Entry Level Dell Inspiron i14RN-1227BK 14-Inch Laptop

Price: $584.00

Product Features
Intel Core i3-2350M Processor 2.3GHz
6GB DIMM RAM
500GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
14-Inch Screen, Intel HD Graphics 3000
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Other Opinion

By zdeuyo

Ok lets break this laptop down and help you find out if you should buy this laptop.

Product Features

Intel Core i3-2350M Processor 2.3GHz
6GB DIMM RAM
500GB 5400RPM Hard Drive

Note: I3 processor at this price is not a good deal even with 6gb of RAM (4gb is what avg users use). The 5400rpm hard drive doesn't justify the price either.

14-Inch Screen, Intel HD Graphics 3000
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Note: 14 inches is a sweet spot between portability and screen size, but you will see that this laptop comes in at about 6.57lbs. Pretty heavy for a 14inch.

USB 2.0 Ports: 1
USB 3.0 Ports: 2

Note: this is good but an extra one would be better.

Battery Type: Nonstandard Battery (6-cell battery)
Wireless Type: 802.11bgn

Note: Wireless is standard. The battery...you can expect about 3-4 hours with normal usage.

Other:

Chiclet-style keyboard
Touchpad with integrated scrolling and gestures
VGA Output (Connect to another monitor or TV, non HD)

This is entry level to getting your feet wet with a laptop. For a first time laptop user that does not go with a Netbook, this is ok, but for about 50 to 100 dollars more you would get a much better laptop for your money.Ok lets break this laptop down and help you find out if you should buy this laptop.

Disapointing Dell Inspiron i14z-5000sLV 14-Inch Ultrabook

List Price: $799.99
Price: $559.99

Product Features
Color: Silver
Intel Core i5 3317U Processor 1.7GHz
6 GB DIMM RAM
500GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD and 32GB mSATA SSD
14-Inch Screen
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Other Opinion

By RP

From the very beginning started to have problems with the Internet connection. Sometimes it just disappears. It is not my wifi, because other two notebooks I have work perfectly well. Googled it and seems like a common problem on dell notebooks with Windows 7. I also find the touch-pad not very responsive: you have to hit it really hard in order to make a click. I tried to change that in the settings, but could not. Tried to contact the support service yesterday, but they were not very helpful. Very negative impressions so far. Stay away from it.

Update: the problem of internet connection was solved after contacting the support service. However, I still have problems with the touch pad. Although I managed to also solve the touch pad problem described above, it is still not very responsive and jittery. For some reason the clicklock or draglock (or I don't know what that function is called) activates by itself every time I start the machine. To deactivate it I just have to open and immediately close the mouse properties window. To avoid this problem I just use a regular mouse. I am also not very happy with the battery life. It doesn't last more than 3-4 hours with normal browsing.

Re-packaged Dell Inspiron i15R-1633sLV 15.6-Inch Laptop

List Price: $609.99
Price: $459.99

Product Features
Intel Core i3-2370M 2.4 GHz
6 GB DDR3
750 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
15.6-Inch Screen
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Other Opinion

By mani

Bought this on Black Friday. The laptop was delivered on time. Even though it was supposed to be new, it is clearly re-packaged. You can see on the cardboard box where the original Factory tape was removed and it has been re-sealed with a generic packaging tape.

This might be acceptable if it was sold as refurbished or re-conditioned but definitely NOT for a new laptop. I wonder who opened the original Factory packaging (Security Tape).

I have decided to send the item back to Amazon. Unfortunately, all the Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals are gone and I've asked Amazon for a Replacement with the same model. The sad thing is that Amazon does not have it in stock any more and Customer Service cannot order a replacement for me. This is supposed to be a gift and I don't want the recipeient to think that it's a refurbished/reconditioned item.

Reading at the other 2 reviews, I am having second thoughts if I should really gift this Model.