First I might say that I bought this identical computer model but my stock number was 1430BLK instead of 1428, but I can see no difference in the features. Ther are 4 USB plugs in mine. Disappointing is the absence of a parallel and serial connections, but there is an HDMI output for HD TV. I am not sure if the battery is the same as mine.Good basic computer for the price. But I must admit I got it from a big box store and paid about $300 for it last week, so that might have affected the 5-star grade I gave it.
It boots up in no time. There are some pauses when it runs, but few. It is way fast enough for me web surfing, much faster than my old Pentium-4 2.8 GHz with 2 Gigs of memory.
Don't let the "slow" [dual-core] clock speed fool you. With the super fast memory, large data caches on the CPU, and the 64-bit operating system and hardware, it is pretty smooth. The state-of-the-art architecture more than compensates for the clock speed. This CPU was issued just last winter, and uses only 17 Watts, yet the power supply/charger is 65 Watts, with enough headroom for the DVD, LED monitor, and other peripherals.
The Windows 8 seems scary too, at first, but I transferred my favorites, documents, etc. with the help of a USB plug-in drive, and "mastered" the OS in two days, making shortcut buttons on the desktop for things I knew I would use again. There are downloads for two huge user manuals from the Dell website, which I haven't looked at yet. I got help from a $15 book on windows 8, called "Windows 8 in easy steps" which got me out of a few jams.
Win 8 changes are mostly cosmetic. Some things about the Win 8 interface are definitely confusing, and some features changed, but "under the hood" the technical functions are very similar to XP, but looks nothing like XP. Once you shrink or delete the "apps" boxes, and fix your own virus checker, etc. (Dell pushes Mac Afee) it ain't so bad.
Microsoft has tried to combine the typical mobile-gadget human interface with the classic desktop OS look. It is like two operating system interfaces in one. You can choose which way to go. and you pretty much have to do your own desktop building. The only thing MS puts there is the trash icon and the explorer icon (with the familiar "e".)
I myself do everything from the desktop interface. I never used cell phones or mobile devices so that interface is weird to me. There are some functions that, in order to use, you have to go to the "apps" interface.
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