Dell Inspiron 15z i15z-1400sLV 15.6-Inch Ultrabook (Moon Silver)

I bought this directly from Dell about a month ago. The performance and battery life seem fine, but I had a recurring issue where the laptop would hang at start-up. I would force a shutdown and most times it would restart properly after the recovery steps, but sometimes it took more than once.

Checking the web I found some folks thought it was the video driver which I downloaded from the Dell site, but I also found the current BIOS level was A03 and my unit was only A01. So I upgraded that too and have had zero problems with start-up. Good news for folks who are comfortable going to the website and downloading software upgrades, not so good if you expect Dell support.

Another issue on the horizon is the battery which is now inside the laptop. Here is a youtube instructional video on how to do it . Not a big deal if you are comfortable opening the laptop up, big deal if you are going to have to go to someone down the line (probably 3-4 years). Not sure other ultrabooks are any better, but I wish it was simpler. There are settings to extend the life of the battery under the power settings controls and I suggest you use them.

Otherwise, as I noted at the top, laptop works well. My first time with a touch screen and it works well too.

I like the back-lit keyboard. However I miss my number pad. Now to see how it works Processor wise. Fine

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