New Inspiron 14 is out!

I wanna find some reviews too b4 i get this

 

Just saw ths at Best Buy today. It is a VERY nice looking laptop. Keyboard was firm with very little flex (better than some Studio laptops I've seen). Could hear a slight bit of creaking when picking up laptop by a palmrest (nothing to be too alarmed about). Overall a nice looking laptop. I much prefer the looks of this laptop to the HP ones. Has anyone purchased one of these yet?

 

Yeah, I give the Inspiron 14 and 15 credit for having nice, sturdy keyboards. On the other hand, though, I prefer the feel and shape of the Studio series keys, despite the alleged flex. Either my models just have no flex, or everyone's complaining a lot more than I am.

 

Just saw this at Best Buy also. I was actually very pleasantly surprised. It's smaller (in a good way) and lighter than I thought it was going to be. It also looks better and has a better feel than I thought. (Not as cheap-looking as I expected.) I didn't notice any flex at all with the keyboard. The keys did seem a tiny bit big compared to what I'm used to. My only complaint about this model is that is has a tray for the cd/dvd rom. It's just junky looking compared to the sleek slot load that a lot of the new models have. I think I will probably end up getting this one. Gonna wait another week or so for more reviews.

 

I too saw it at BBY today, but I didn't really see any reason to go with it over the studio 14z other than the optical drive. Am I missing anything?

 

The Studio 14z is over 0.7lbs lighter and about 0.3" thinner than the Inspiron 14. It also has a far superior integrated graphics processor- the nVIDIA 9400M G vs. the Intel GMA 4500MHD. The 14z also adds several ports- USB/eSATA, Firewire (IEEE 1394) and DisplayPort.

The "First Look" at the Inspiron 14 here on NBR said the following-

 

OH YEAH! Well... The inspiron is more prettyfull!

 

Here's the link to the Best Buy deal:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...e=product&cp=1&id=1218090589731&ref=10&loc=01

C2D T4200, 4GB RAM, 320GB SATA HDD, 6-cell battery, and 9400M. That last part confuses me.. I thought they only came with 4500MHD or 4330 HD?

 

I think the better argument would be price.

Oh, and the fact that the Inspiron comes with an optical drive.

 

pffft technicalities.

 

I'm willing to bet that Best Buy has the wrong GPU listed. The Studio 14z is the only one offering the nVIDIA GeForce 9400M G.

Dell goofed in their numbering of these two models. They're both 1440s, one is the I1440 (Inspiron) and the other is the S1440 (Studio). Typcially, they don't duplicate model numbers- Inspiron 1525, Studio 1535, Inspiron 1545, Studio 1555, etc.

The folks at Best Buy just got confused on the specs, I'm willing to bet!

 

Will there be any coupons that I can use at Dell.com to get some money off the Inspiron 14?

 

The best deal on the Dell website is the configuration starting at $479- LINK

It's the way to go if you want the 900p display or a processor upgrade beyond the T4200.

If you're content witht he T4200/720p LED, the $499 Best Buy model can't be beat!

 

Ugh, the Best buy deal is great, even though they have everything wrong listed under the "Specifications" tab... it even says what comes in the box is a Studio XPS.

I want to know exactly how this best buy model is configured, customer reviews of this put up today say it has 4GB of RAM, and that's a plus with it only being $499... But I wonder just what specs this configuration does have...

But damn I really would like the 900p screen. Is there really a big difference between 1600x900 and 1376x768?

 

Hi this is my first post. I just bought the Best Buy version of the Insprion 14. I really like and the 720 led screen looks great much better then my old Inspiron 1501 which had a 1200X800 LCD.

Overall I do like the lap top it seems to run cool.....However my one complaint is that the main heat vent is blocked by the screen hinge on the back of the laptop. It has about a quarter inch of room to push out hot air before it hits the base of the screen. Hope this doesn't lead to any over heating issues over time.

 

Can you confirm if the laptop has a geforce video card or onboard?

 

Thats all messed up!
C2D T4200 does not, I repeat, does not exist. The T4200 is a PDC or Pentium Dual Core!
It does not use the 9400M G, it uses the GM45 chipset for Intel GMA4500MHG or the PM45 chipset for the ATI (when available).

Careful with that. Could be misleading.

 

Pentium Dual Core is the exact same thing as Core 2 Duo. They use the same core architecture; Pentium Dual Core is simply a marketing term for the lower-end C2D's, making people think they're trash and thus inspiring them to spend money on the higher end "real" C2D's.

In many cases, a Pentium Dual Core is the exact same as a C2D of the same clock speed, but with smaller cache.

 

There are differences between them though, for example the T4200 doesn't have SSE4.1; whereas to the best of my knowledge all C2Ds do.

 

The C2D can run virtual machines, and im quite sure PDC cant.
C2D have more L2 Cache and nowadays more FSB and lower power consumption/smaller build process, making them more energy efficient and faster.

 

Not all C2Ds have Virtualization Technology either, and they don't all have smaller dies/lower TDP. If I'm not mistaken, the T4200 is a 45nm Penryn processor, same as most of the newer Core 2 Duos.

 

Sorry for my ignorance if this has been mentioned before, but does the 9-cell battery make the laptop tilt? I am waiting until my best buy carries these in stock so I could actually see it in person. Thanks in advance.

 

Yes the T4200 is a 45nm penryn core and yes you are correct, not all C2D have VT - for example the T6500

 

No it does not. It has the standard Intel 4500mhd. Sorry....still good for older games though.

 

It will eventually have the option of the dedicated ATi HD 4330.

 

I bought one of these today from Best Buy. For $499, it's a pretty incredible deal. I don't mind the Pentium Dual-Core CPU since to me it seems to run cooler than the Core 2 Duo's. I do very light gaming and it's mostly old stuff (Day of Defeat, CS:Source, etc.) that the on-board graphics can handle. The screen is very bright and has great detail. I haven't been impressed with the majority of 1366x768 screens on other laptops. They look grainy and washed out. I'm still getting used to it though since I'm used to 1280x800.

I've only had it a few hours but I have some early impressions. The keyboard is very flat and there is no gap between keys. This looks great but at times it's a tad difficult to ascertain which key you're pressing. The construction is very solid, and that's saying something because my last machine was a 13" MacBook Pro. The media controls are subtle and there aren't distracting LED's everywhere which is important to me. I also got a free upgrade to Windows 7 H.P. 64-Bit. I haven't found anything wrong so far on this laptop. I'll keep you guys informed.


Here are the specs:

Intel® Pentium® T4200 2.0GHz/800MHz FSB/1MB L2 cache
4GB DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 8GB.
Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
14" high-definition widescreen LED display, 1366 x 768 resolution
320GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Built-in webcam
6-in-1 digital media reader
3 USB 2.0 ports
Dell 1397 wireless networking mini-card (802.11b/g)
10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
Weighs 5.3 lbs. and measures up to 1.5" thin
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64-Bit

 

I'm glad to hear it's built well.
Definitely some great specs for $500. I'm still waiting to get more details on the new inspiron 13 too.

 

I was quite surprised by how well the entire Inspiron range seems to be built quite well considering they are Dells budget range.

Keep us updated with how things go with this notebook, but glad you like it so far

 

Pics/Video's Plz!

 

It would seem like Dell is trying to clean up their name of bad quality.

I even had a testimonial, private one, claiming that the BQ of the Precision M4x00 was below average, and nothing compared to a HP EliteBook 8xx0w.

Perhaps they are revamping the BQ on the consumer models to improve their image?? Would be nice to have low priced laptops that are more durable!

 

Hi,

I would like to buy Dell Inspiron 14 for my mum. I would like to buy it from bestbuy:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218090589731

I have a couple questions:

1. Does it have touchpad vertical and horizontal scrolling?

2. Is it good to use 1366 x 768 resolution for browsing the internet? Is it enough to see the website well with just 768 vertical pixels?

3. Is touchpad grainy (good) or is it glossy (bad - sticky)?

4. How long did it take to ship it from bestbuy to you? Or was it only for local pick-up?

5. Did you find some case for that notebook? If yes, can you let me know which?

Thank you a lot, I appreciate your help.

 

Can anyone comment on the quality of the 900p LED upgrade option on the Inspiron 14? How would it compare to the LED screen on the XPS M1330 from last summer?

 

im so confused here, i went to go and purchase an inspiron 14 today and i find out that dell removed the dedicated HD 4330 graphics option. It was there yesterday and all of a sudden its gone. On the laptop's description, it still lists the HD 4330 as an option. Anyone know whts going on?

it was from the Canadian site btw.

 

Wait a few days then, it may have been removed due to stock issues. Alternatively, place an order by phone - the Dell sales reps often have options available to them that the customers don't see

 

Just a tip guys.
I went with the 720p screen and I'm regretting it really hard. Its not crisp at all and the viewing range is like 3" to the left or right from the middle of the screen, Is this par for Dell? I should have gone with the 900p screen, tried to talk to dell about it but they wanted to charge me $330 to replace the screen or 15% restocking fee to return the laptop and buy a new one.

Besides that, I'm absolutely smitten with this laptop.

 

Ouch...bad news peeps on the WXGA screen up there...
How about performance and keyboard flex?

 

What's keyboard flex? From what I can tell my keyboard is really nice, the Apple computer guy at work was a bit jealous of it.

Yeah, screen is a bummer. Does anyone know of a work around for that 15% re-stocking fee?

edit: Just watched a youtube video of a Lenovo keyboard flex, youch mine does not do that at all. Not sure if that comes after a lot of usage but there's something hard down there when I press on the keys to prevent the whole keyboard from caving in.

 

Do you have the link?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6IzwiEsFKA

 

WOW!! That is not cool!

When you type, do you feel the keyboard bounces or jumps? If so, it has keyboard flex, if not, then it is solid.

 

Its solid, feels like my macbook pro

 

If you look in the business section, the option is still there.

On that note: the 4330 option says it requires a 6 cell battery rather than the 4 cell. Does anyone know if the 6 or 9 cell batteries extend out of the back of the laptop?

 

There's no reason the 4330 requires an upgraded battery. Sure, you'd lose a bit of life on the relatively weak 4 cell, but it's certainly not a necessity. Call Dell and order your laptop over the phone; the sales reps should be able to set you up with the 4330 and a 4 cell battery.

To answer your question, though, the 6 cell does not stick out, and the 9 cell does extend, but at the bottom of the laptop rather than the back.

 

I don't mind having to get the 6 cell battery anyways. The more battery life the better.

Speaking of which, has anyone found a full review of this laptop anywhere? I've done some google-ing but the most I've seen is an overview.

 

^^^
Inspiron 1440 review
http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Dell_Inspiron_1440_Notebook/551-104736-616.html

 

Im thinking of buying this laptop and I was using this coupon code for it but it's not working for some reason. The laptop I configured was $899 but it still doesnt work

$225 off select Dell Inspiron Laptops $899+ Coupon Code: ?WHS3GCWQ$7W9G Oct 01, 2009

 

Here's my mini review of a newly purchased Dell Inspiron 1440.

The machine went on sale at my local Best Buy yesterday for $449. I was looking for the color black but settled on ice blue. This is a budget configuration with Intel integrated graphics (GMA4500), 720p LED backlit display (1366x768 native), Dual Core Pentium T4300 (2.1 GHz), 3GB DDR2 800MHz, 250GB Western Digital Scorpio, 802.11b/g, integrated webcam and 6 cell battery.

The unboxing was uneventful. Everything was packed neatly. The machine shipped with Windows 7 Home Premium x64 and the initial boot went without issue. I was hoping for minimal amounts of crapware but was disappointed. I've done quite a few clean installs of Windows 7 and a clean install will leave you with about 30 processes running. The shipping configuration of the Inspiron had 80! A good chunk of it were Dell installed applications that mimic operating system functions.

My first task was to plug in my external USB drive and use Windows Backup to create a system image. I planned to wipe the drive clean for a fresh install and the system image will allow me to return to a shipping state if need be. Once the backup completed I updated the Inspiron BIOS from the Dell website and proceeded with my clean install.

I broke out my Win7 Professional x64 Technet DVD and started the re-installation process. I interrupted the install process and dropped to a command prompt to clean the drive. Diskpart allowed me to clean the drive to a non-partitioned state making a reinstall that much easier. The rest of the installation proceeded without issue. Once complete I was left at a Win7 desktop ready to install my apps.

As I move around the desktop the machine is feeling very quick, nearly as quick as my quad core desktop workstation. At this point Task Manager shows only 29 processes running! This is why I love a clean install. Device Manager shows all devices have drivers and one trip to Windows Update brings the machine up to date with patches and updated drivers. After a reboot I install my essential applications and I'm ready to go.

I settled down around 6pm to catch up on some NFL football on my Media Center PC. The Inspiron battery lasted a little over 4 hours of web surfing, video streaming and light email. Around 10:15pm the laptop warned me about a low battery and put itself to sleep.

For those thinking of picking up this laptop I can tell you there's a lot to like. Performance is pretty good from the Pentium Dual Core T4300. Using Super Pi Mod 1.5 a 1 million place run took 27 seconds. That's not bad for a mobile processor. For comparison's sake my Intel Q9550 desktop takes 17.5 seconds and my kids Pentium 4 3.2GHz takes 40. Long story short is you shouldn't be scared off by the Pentium processor. The same laptop fitted with a core 2 duo t6600 was selling for $729. The LED backlit screen is nice and bright although viewing angles aren't the best. The keyboard feels nice and firm (minimal flex) and the body only flexed a little when picking it up by the corner. The 4+ hours of battery life was an unexpected surprise. I was only expecting 2 to 3.

 

I bought the exact same computer at BB yesterday too (they only had the "Ice Blue" ones). I concur with everything the above poster (fdisker) said. I researched CPUs for weeks looking for a good price/performance ratio and the T4300 won the prize for me and I'm glad I got this laptop ($449). For the money, you get a really snappy laptop.

Intel's CPU naming conventions are just a lot of smoke and mirrors to suck the money out of you. This T4300 is, for the money, a fantastic CPU. It's rated by PassMark somewhere between a Core 2 Duo T6500 and a T6600. You'll pay $100-$200 more for those CPUs and all for nothing but a name. Don't fall for Intel's marketing hype. The newer Celeron and Pentium mobile processors are great and many of them out-perform some of the Core 2 Duos.

Don't let BB sell you one that Geek Squad has "optimized". You don't need that and it will up the price by $100. If you're not going to do a clean install of Win7 x64, I recommend removing the Norton, the Windows Live stuff and anything else you won't use. It comes with less "crapware" than Acer, HP and many others, but there is still some there.

As fdisker said, update the BIOS, remove the crapware and install the Windows updates and you'll be flying. I always disable a few services that aren't necessary for me, like Windows Search, Defender, etc. With the latest Firefox, web pages snap onto the screen faster than my Pentium 4 3.2GHz desktop computer. I'm a happy camper and that says a lot for a scrooge like me.

 

You're correct about the CPU. I also did a bit of research before buying and you'll see on this intel comparison page that the two CPUs are almost exactly the same. The same transistor count is a dead giveaway. They're the same but intel has disabled part of the cache to make the T4300 just a little slower.

All I know is that the machine is darn quick for $449. It feels like quite a bargain. I was considering upgrading to a 7200rpm hard drive but the machine doesn't really need it. After 30 minutes or so Win7 has cached everything I use so applications I've closed launch instantly when I need them again. I too am a happy camper.

 

@fdisker:
Thanks for that Intel CPU comparison link. PassMark rates the T4300 higher than the T6500. I don't know why. Perhaps some of their tests don't use the larger L2 cache in the T6500. I recently had an Asus laptop with a T6500 in it and this feels the same or better for speed and responsiveness.

I installed a 4GB kit (2x2GB, PC2-6400) matching pair for dual-channel. Also, I put in a 7200rpm 320GB hard drive. After a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit), here are my WEI scores:

CPU -------5.4
Memory ----5.4
Aero -------4.0
Gaming----- 4.0
Hard Disk--- 5.9

I've learned that adding memory will raise your hard disk score (maybe due to larger pagefile?). With the original disk, my disk score was 5.5. The disk I upgraded to is a Seagate ST9320423AS 7200.4. The extra gig of RAM upped the graphics scores, too (because the GPU grabbed more memory).

I wanted a matching pair for the RAM because I don't think dual-channel will work right with DIMMS of different density (1x1GB + 1X2gb). Oddly, with the upgraded memory, my score didn't change. But I think that's because the Intel GMA4500MHD just grabs more RAM when more is available. Benchmarks do show better performance with the RAM and HDD upgrade. WEI is not a real benchmark.... just a Windows score.

I booted it with an Ubuntu 9.10 live CD and everything worked except Wi-Fi but it did offer to install a driver. Apparently the "Dell 1397" is actually a Broadcom card.