This review is about the 14Z, this model's immediate predecessor, but with key similarities that make a review worthwhile. I have had this machine for 4 months, and basically I am very pleased that I have it. The keyboard action is terrific, and the placement of keys is perfect, making touch typing a pleasure. The backlit keyboard is outstanding I have decided I can no longer live without a backlit keyboard like this. The machine runs fairly quietly you can hear the fan, but it is definitely not intrusive, and I happen to be very sensitive to fan noise.On the other hand, there are some negatives. The left and right buttons under the keypad are terrible. It feels like you are pressing on a board, and like pressing a board, you can not tell how much of a press is enough to make contact. It is incomprehensible that after all these many years of making laptops, Dell can not come up with better mouse buttons than this these buttons are an irritation every time I use them.
Likewise, Dell has not provided 2 headphone jacks (1 microphone and 1 headphone) instead they have combined them into 1 jack. So you need to buy an adapter, which is easy and cheap. But the quality of the voice input is bad every person I call on Skype or Google complains of the voice quality. So I have had to buy a headphone/microphone unit that is USB, and use up a USB port. I would rather have the traditional 2 jack input for microphone and headset.
Dell allows for system recovery by creating backup media. However, they do not allow you to create backup media on an external drive you can only create it on a flash drive on on blank CDs or DVDs.
If you are tempted to buy this machine through Dell's website, don't. Buy it through Amazon. I made the mistake of going through the Dell website, and they loaded $350 worth of extra services onto my order that I did not know were being added and would have refused if I had known. But they allow you only a few hours to o.k. the order, without showing you the extras unless you specifically request to see them. Order through Amazon.
* So you think the nightmare stop there. Wrong.
Depot shipped back my laptop and said that the issue was at Hard Drive. And more interesting thing is that they do not have hard drive in stock to fix the issue and will send me one in the mail.
* So you trust their diagnose and waiting for hard drive come to solve the issue, wrong.
The hard drive came . But it was blank and bare. Dell does expect you to install per my conversation with them. It requires to open the cover, remove the screw and mounting bracket, put bracket on another one and put back. Well. No OS, Not pre-imaged. After many hours my time to install the OS, Driver, Networking. Voila, Hard drive is not the issue. Problem still there. Wonder how they came up with this root cause
*So you think they will allow to replace with a working one. Wrong
I called customer service and escalated the case to up management. No result. The up escalation team even playing the hard ball and asked me the follow their procedure to have onsite person to fix the touchpad. So escalation team cannot resolve the issue. Push down to customer service again.
*So you think the onsite engineer should fix the issue, right. Wrong.
The engineer came, replaced the touch pad, no work. Replaced the motherboard, , not work.
*So you think the customer service will resolve the issue by replacing this bad one to good one. Wrong
They asked me to ship back again. Can you believe that? Ship back again. You kidding.
Six strike. I did not buy this and ask for a replacement or sue them for wasting my time.
*Finally, after two days internal discussion, they agree to replace this with working refurbished one.
So after 6 strikes, more than 12 hours, 6 fedex shipment between me and Dell. Issue finally resolved. What is really wrong? The issue really is dell customer service team is so far to reach in India. They just follow all the procedures posted on the wall. Every issue has to follow the play book. That is why Dell deeply fail on me. 6 Strikes.
So lessons learned
1: Buy Dell products if you know how to fix it. Or buy dell if you have time to deal with their support Team.
If you answer no to above lesson, then buy apple.
2: If your support rep name is Mandeep, ask for another rep.
3: If you got 14Z with last 4 digits are ZRQ1, ask for replacement before it was mine.
Oh, forget one more thing, do not believe any reviews on Dell's web site. They post only selected reviews and mine was just get filtered out.
Buy Dell Inspiron i14Z-1424BK 14-Inch Laptop (Diamond Black) Now
I bought one of these refurbished. An Expresso black polished body wrapped an i5 processor, 6 GB memory and 640 GB 5400 rpm HDD.Construction:
The aluminum encased body feels sturdy and light weight. There is very tiny flex on the keyboard and palm rests. While I would not label it a fingerprint magnet, some fingerprints are definitely visible and the case will need some periodic wiping. While the overall construction looks very good, the very discerning will definitely note that it does not have the finesse of Macs. But at less than half the price of a Mac, there is no room for grumbling on this count.
Connectivity:
It comes with two USB 3.0 and one mini-display ports to ensure it does not become technologically obsolete in a year or two. It also has the standard HDMI, USB 2.0 and SD card reader ports. The processor is also Widi enabled. It does not have VGA or DVI ports.
Audio/Video:
The display is gorgeous and the audio, while not spectacular, is very good and is loud enough without the headphones. The web camera is also good for video chats.
Keyboard/Touchpad.
The touchpad is smooth and the sensitivity can be configured through the Windows Mobility center. The touchpad buttons though are really hard and clicking on the outer edges of these buttons will give you sore fingers. You have to press them around the middle or inner edge to be kinder to your fingers. The keyboard is good though I felt it could have been a touch softer to type (I have a Lenovo Ideapad where using the keyboard is a real joy).
Wifi:
The wifi is pretty good and I did not have any issues using it.
Battery:
Battery life is very good and I get by 5-6 hours on a charge with medium level of processing.
Performance:
The laptop did not come with much bloatware and the boot up is pretty fast (remember this is 5400 rpm drive). I have some occassional issues with the CapsLock key wherein pressing it removes the focus in text editors. But it is just a minor hindrance.
Conclusion:
This laptop is sturdy, lightweight, and arrayed with the latest ports. Because of a few minor issues (stiff touchpad buttons, capslock key issues and need for occassional cleaning of case to remove fingerprints), I will give it 4 stars instead of 5. (Note that my laptop has the i5 processor. This is a review of the Inspiron 14z N411Z model in general).
Read Best Reviews of Dell Inspiron i14Z-1424BK 14-Inch Laptop (Diamond Black) Here
Just picked up the Dell Inspiron i14Z-1424BK in Diamond Black from BB. Configuration: Intel Core i3-2350 , 4GB DDR3, 500 GB (7200 RPM)Appearance:
I had checked out the model in store so I knew what I was getting into. The Diamond Black color is not 100% black, but definitely closer to black than the brownish espresso black pictured in the Amazon listing. Pretty sleek appearance for a laptop at this price point. Thin profile throughout except for the 3/4" battery bump sticking out from the bottom near the back.
Hardware:
So far so good. Everything booted as expected. I'm transitioning from an older Dell model so the keyboard feels natural. Not as soft or smooth as some of the other models I tried, but that's a very minor nitpick. The touchpad seems responsive and I don't see any of the issues with the click-buttons that another reviewer alluded to. Occasionally the double finger scrolling doesn't pick up on what I'm putting down. If I could change one thing I wish I had my dedicated volume buttons back but there seems to be a trend against that.
Software:
The typical Dell add-ons: Mcafee, Roxio ,etc. I'll be dual booting Linux so bloatware and pushy Windows programs aren't a huge concern for me.
Overall:
I had looked at this model, the HP dm4, and a selection of larger 15-16" models. I'm traveling a good bit so the portability of these 14" models stood out to me. For half the price of some of these "ultrabooks" you can get solid computing power in a compact form. Don't expect a gaming laptop, but for everyday browsing, document editing, and smaller computation tasks this seems like a good fit. I'll update after a few months of use.
Want Dell Inspiron i14Z-1424BK 14-Inch Laptop (Diamond Black) Discount?
I bought this laptop specifically to run Ubuntu 12.04 and it passes with flying colors...everything works out of the box and well. As for the laptop itself, it's a Dell which means its slightly cheaply made. The trackpad button are really tight and one of the hardrive screws stripped using the correct driver; it was just soft metal and they used locktight on the screw too. I didn't get the illuminated keyboard and do regret it but without it works fine too. first thing I did was max the RAM to 8g and swap out the harddrive for a small SSD which rocks! Windows 7 is gone and good ridden...it sucked from the moment the laptop booted up. I kept it on the original hard-drive so I can sell the laptop later with the original setup on it. all in all good hardware but your not going to game on it. graphics are good but this isn't the laptop for gaming.
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