Dell Inspiron 1000 Review

Good Points
Windows Xp
Dvd Player
Ok Screen

Bad Points
Lack of options to upgrade (max 512ram)
Came with one dead pixel - dell unsupportive
Battery Life - 50mins
Tacky black casing

General Comments
My Dell Inspiron 1000 Specs -

256mb ram

30gb hard drive

Cd - Dvd Drive

Windows Xp Home

Intel Inside Celeron

Ni-mh Battery

14.1" screen

3 usb ports

56k modem

1 Ethernet Port

1 Tv/out port

1 card slot

I bought my notebook on 17th Novemver 2004. The notebook is relatively good but there are some issues which must be addressed. Firstly, when I recieved the notebook it had a small dot on the screen which I believed was just a peice of dust, it turned out to be a dead pixel. I called Dell who said that I would have to send it back and the whole process would take over a month. I decided to keep my laptop. Theres a nice bright screen which can be dimmed using keyboard shortcuts. The keyboard is springy and has a nice feel to it. The mouse pad is amazing. Brilliant, its a lot better than other notebooks I have tried and it totaly responds every time. The hinges on the laptop are quite stiff but this I think it's best like this and the clip keeping the laptop shut is a bit "flimsy".

The Dell Inspiron 1000 is heavy, not just heavy, but really heavy, weighing in around 7pounds. The battery life is dreadful! 50mins at the most just doing routine tasks such as web browsing, word processing, listening to music, I recieved the lower end battery the Ni-mh, for £45 more I could have bought a lithium lion battery which supposedly lasts 2.5 hours. The Intel inside celeron processor is very slow, I have hardly anything on my 1000 and it's kerb crawling.

I do, however, like my Inspiron, but the black tacky casing is an eye sore and would easily smash if dropped. The CD Drive is a bit flimsy so care should be taken whilst on the move. The Windows XP operating system installed is fab but very slow.

On the whole, I only recommend this laptop for people who really can't afford a higher spec model...like me. I now regret not taking advice from people about not buying from Dell. I will never buy another Dell as their customer support is poor.