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Dell Inspiron 4100 Review...

Posted by: Jim on: 01/21/2002 01:44 AM [ Print | 39 comment(s) ]

This has been a long time coming, but finally it's complete. I made a decision in the 4th quarter of '01 and purchased a Dell Inspiron 4100 for reasons which you'll soon discover. A snippet?

The worst has happened. I've finally succumbed to corporate advertising and done the unthinkable... purchased a computer system from Dell. No one is more surprised than me. It was those commercials that did me in. Steve is so damn persuasive. Who wouldn't say to themselves "Shit, maybe I do need a Dell." after witnessing first hand the amazing big screen prowess of this great thespian.

I know this review is a little off-topic as it has nothing to do with SMP. However, even SMPers often need mobile-love and until we're able to purchase dual laptops... these will have to do. Read it if you like.

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timekills Satellite rider Posts: 527 Joined: 2000-08-17

#13408 Posted on: 01/21/2002 06:58 AM Or neither. I bought this POS Sager laptop. Great price, but having to listen to tech support that speaks a different language every time I call sucks. And I have to call frequently, because this think is made out of styrofoam, or something a bit weaker. Dude, Sager is hell! (Apologies to that Texas-based computer company) I may not agree with your opinion, but I will defend to the death your right to express it.

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ReMeDy Satellite rider Posts: 12521 Joined: 2001-02-10

#13409 Posted on: 01/21/2002 08:00 AM Sager should be renamed to Sukger. :mad: |[size=1][url=http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=279831#post279831][color=yellow]FAQ's[/url][/color][/size]|Heatware-Remedy{WcS}|Dual760|Beerology|

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JCLW Registered User Posts: 570 Joined: 2001-01-23

#13410 Posted on: 01/21/2002 08:33 AM I've had a Dell Insprion 3800 (Cellery-500/192mb/20gb) for nearly two years now and it has served me very well. I've had a few bits replaced (motherboard, one memory module, touchpad...) but I also have the three year on-site warranty and there's always been a technician at my door the next business day. I'd highly recommend a three year warranty. - JW Will Vista run on my TRS-80?

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GonePostal SMP Newbie Posts: 48 Joined: 2001-08-16

#13411 Posted on: 01/21/2002 08:46 AM Dude! You got a Dell?!? D: *points and laughs* Life is like a piece of cheese, throw one to a panda and it will dance through the bushes.

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Jim_ Administrator Posts: 3464 Joined: 2000-03-15

#13412 Posted on: 01/21/2002 09:06 AM Originally posted by GonePostal Dude! You got a Dell?!? D: *points and laughs* Yes, yes I did. I'm posting from it right now. [url="http://www.2cpu.com"][size=1]2CPU.com[/url] - Because two are always better than one! [url="http://www.jimkirk.org"]jimkirk.org[/url] - Not a Myth any Longer. Just a Dad.[/size]

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Big B Psychic or Psycho? Posts: 3631 Joined: 2001-07-03

#13413 Posted on: 01/21/2002 09:30 AM Very nice to see you explore the limited BIOS for a laptop. Hardware Forums|2CPU|My DVD's|Heatware=BigB Gigabyte NF650SLI|2GB OCZ PC6400|Pentium E 2160|GF7900GS (SLI)...XP SP2 MSI P965 Neo-F|1GB SuperTalent PC2-5300|PentiumD 920|Radeon X1650...XP SP2

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Brad 30105 in 3dmark 03 Posts: 3646 Joined: 2000-12-06

#13414 Posted on: 01/21/2002 09:35 AM my Dell Inspiron 3800 is my main system, while my duallie's are for overclocking and fun. P3 650 256mb ram 18gb hdd 6.4gb hdd for 2nd bay DVD for 2nd bay about 4 batteries Win2k sp2 of course Current uptime is almost 4 weeks Clevo D870P Notebook, P4 3.4ghz NW, 1gb DDR400, Intel 865PE, ATI 9700 Pro 256mb, 60gb, 80gb, DVDRW, 17" LCD, TV Tuner, 1 hour battery life Athlon 64 3700 Sandy @ 9x315 with XP-120, Asus A8N32-SLI, 2x 512mb PC3200 @ 315mhz 2.5/3/4/8, 2x 7800GTX @ 490/1325, 1x 74gb Raptor, 3x 160gb SATA, Audigy 2 ZS, Silverstone TJ-03, Zippy 700w. P4 3.46 Gallatin EE at 12x300, Supermicro PDSGE, 2gb DDR2 @ 600, 6x 250gb, 6x 200gb, Promise SX6000, Adaptec 2610SA, Acbel 550w 7800GTX 512mb's on their way

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knoahbear SMP Bassman Posts: 865 Joined: 2000-06-04

#13415 Posted on: 01/21/2002 09:35 AM With desktops, where custom system integration is a breeze for most 2cpu.com readers, it makes sense to frown upon buying full OEM systems. With Laptops, this is not the case. Having seen 100's of laptops at the University of Rochester in the hands of faculty, staff, and students, I have to say the the Dell inspirons have by far the fewest problems per quantity owned. However, it's has been an obnoxiously long time since 2cpu's last review of a dual mainboard. Are we starting to get a little too far off topic? Let's see that TMPX review, or at least a snippet of progress already. Cheers! Noah

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Jim_ Administrator Posts: 3464 Joined: 2000-03-15

#13416 Posted on: 01/21/2002 09:44 AM Originally posted by knoahbear However, it's has been an obnoxiously long time since 2cpu's last review of a dual mainboard. Are we starting to get a little too far off topic? Let's see that TMPX review, or at least a snippet of progress already. Hard to review boards that you don't have, unfortunately. I could review an LX QDI slot-1 board with dual p2-300s if you wanted! :-) Hooz is working dilligently on his Tiger MPX review. I trust you'll see it shortly. [url="http://www.2cpu.com"][size=1]2CPU.com[/url] - Because two are always better than one! [url="http://www.jimkirk.org"]jimkirk.org[/url] - Not a Myth any Longer. Just a Dad.[/size]

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JEC252 Too much time on my hands Posts: 3701 Joined: 2001-05-23

#13417 Posted on: 01/21/2002 09:59 AM Well brad and knoahbear, I thought I'd bring up one minor point. I've had an IBM ThinkPad 560X for four (count 'em) four years and it's still going strong. It has turned on and functioned effectively every time I hit the power switch. My only complaint is that with a single clip design, after 3 1/2 years the magnesium top cover developed a crack. Eh, what can I say, I beat the tar out of the poor machine. Alas, however, it's time for a new one. ThinkPad X22 for me. Has a cool "Top Secret Military Jet ... laptop" name. I also need an ultralight but want a full-blown laptop many times. On one battery with this I can fly NYC to London. With a second in the X2 media slice I can fly LA to London or LA to Tokyo, if I wanted to. I think 15+ hours is enough for me. Power management on their new ones is top notch. It really is. For my day job I sit in a retail setting fixing machines and have found a common thread among laptops: 1) I cannot find an old HP or Compaq worth salvaging, or working period. Ditto with most other smaller brands. 2) Many old Dells. Not too many people on their 2nd or third Dell though. These people bought a Dell because it was $1500 and have never replaced it. 486's, P90's, etc. 3) Many people saying "this is my fifth IBM laptop and it doesn't have the same punch it used to, drop in more memory". These people for the most part either a) work for IBM or b) work in manhattan in a suit and tie. I have never hard of a problem with an IBM, even with ALi Magik 1 chipsets like many of the iSeries had. They just work the way they're supposed to. And, if any of you checked it out, my old laptop isn't better than the #2 people. 233 MMX, maxed out at 96 Mb RAM, 4 Gb hard drive. Yet I was able to throw NAV corporate, Windows 2000, Smartsuite Millenium and Office 2000 at it all at once and it didn't balk. I've had Dells do that plenty of times. As far as warranties though, all the way. I'm more concerned about dropping it than anything else, but IBM generally covers that. Once again we've saved civilization as we know it. And the good news is, they're not gonna prosecute!

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Kampf Pixelated Posts: 554 Joined: 2000-04-21

#13418 Posted on: 01/21/2002 10:21 AM mmm...Titanium 667 for life! er, until they get those dual-cpu-on-die G5 Powerbooks out... A couple Apple products and a bizarre ASUS S479 box.

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DracoDan Witty text Posts: 331 Joined: 2001-09-11

#13419 Posted on: 01/21/2002 10:45 AM I have an old dell laptop (p-II 266mhz, 128mb, 5gb) with that same clip design and low and behold, it has caused the the case to crack between the media bays up front. the only tip i can give you is BE VERY GENTLE EVERY TIME YOU OPEN IT. Heatware Ebay feedback

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LinkerX SMP Newbie Posts: 8 Joined: 2001-05-17

#13420 Posted on: 01/21/2002 12:18 PM I am one of those guys that is always on the go and have owned many many laptops and none have surpassed my IBM 770Z. Its so old I cant even remember but I got it when the line was first introduced . Anyways I have owned Dell laptops and recommended them to many friends while I owned them but Dell always fucked me over. They use crappy materials that dont do a good job of protecting the LCD or the innards and break down over time. For instance that LCD problem you were bitching about. That LCD is going to get a nice crack in it eventually or get some lines in it and when it does you will have to buy your self a new LCD unless you make up some believable BS that they take it back. Then to top it off if your screen is cracked they will say you broke the plastic to and charge you $200 for the PLASTIC parts that they say you damaged in addition to the 2 grand at the time they charged me for the screen. I had this happen to me twice in a 6 month period because I was always on the go and ya know what happened to that POS. I threw it out the window of my moving car on I95. Now I curse Dell and will never buy their laptops even if there the only one left in time. Not to mention that my friend that got his right when I got mine never moved his and he still got a problem with his LCD and the plastic is slowly cracking and warping because he has it on a lot. Iv never had one problem with my IBM and have actually dropped it with the screen open before without damage on a few occasions over the past could of years. Sadly the IBM is old and isnt fully compatible with XP mainly the modem and this will cause complications when I travel. Yes thats right I said XP I run XP on my old ass top and it still runs as fast as any new computer once it gets into the OS. So my money is on the Apple Ti or the Ibook because they both have a lot of bad ass features that PC tops cant top. Sorry about the length of this post but I really hate Dell and will never understand why an enthusiast would buy one after all you should be smarter then that. :confused:

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tortols SMP Newbie Posts: 7 Joined: 2001-11-01

#13421 Posted on: 01/21/2002 01:06 PM I bought a Inspiron 4100 in the last month too. The power of dual machines is umatched, but my daily work doesn't really require it. The portability and price was definitely a factor for my sudden purchase, because it's not pretty, (wished it was a Titanium, Vaio or thinkpad.) The Dell warranty is good too. Enjoy your laptop Jim.

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Rocketman Random Pavarotti Disease Posts: 733 Joined: 2000-08-10

#13422 Posted on: 01/21/2002 02:49 PM we buy mostly Dell Laptops here +a few Toshiba's and a Compaq The original Dell Lattitude series (P233) we are just phasing out - I have replaced at least 15 lid latches, 15 media bay latches - and repaired at least five ,with glue, because of a crack between the media bays. A few have died as well.... The first replacements were Dell Lattitude CPT-S series - slightly better build quality, but we have has ~7 system board replacements for faulty keyboard controllers (caused "m" "k" "o" and other keys not to work at all) We now have a few Lattitude C500's - build quality is much better, I'd recommend it. I can have any of our laptops I want, and I use one -nuff said.... We have ~5 Lattitude C400's as well - very nice machines - alloy cases, compatible with Dell Docking stations, very light, PIII-M 850's. Downside is it's a 1 spindle design, screen is small (but 1024 native), and keyboard is difficult to touch-type on. We have approx 50 laptops here in total All in all, Dell support is _superb_. It's a novelty to talk to tech support when they know more about the product than I do! Warranties are cheap, and service is good. Prices are good too, try comparing a Toshiba Portege to a C400.... Rocketman These aren't the sigs you're looking for... Move along.

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Riktar Which way did they go? Posts: 144 Joined: 2001-03-22

#13423 Posted on: 01/21/2002 05:28 PM VERY good review. Although I am still trying to justify (Then again, with some exceptions, who can justify their 2 - 3 thousand dollar pencils?) the cost of one. I can see the benefits of being away from the office, while still having access to the office with me. I liked the fact that you dove into the bios and touched on some of the basic setup items. Nice to see someone go into those points. I don't recall reading just HOW long you can remain "unchained" from your desk with one, or two batteries. Could you post that info? All in all, a VERY good article that answers alot of my questions about going the laptop route. In closing I have to say,,,, no wait,,,, I shouldn't,,,, It's too cruel,,,, Must resist,,,, Can't fight the urge to say,,,, DUUUDE! YOU JUST SOLD ME ON DELL! (Laptops, anyway) To those who answer: Thanks. To those I answer: You are welcome. I'm just happy to be here in the middle.

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JCLW Registered User Posts: 570 Joined: 2001-01-23

#13424 Posted on: 01/21/2002 07:39 PM Originally posted by DracoDan I have an old dell laptop (p-II 266mhz, 128mb, 5gb) That's hardly old! I've got a Dell 486 laptop that is currently used as a print server for my LaserJet 4 , and my Dad still uses his Dell P-133 all the time. Originally posted by Riktar I don't recall reading just HOW long you can remain "unchained" from your desk with one, or two batteries. Could you post that info? On my Inspiron 3800 (Cellery-500, 192mb) I get 3.5~4 hours per battery. If I use the CD-ROM battery life drops considerably. Going off on a tangent: A long time ago my Dad had a laptop (an Acer I think) that had an AC adapter that fit in one of the media bays. It was a neat design, because if you were just doing a presentation (or something similar) somewhere where you had AC power, you could just trade a battery for the AC adapter and have one less thing to lug around the hotel. I wish Dell (or any of the laptop manufacturers) would build AC adapters like that again. - JW Will Vista run on my TRS-80?

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Fr0st Registered User Posts: 493 Joined: 2001-01-05

#13425 Posted on: 01/21/2002 09:26 PM I'm glad you reviewed this one- I've been looking at the Inspiron 4000/4100 for a year now. The only reason I haven't taken the plunge is that I just can't justify it yet. But having had good experience with Dell laptops (and servers) in a corporate environment, and now reading your review, I'm pretty sure I'll go with one of these if I ever decide to take the laptop plunge. Hey Jim, since that Steve kid spends almost all his air time hawking Dell's P4 desktops, you shouldn't feel too dirty Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

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Jim_ Administrator Posts: 3464 Joined: 2000-03-15

#13426 Posted on: 01/21/2002 09:51 PM Originally posted by Riktar I don't recall reading just HOW long you can remain "unchained" from your desk with one, or two batteries. Could you post that info? Ahhh my apologies. I knew I'd forget something. Let me give you a scenario on how long the battery life has been for me: One day I left Pittsburgh, PA with the notebook on, the LCD active (all power save presets set to 'never', remember) and used it to listen to mp3's all the way back to North Bay, Ontario. This was easily a 7 hour trip. I had both batteries installed, and one had 35% left, and the other had 30% left. I was pretty impressed. I hope this gives you a general idea. It's significantly better than Mitchell's Inspiron 8100, but then again he has the 15" UXGA+ and Geforce 2 GO licking up all that extra juice. *edit* I updated my review accordingly. Thanks again Riktar. Originally posted by LinkerX Sorry about the length of this post but I really hate Dell and will never understand why an enthusiast would buy one after all you should be smarter then that. I bought one because -this- enthusiast is smart enough to weigh the pros and cons of a product before buying it. Would I have preferred an IBM? If course, I basically spelled that out in my review. Was I willing (or able) to shell out significantly MORE money for a laptop from IBM with similar hardware specs to my Inspiron 4100? Hell no. As I said, I bought this because of the warranty. I even bought this with my platinum visa and VISA will tack on another years warranty. That's right kids, 4 years of glorious warranty on my notebook. -That- is what matters to me. [url="http://www.2cpu.com"][size=1]2CPU.com[/url] - Because two are always better than one! [url="http://www.jimkirk.org"]jimkirk.org[/url] - Not a Myth any Longer. Just a Dad.[/size]

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wolfsonbr SMP Something Posts: 40 Joined: 2001-10-29

#13427 Posted on: 01/21/2002 09:51 PM I know that on the dell desktop machine warranty that if you change the OS then you forgo your waranty. At least that is what tech support told my neighbor when he went to XP from Me on his machine. Dell does make a good machine but I will always go HP. My omnibook 4150 still has 3 years of warranty and it is 2 years old. Had to use the waranty on it once for the DVD drive not ejecting, not even with a paperclip and had the laptop back in my hands within 24 hours. They sent Fedex with a box to pick it up, sent it to california from oklahoma, and got it back to me. It was truly great service.

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LinkerX SMP Newbie Posts: 8 Joined: 2001-05-17

#13428 Posted on: 01/22/2002 01:07 AM Upaboveit I would believe that dell does that, they will do anything to get out of fixing your shit for free. Hell they screwed me for a little over 4k but hell back then the top I got was 7k anyways dell sucks unless you

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Jim_ Administrator Posts: 3464 Joined: 2000-03-15

#13429 Posted on: 01/22/2002 01:27 AM Originally posted by LinkerX but I also said why didnt you look at the ibook or the Titanium. Both are amazing tops and you get a hell of a lot more battery life on them. They are also built quite well and now the ibook has a 14.1 screen making it even more attractive. Also if your a strictly PC guy you can always run Virtual PC to get all your PC only stuff down. This notebook was going to allow me to work on the road. I wanted something running win2k and the apps that I require NATIVELY. Did I look at iBooks? Yes I did. Reasonably priced, but with the best warranty package available it would have cost me more than my Inspiron 4100 (I'm in Canada, remember). Did I look at the Titanium? Hell no, those things cost a bloody fortune up here. I'm quite satisified with this laptop at the dollar amount that I paid for it. I haven't had hardware failure at this point, and I have never called dell on support so I'll cross that bridge if and when I come to it. [url="http://www.2cpu.com"][size=1]2CPU.com[/url] - Because two are always better than one! [url="http://www.jimkirk.org"]jimkirk.org[/url] - Not a Myth any Longer. Just a Dad.[/size]

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wolfsonbr SMP Something Posts: 40 Joined: 2001-10-29

#13430 Posted on: 01/22/2002 01:41 AM Upaboveit, all I was saying was that you can have problems with Dell tech support if you are running a different OS than what came on the machine. My neighbor had to reinstall Windows Me so that Dell tech support would help him with his problem. Granted to problem went away when he installed Me but we all know that XP is better, much better. You just have to watch what tech support does sometimes.

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mattsteg Senior Member Posts: 990 Joined: 2000-05-07

#13431 Posted on: 01/22/2002 01:46 AM Just don't mention regedit to tech support. I did that once by accident (it just kinda slipped in there) and the tech went nuts. He insisted I had a corrupted registry and said that the only thing to do was reinstall windows. Of course, I fixed the problem myself fivbe minutes later, and that was a long time ago. For desktop systems, the only uses I have had for tech support are replacement parts and learning a little real basic troubleshooting back in the day when I didn't know a whole lot about computers. For laptops there is no substsiutute for a brand name manufacturer with a good support plan. Hello.

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JCLW Registered User Posts: 570 Joined: 2001-01-23

#13432 Posted on: 01/22/2002 02:48 AM Originally posted by wolfsonbr Upaboveit, all I was saying was that you can have problems with Dell tech support if you are running a different OS than what came on the machine. My neighbor had to reinstall Windows Me so that Dell tech support would help him with his problem. My laptop came with 98, and I put 2000 on it about 4 months later. Of all the times I've called Dell, I've only had one comment from a technician on the OS change and that was to say that 2000 was a better OS. I've had three service calls to my laptop since I change OSs and it's never been a problem. - JW Will Vista run on my TRS-80?