a change of heart regarding Dell notebooks

Note: Since this is a general comment and questions regarding Dell notebooks, I opted to post it here. If it should belong to a particular sub-forum, mods, please move it. Thanks!

When I joined NBR 3 years ago, I've read mostly "not-so-good" remarks regarding Dell build quality but I knew then that it gives outstanding specs for the price. Besides, there's no local Dell distributor here in the Philippines back then.

Just this year, Dell has entered the local market, not directly, but through local distributors, like most if not all computer manufacturers. I don't know of any computer manufacturer, be it Lenovo, HP, Acer, Asus and now Dell, that directly sell computers here, maybe it's got to do with some Philippines laws, I don't really know.

Anyways, yesterday at a mall, I was able to actually see and touch (get the feel) Dell notebooks for the first time. An XPS m1330 (they don't have the m1530 on stock) and a couple of Inspirons 1420 (I wish I also saw a 1520 or 1525). I must say, I'm pretty impressed with the build quality and workmanship, especially with the Inspiron 1420. It's not perfect, of course, but I don't think there's one as even in the ThinkPad T60 I currently use, I can notice a number of flaws in the build and workmanship. Except for the bulge in the keyboard of XPS m1330 which is really noticeable, it also has great build.

One of the things I really look for in a notebook build is the hinge stiffness. I don't like a screen that wobbles. The screen hinge of the hp 6710b I've had a chance to lay a hand on wobbles, even though it's only 4 months old. On the contrary, hp 6515b's hinge is quite stable. My 3-year old T60's hinge is still stiff and looks like it will stay that way for the next hundred years or more. Now, the hinge quality of the Inspiron 1420 I checked seems pretty stiff. I was "shaking" it in the air with the screen opened and it doesn't wobble.

Now, to my questions - after the long introduction

1) Is the 1420 hinge steel, covered in hard plastic?

2) Is the 1525 of the same build quality?

3) Is the new Vostro lineup of the same hinge quality?

4) How about the Latitude d630 an d830?

5) To all Inspiron 1420/15xx, Vostro and Latitude d630 and d830 owners, who have theirs for several months now, is the hinge stiffness still the same?

6) To all Latitude owners, does Dell provide a similar utility as the TVT Rescue and Recovery or HP Backup and Restore? I was hoping that as a business-class notebook, it should provide a similar one.

To be honest, the reason I started to look at Dells is because it's hard to get high specifications for a ThinkPad here in the Philippines. Just look into Lenovo Philippines website to see what I mean. I am particularly looking for a 15.4 screen with WSXGA+ resolution. No ThinkPad model with such spec is available locally. You can't even get a 15.4 screen for a ThinkPad T61 here. And the HP business-class ones are very expensive here.

So now comes Dell. If I was impressed with the Inspiron 1420 build, I am really expecting more from the business-class Latitude d830 (or the upcoming E6500), which is what I am eyeing.

To all Dell owners here, especially the d830 owners, I would appreciate all your responses and comments.

 

The hinge works just as well for me as it did 11 months ago. My other friend with a Vostro hasn't experienced any hinge degradation, either. However, his notebook has had numerous other defects that Dell repair hasn't fixed yet despite it being sent in many times. On the good side, I haven't experienced any problems whatsoever.

Inspiron 1520/Vostro 1500 for reference. De facto the same notebook, except colour and that the 1520 has better speakers.

I don't know what the hinge is actually constructed of, but it does seem to be fairly good quality. And I was a bit paranoid about the hinge at first due to the one on an old HP kind of breaking on me - now I'm comfortable quickly closing the lid and not worrying about damaging the hinge by doing so. Closing more so than opening, though - it's a bit more difficult to open it really quickly.

Dell build quality, from what I've seen, has improved. But the business class (except Vostro) is better than the Inspiron line, about comparable to HP business. The ThinkPad T-series is still generally considered the best build quality.

 

I had a dell 8600 and the hinges were terribly wobbly. Drove me up the wall and the screen started buzzing at lower brightnesses so I had them replace it and it was wobbly within a month again. I am planning on buying the Studio 15 though, because of the features and price.

 

Yes

I think so, very well built.

The ones we have look very solid and they look to be of similar design to the previous systems.

My M4300 and M6300 are my favorite Dells and they are very similar to the Latitudes.

My hinges are holding up very well on my M4300 and M6300 systems and the 1530 and 1730 are also very solid hinges after many months of abuse.

I am nut sure whats included, we wipe and use our own OS images.

 

Man, they've gone DOWN in quality lately. I've owned Latitude CPxH, Inspiron 1000, Inspiron 9200, Inspiron 1521, Inspiron 1520 (x2) and XPS M1330 (x3). The CPxH is still around and chugging along, the 1000's long been retired, the Inspiron 9200 was the best built of them all. I still have parts of it, the others I sold. The 1521 and 1520 were crap compared to their old Inspirons, and their new XPS hardly meet the quality of the old Inspirons. This is all just IMO, but to be quite honest, I've ALWAYS used Dell laptops, and this XPS M1330 is the last Dell laptop I will own probably unless they pick up their slack.

 

Thanks Apollo13 for that information.

What particular model are you referring?

Most certainly agreed. The all-black, all-business look is simply sleek. I am not a big fan of two-tone color schemes in a notebook. But the lack of locally available high spec'd ThinkPad made me look elsewhere, particularly now at Dell. As long as the notebook can give me many service of service, I don't mind if some other brand has a better build quality.

@yellowlt4: You seem to be using Dell laptops on a corporate setting. If that's the case, you seem to issue different Dell models depending on a particular group of users. May I know a little more about how you determine who gets a particular model? Thanks also for replying, btw.

Thanks also to the others who provided feedback.

 

So the Precisions and Latitudes are basically of the same build quality, with the the Precision having the edge in the internals as it's a workstation-class notebook? Like the T61 and T61p?

 

Im glad you had a change of heart. Dell is #1 nationwide for a reason you know.

 

I don't make the decisions, my co-workers are given a budget (based on their postion) and they order what they want. I only support them after the fact.

 

A Precision M4300 is essentially a Dell D830 with a different video card. The M6300 on the other hand does not have a Latitude counterpart but it is based off the same chassis as the previous XPS M1710 and Precision M90 systems. Which used a very solid chassis, mostly Mag-alloy and has proven to be extremely reliable. In this chasis I currently have an M6300, M90 and an M1710 in use, in fact this is being typed on my M90 system.

 

Thanks for replying.

I hope to see some more owner comments, especially regarding Vostro and Latitudes.

btw, I noticed at the store yesterday that the Inspiron 1420 seems more sturdy than both the 1520 and 1525.

also, what other models share the same chassis? Like the vostro models, what inspiron share the same chassis?

Thanks again!

 

I owned an m1330 for about 10 months before moving to a MacBook. I'm not trying to turn this into a Dell vs Apple debate, but rather just offering my insight.

When my m1330 arrived, I noticed right away that there was a very noticeable imperfection in the lid. It was warped enough to notice. This defect did not affect the functionality of the laptop at all. When I called dell to ask for a replacement, I was offered a $400 discount if I kept it....which I ended up doing, so Customer Service gets good marks from me.

The build quality overall wasn't bad, but it also wasn't great. There was a little bit of flex, and carrying it around resulted in the odd "creak" here and there. Even just setting something on top of the lid (that was relatively light) resulted in the top bowing in a little.

When I decided to buy a Mac, I was a little shocked by the build quality. It felt like a tank in my hands. I'm not sure what the official weights are between the MacBook and the m1330, but the MacBook felt like a solid piece of electronics. I didn't feel any discernible flex, there was no creaking, and overall I felt the construction to be much better when compared to Dell.

If you have never seen/touched a Mac in person, I recommend you see one just to get an idea of the build quality compared to Dell.

 

i had a 640m/e1405 and it was so wobbly i HATED the wobble

 

I think build quality comes with time. Dell has always had numerous types of laptops while Apple really has minimal designs and little changes. So it really is easier for Apple to make a more solid product as there is much more consistency.

Not to mention, the price of their products is much much higher than many others, so they probably spend a lot more money on build quality. You get what you pay for. That extra $1,000 in cost might go towards manufacturing a more solid product.