new dell inspiron line

hi, i've read on the dell site that the new inspirons are made "road-ready" so that they're durable. i've heard from past owners of inspirons that the customer service for the inspiron line is mediocre and that the inspirons themselves were made of cheap plastic and usually stopped operating properly or broke within a year or two of purchase. i was just wondering if the new dell inspirons, such as the 1520, and any other new inspirons, are made with the same quality of magnesium alloy casing that the latitudes are made out of and if these new inspirons are as durable as the latitudes. i myself own a d630 and so far, i have been very pleased.

for a college student, would one of the new inspirons be suitable for 4 or more years of use, if taken care of with moderate to high care?

 

I dont think the Inspirons which came around last year or so like the 6400 were of that bad quality.... They were quite rugged too.... But I do not know about the ones which had come before that...

 

If you really want a "road ready" notebook, I would get a latitude or one of the new vostros.

 

I thought the Vostro had the same build as the Inspirons, except they're black and small business?

 

They look stronger. I don't know though

 

I'm typing this on my 2001 Inspiron 8100. While it has its share of nicks and bruises, it has held up well. I haven't been especially easy on it either. By all accounts this batch of Dell's are very sturdy. I hope so, I'm planning on getting 4 years out of the one below.

 

Well...I would argue that! I am currently working on an Inspiron 2500 I purchased from Dell in 2001!!! The only problem I ever had was the key board went out about 1 yr ago and I had to replace it for $30 bucks and it was easy to do!!! So, I am purchasing yet another Inspiron (see my sig) with hopes that it too will last as well as my 2500 has.

 

This isn't really true. I was a campus computer consultant while in college and I can tell you that the Dell Inspirons performed better and were more durable than Thinkpads. Seeing as how I had to repair literally hundreds of laptop issues by my idiotic friends at college, the fact that they performed well and the low number of battery and hdd replacements we did (especially compared to the abonimable t23s) indicates that they had a fine build. Also, I have a Latitude work laptop (d6100) and its fine and pretty durable.

As far as your friends: that's just hating on their part or isolated incidents from their experience.

 

The new Inspirons are even better than you could imagine, if you haven't seen one. They are solid as a rock, they have a spill proof keyboard, a hard drive "strike zone" for protection, and aren't plastic.

A lot of people hate on Dell for being a "value" brand, but in the past 24 hours more of my friends and people at work have commented about how nice my new 1420 is, before I show them that it's a Dell.

 

You're talking about the Vostros, the Inspirons don't have those things.

 

Actually they do have those things. On a previous thread I posted pics of the strikezone and sealed keyboard to prove it.

 

Oh, really? Can you post the link? I didn't know this.

 

Here's the link to the previous thread about this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=143663&page=2

 

man ur a notebook deity and u didn't know that the vostro and inspirons are twins?

 

..I knew their build was the same, but I thought only the Vostro had the strike zone hard drive protection

 

My friend has an Inspiron e1501 that has the strike zone protection, its not something that only the Business models have

 

Well then I guess i should return the laptop sitting on my desk, because it has all of those things.

 

No, he is correct. The Inspirons have them as well. The only difference with the vostros is the anti-glare screen WXGA+ and WSXGA+ , and the color.

 

ahh, so is there a difference now between the quality of the build of latitudes and the new inspirons then?

 

Vostros and Inspirons, Latitudes are their own thing still.

 

i'm configuring an inspiron 1420 and i haven't chosen any parts that say that they might delay my shipment. if i order on tuesday afternoon, around when should i get my 1420? any suggestions, 1420 users?

 

sometime before the end of the year

And the Vostros are just Inspirons in black. That's about it. The latitudes are a whole different story all together. Although, it is about time for a revamp of those as well.

So what exactly is this Strike zone thing? I see it on the bottom of my notebook, but I have no clue what it means.

 

well, my 1420 is in production. thanks for all the info guys, i feel more confident now that the new inspiron series will be exactly what i need.