Dell Inspiron 5100 Review

Good Points
Low price for the features you get.

Bad Points
OVERHEATS!! My computer is now useless due to heat damage

General Comments
My specs and price were great: P4 2.66, 512MB ram, 60gb hd, 32MB raedon videocard, SXGA screen, CDRW/DVDROM for less than $1500 American.



My computer was great for about 4 to 5 months, then it would get really hot and shut off with no warning even doing processes of just moderate processor intensity such as web browsing. I intitially fixed the problem my raising the computer on two books so the fan could get more air. That worked for a while, but I still noticed a huge decrease in performance. I eventually found my problem desribed on the following pages/forums: http://www.geocities.com/i5100dustproblem

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_general&message.id=139712



After using the compressed air to dust the fan, I no longer had overheating problems, but my performance still was not up to par. After about 16 months of ownership, my motherboard does not take ac power or charge the battery. So, now 4 months past warrenty, I can either pay $500 for a new motherboard, plus postage and instalation charges (and lose my computer for up to 3 weeks) or cut my loses get a new computer. Considering Dell's customer service and reliability, I will definately be staying away from Dell.



Please do yourself a favor and stay away from Dell!!