Hi there. I purchased a Dell Inspiron 1440 and a 13" (for my wife) 18 months ago and I'm still happy with the decision.Dell laptops seem to be very quite and reliable. One of the laptops (the 13") was a refurbished. After 4 months the battery started to charge for about only 45 minutes. We called Dell and no problem, they sent us a brand new battery which is still perfectly working. So I have to say that hardware-wise that was the only problem we had, and the service from Dell was excellent.
Our laptops came with Windows Vista. That was a terrible system, as we all know. For some extra dollars we updated last January to Windows 7. That was the best decision, I have to say. For software opportunities I also have installed Ubuntu in one of the hard drive partitions. I use everyday my laptop to work with programs such as MatLab, C++, and Office and until now the computer has been running in both, Win 7 and Linux, without freezing the first time.
I feel like I should tell some of the cons, but, believe me, there is nothing that I can recall that concern the loudness or the performance of the machine. In summary, I think for the range of price Dell laptops are an excellent option.
1. Adapter stops working in the first year of purchase
2. Touchpad wired with wrong material and stops working in the first year of purchase
3. Permanent & annoying COntrol Panel Glitch
4. Messed up audio circuitry freezes computer
5. Transition from Windows XP to Windows 7 is painful. Windows 7 is crap.
6. Dell's repair service plan is crap.
Purchased this computer at the beginning of January 2010. Previously had a 3 year old Dell E1505 that worked perfectly. Thought I'd get the same quality three years later. Nope.
The day I took it out of the box and tried to set it up, my Control Panel froze. Ever since then, I have always had this problem. The solution is to force the Control Panel close using the Task Manager, then reopen it. ANNOYING!
In July, my adapter began malfunctioning. By August, it stopped working. Dell had to replace it. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ADAPTER LIGHT IS VEEERRY BRIGHT BLUE. Not always good for dorm room sleepers. You'll have to unplug your adapter every time to keep the light out of your eye.
Yesterday the left and right click buttons below the touch pad stopped working. Both now go to auto scroll when I click on them. Googled solutions and found numerous customers complaining about a malfunctioning touchpad. Apparently Dell uses the wrong material to make the cable connection for the touchpad. Here is a thread about it, as well as a solution from a guy who Dell themselves thanked in the thread!
Still haven't gotten my click buttons to work. Dell told me that since I'm still under the warranty, they'd send me a box to mail in my laptop for repair. But I'd be without a laptop for 7 10 days at least, since they can't give me a replacement in the mean time!
The other option would be for me to pay $59+tax for a Dell technician to come to my home to do the repair. Imagine that! And that mightn't even work!!!
What is even more annoying is that the Control Panel never works when I pull it up the first time, so trying to deal with this click button problem is just more problematic because to simply access my settings is a big deal after restart.
There is a big difference between Windows XP & Windows 7. Windows 7's user interface is deplorable. Trying to adjust settings in my problematic Control Panel yesterday to fix my click button problem was an absolute headache, because there is no Classic View in the Control Panel and if you're not familiar with the contents, you will find yourself clicking on every single heading in there just to find the one control that you want. MS Office 2007 is also drastically different from older versions. I constantly have to YouTube tutorials on how to do the simplest things in MS Word and Excel that used to be so easy to figure out in older versions of the software.
Lastly (and I'm really hoping that it's 'lastly' and that my 8 month old computer doesn't come up with any MORE problems!!!), my audio circuitry seems to be messed up. I watch movies using external speakers to give me better sound than my laptop speakers. But whenever I'm watching a movie and I receive an instant message alert on Skype simultaneously, the sound reverts back to my laptop speakers, and the external speakers are automatically deactivated. Unplugging and replugging them doesn't to get the sound back to the external speakers. My movie freezes, followed by my entire computer, and I have to force shut down by holding the power button down for 10 secs. What is that about??? This happens every time that I receive a Skype message alert while watching a movie on my computer. The messed up audio circuitry freezes my computer. Now I have to remind myself to exit Skype before running a movie!
I trusted Dell because of the positive experience that I had with my old computer. But this new Inspiron 1440 is making me never want to buy Dell again. I'm very frustrated with this "new" laptop and would just like to get my money back and buy a new computer. All the little problems have compounded to leave me with a very bitter taste in my mouth. Dell's quality has DETERIORATED over the years it seems. Unless I can get my problems fixed permanently and easily, I won't be buying from them again. I recommend that before you purchase this laptop, go google Inspiron 14 PROBLEMS, and see what comes up. You might see some recurring themes!!!
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