Okay, so how many laptops can you find with a 15.6" screen, 1080p resolution, and a decent graphics chipset for under $1000? Not many! This laptop met all three of these needs for me. It came with enough RAM that I don't need to upgrade it until the 8GB of SODIMM modules become ridiculously cheap. The video chipset M96XT (AKA Radeon 4670) has pretty decent performance . There are just way too many other laptops out there that have 1080p screens and an Intel GMA chipset, or low resolution 1280x800 screens with decent video chipsets. This laptop has both high resolution and a good chipset.I recently took it to a LAN party to play Team Fortress 2 and it ran beautifully with all the settings turned up to high (60fps+). My last laptop died because the CFL backlight failed, with the LED backlight that should never be a problem. It's also super bright. I usually have it set to a quarter of the brightness and it's still pretty bright.
If you don't like the disk I/O speed (I think it's fine) you can always put a SSD in this as it's a standard SATA disk drive. There are USB ports on the left AND one eSATA/USB on the right, so you can use either one.
My laptop actually did have a gigabit network adapter (not the 10/100 listed here) but no jumbo frames support :( Typical with Broadcom.
Oh, and Windows 7, 64bit is amazing. You have the full 4GB of system memory and 1GB of video.
Cons?:
No scroll lock button, no pause/break button. Not sure how if there is some hidden Fn shortcut to get these. But who uses these really? There's no Fn num-pad, but really, I never used that. The wireless enable/disable switch is a capacitive touch button right above the keyboard. It's easy to accidentally hit it and turn the wireless off and not realize it.
I also do all my programming and college work in this computer and I'm very happy with it.Very nice laptop. I shopped obsessively. I looked at many different laptops in this size/power class and ended up with this one. I'm very pleased with its looks and performance, especially for the price. The 1920 x 1080 screen is very nice. The keyboard has a nice feel. It gets warm but not excessively hot. My only complaint is with the optical drive, it is very noisy and it seems to spin up for no apparent reason sometimes. This is a desktop replacement for me and it also needed to run 3D games reasonably well. It runs Half Life 2 with everything cranked and runs my Realflight 4.5 Simulator very well also.Purchased this computer a few weeks ago for my son who is heading to college and we have been very happy with it. Sleek, responsive, and able to handle gaming and media applications with the well-above-average video card, memory, display and processor combination. All for under $1000.00? Impressive. A fingerprint magnet, which bothers some, but is not a big deal to me. Battery life is average compared to the other laptops I have owned, but acceptable, and I am confident, but admittedly have not looked, that an aftermarket upgrade at battery is available. I have seen complaints that it runs hot, but have not experienced that, at least not hotter than any other laptop with a dedicated video card running during intensive applications and certainly not uncomfortably so. The fan is partially blocked by the monitor, but does its job, and for long sessions of gaming I would recommend a secondary cooling device for any laptop. I have also seen at least one review indicate that the video card was not good for gaming, but other independent reviews of the specific card and pc configuration, and my own experiences, refute that, this pc was built with demanding gaming in mind, while not sacrificing portability or versatility.
I have only one beef with the purchase. Amazon no longer price guarantees its products. This machine dropped in price $35.00 shortly after I purchased it (within a week). I still had it, unopened, and contacted Amazon about a price credit, and was basically told to pound sand. The most frustrating thing about that was I could have simply returned it for a full refund under the 30 day return policy for unopened computers, and bought another one at the new price, discounting my price savings by the 15 dollars or so in return shipping costs (I do not think the return policy covers that), and when I pointed that out to Amazon, I was invited to go ahead and do that. To me, it appeared Amazon was effectively banking on the fact that I would not go through such hassle for such a "small" savings. And they were correct, but only because I did not want to be empty handed for my son's 18th birthday. So they won my business with a good price on a great machine, but lost my respect as a company for such poor customer service. I make many internet purchases, and absent a serious reason to do so, will not be shopping at Amazon in the future.
EDIT REVIEW after I wrote this it got me worked up all over again so I contacted Amazon a second time and low and behold I was given a 35 dollar credit! While they deserved the smack on the nose with a rolled up paper they got for how I was treated the first time, they likewise deserve a treat and an attaboy for eventually doing the right thing. Amazon you have won back my business.This is the first Dell i purchase since ever, I was expecting the experience i received when i got this great PC, and i got it.
Pros: Light, excellent performance, great LED display (It has better resolution than the M17X from Alienware), i love the glowing buttons, strong case, GREAT MULTIMEDIA PERFORMANCE.
Cons: Lack of cases and Backpack's for this size of Laptop, Glossy finish leaves fingerprints all over the PC, it is hard to keep it without them, When playing a few games it gets very hot (Dirt 2 on Medium graphics), because of Dell applications it takes a while to get it started.
It has a great value, i purchased this laptop at a great price and i received more than expected, A+ purchase, will get another Dell like this one when i get my next purchase.
The only thing im waiting to find is the leather finish from the case, never able to find it!
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