investment a loss. I'd rather go ahead and 'stock up' all at once and not have a temptation to crack it open.

I've built too many desktop machines from scratch and had a part or two suffer 'infant mortality' and then played the RMA game with multiple companies (shopping for the best price, RAM is cheaper from one place, and the hard drives are cheaper from another) to bother with it anymore.

As a minor aside, another thing that separates the Vostro from the Inspiron is the Vostro offers the 667 FSB CPUs and RAM, versus the 800 FSB parts in the Inspiron. I'd rather have more RAM than less 'faster' RAM. I offset this speed difference somewhat by ordering the cheapest CPU on the list with a 4MB cache.

The Vostro uses 5400 RPM drives instead of 7200, but 5400 RPM drives are generally cooler and draw less power than the speedier ones do.

What currently worries me is the current bunch of excuses about 'hardware availability' stopping production. Especially when I can simply order a big, fat 17" VAIO for $500 more and have it in my hot little hands right away. I foresee the parts coming in and a LOT of systems being slapped together at the factory in a big hurry and given no burn-in time (i.e. maybe see if it boots up and then ship it off largely untested).

That means I'll have to plug it in, power it up and give it something to do for 24 hours the first day I get it before I invest a lot of time installing and configuring software, or pack up my increasingly 'senile' desktop. Maybe write a batch that recursively builds a tree, recompiling some code over and over until the drive is 90% full, sleep briefly, rmdir /s /q the tree, then start over.

 

Holy crap! It shipped already!

 

nice analysis. be sure to post pics when it arrives.

 

It arrived.

I'd post pics, but it's a black box, just like the photos on the OM.zip and SM.zip files available at Dell's support site. Big, black chassis, glossy screen, no apparent dead pixels (phew!).

The whole thing is a little ungainly. It's a little hefty and feels like I were to drop it, it would break apart into large pieces. I got a Targus XL 17 backpack at the same time. That arrived a few days ago. The notebook fit inside like a glove.

The drives weren't RAIDed together, and that's really the way I wanted it. There don't appear to be any RAID settings in the BIOS, either. One big boot/recovery/etc. drive, one big, empty data drive to carve up however I like.

The initial boot took forever, but subsequent boots were quick. Apparently the BIOS will do a thorough system test (and the 4GB of RAM takes an eternity) if the hardware has been changed since the last time. After playing the '20 questions' with Windows Vista, I got to the hideous desktop, and quickly found my way to the 'Classic View' start menu and desktop appearance. It has a big status bar thing on the right side that I haven't decided if I like or hate, yet.

As expected, my '4GB' is 3.5GB. That's 32 bit Windows for you. The last portion of memory isn't accessible because of how Windows manages memory. It is accessible in Linux, but that's another story.

It didn't come with a recovery disc or Windows CD. When I checked, it was on a partition on the boot drive. Typical. Gotta save that extra $0.35 worth of bootable media.

Anyway, still installing my 'junk' on it, so I'll have to wait and see how quick it does (or doesn't) anything.

 

Man.. that was totally uncalled for... LMAO.... sick.

 

pingnak, can't wait to see what you think, I'm looking to get the Vostro 1700 in the next few days.

Cheers

-- fg --

 

The power adapter is just plain odd. It's a 90 watt, 19.5 volt brick that has a very short AC cord that comes out at an angle, probably to wrap around its curved shape.

The notebook doesn't get hot, but the space to the left of it (next to the big exhaust vent) gets plenty warm.

Vista... has some issues. I REALLY wanted XP, and got 32 bit Vista because that's all they'd ship with it. I definitely got screwed. You'll get real used to right-clicking on start-up icons and picking a 'compatibility' mode for things that misbehave. Lots of software will not work without tinkering.

Everything you do needs an approval dialog to be answered. All in all, a good thing. Prior Windows 'security' was non-existent. Unfortunately, in most cases (especially just moving start menu shortcuts around) you dismiss TWO OR MORE pop-ups to repeatedly give permission for the same operation!

File copies have become a nightmare. If there's anything to conflict with in a target folder, you'll be clicking until your arm falls off to dismiss all the 'are you sure?' idiot prompts with huge graphics.

I spent more money on VMWare 6 and Norton Ghost 12. Upgrades made necessary for Vista compatibility, naturally. MinGW is broken under Vista, and nobody has seen fit to make an official release to fix it in all these months. That broke several builds, and I'll have to sort that out tomorrow.

The Dell wireless card certainly does have impressive range. I was sitting on the opposite side of a large house from the access point, through multiple interior and exterior walls and getting a very usable 802.11G signal.

 

Well that's made me more certain to wait for SP1 to buy if I can't plead with Dell to ship XP with a 1700.

 

so pingnak, could you post some pics of your laptop?

 

Umm, OK. There. It has a cat in it, too.

It seemed to play 'Supreme Commander' OK.

There seems to be a problem with sound breaking up and stuttering just a little. This morning it's not so apparent. I haven't tested enough to determine if it's only XP applications (sound problem was present in Foobar2000 and Supreme Commander) that have the problem, or if it's present in the Media Player, too. I haven't heard any new glitches in the sound using the Media Player. So possibly that's another category of things Vista has #%&*ed up.

I might have to invest in an XP disc.

-- Added - Nope: It breaks up in Media Player, too.

 

I've got both 1500 and 1700 Vostros. 1500 replacement is en route since it came with bad color sync issues on the display initially. Probably gonna keep Vostro 1500 once it's replaced. I intend to return my Vostro 1700.

A few Vostro 1700 impressions in the order of appearance:
- Fingerprints stay on the top of the cover, don't get off easily. Same on 1500.
- 9-cell battery is bulky and protrudes for 2-3 cm at the back of the laptop. Battery is a bit loose and wobbles in the socket. This is not the case on 1500.
- Cover latch is flimsy and cover also wobbles.
- LCD backlight is uneven, bleeds at the bottom, blurs in the corners.
- There's a high-pitched noise coming from the motherboard when CPU is operating in deep power saving states.
- There's no RAID, they saved another $5 on the chipset. You can't enable Windows mirroring/striping on a laptop either.
- BIOS is far from perfect, for example you can not disable/enable individual hard drives; even when secondary drive is a preferred boot device, BIOS boots from the primary. Have to use boot menu override - F12.
- Recovery partition is useless, you can't restore the OS to factory state from Vista system recovery menu. Same on 1500. No OS CD in the box.
- Windows XP runs fine with some drivers for 1500 and 3rd-party Ricoh flash card adapter drivers.
- Battery life is appropriate for a 17" laptop with 2 hard drives and dedicated GPU, 2.5-3 hours depending on the usage and wireless options enabled.
- UWXGA screen is bright and crisp, no dead pixels on mine. Glossy is bad for the fingers.
- Quiet and cool.

 

That's weird! In the NZ Dell store the opposite was true when I ordered! Vostro's had the 800mhz FS, and the option of 7,200RPM drives, which the Inspirons didn't (Shortages, I assume)

 

BIG picture of the Dell Vostro 1700 for all interested. http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/corporate/imagebank/notebooks/vostro_1700_300.jpg

 

Thanks for the pictures. Somehow, Dell's pictures and pingnak's picture have the Vostro looking way more stylish than those in most of the reviews I've read. As long as I forget the XPS exists (which it does not, in the necessary sizes), I can be quite happy with this one!

I have the same observation as ChanchoWancho, with Dell Canada. One of the reasons I think I am going to choose a Vostro is that they have a T7100, while the Inspirons are not giving that option without a fight. Also costs quite a bit less to upgrade to a 7200 RPM hard drive with a Vostro, but you make a good point about how that ultimately affects things.

 

In the absence of an OS CD, what you do if the hard drive with the recovery partition goes south? Go out and buy the OS CD from Microsoft?