Dell Laptop Blog

Dell Inspiron 14 Notebook Laptops

2009-10-09T02:21:00.000-07:00

I recently visited the Dell Store in Ahmedabad and had a good, long look at the new Dell Inspiron 14 and 14z laptop notebook computers that have recently been released by Dell. The Dell Inspiron series of laptops is one which seems tailor made for the price conscious Indian buyer. Here is my small Dell Inspiron 14 review for India.

The Dell Inspiron 14 laptop looks very similar to the Dell Inspiron Mini series of laptops. The laptop id targeted at the price conscious student buyers who need a laptop, but cannot afford and don't need the high end versions. The smaller than normal size of 14" inches also helps in making it all the more easily portable.

The Dell Inspiron 14z laptop has also been released recently and is available in India only with Dell's resellers. This means that most Croma stores and Dell's own shops will be stocking these. The Dell Inspiron 14z laptops have the latest configuration and are nowhere as cheap as the Dell Inspiron 14. These high end laptops have the latest Core 2 Duo processors with up to 4 GB DDR3 RAM and HDD that can spin at 7200 RPM. The Dell Inspiron 14z India are the same laptops that are being sold in the US as the Dell Studio 14z laptops.

On the other hand, the Dell Inspiron 14 is a poor cousin of the Inspiron 14z. The cheapest Dell Inspiron 14 India comes at a price of Rs 29,900 which is considerably cheap even in India. The most expensive laptop configuration in the Dell Inspiron 14 series in India is the one priced at 36,900. This configuration features a 2.20 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor, 3 GB DDR 2 RAM and a 320 Gb HDD which runs at 5400 RPM. This is one configuration that I believe is more than enough for most people - from software programmers who run a few high end softwares and a lot of internet usage to hardcore surfers.

At no place has the quality of the laptop been compromised. There is little flex if you hold the laptop in your hands. The 6 cell battery lasts nearly 4 hours according to many reviews and that is a commendable time. All in all the Dell Inspiron 14 is one of the best quality cheap laptops available in India today.

Review: Dell Studio 14 Laptop, India

2009-06-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

Review: Dell Studio 14 Laptop, India
The new Dell Studio 14 laptop is available in India in 7 vibrant colors.

Looks
It is the Dell Studio 14 laptop. It is obviously very good looking. Available in seven different colors as seen in the photograph above, the Dell Studio 14 looks solid and weighs a light 2.39 kgs. As it is considered to be a high end laptop similar to the XPS series, it does have some features like the XPS such as the wedge shaped contour and the drop barrel hinges. No matter which color of the Dell Studio 14 laptop you buy, it is bound to turn heads. Dell has not designated some of the keys as Fn keys and so the keyboard looks much better.

On the left side of the Dell Studio 14 Laptop you will see a Wi-Fi Network Locator, slot loading DVD +/- RW drive, Wi Fi catcher switch, USB port and audio ports. If you want, you can also order for and get a Blu Ray disk.

The right side of the laptop has a two USB ports as interfaces, VGA, 4 pin IEEE 1394 54mm Express Card slot, 8 in 1 memory card reader, a power button and Gigabit Ethernet.

Screen
The Dell Studio 14 laptop has a 14" screen. This screen is a bright glossy screen perfect for watching movies and working indoors in the absence of light. The glossy screen will also attract a lot of dust and you will have to try and keep the screen as clean as possible or the dust will show. There is a 2.0 megapixel camera that works great even in the dark.

Processor
This laptop has the latest Penryn processor T6400 with a 2.0 GHz clockspeed. This is pretty decent and combined with the 4 Gb of RAM that comes with the machine, it is much more than enough for all your basic needs. The only pitfall though is the old Intel 965 GM chipset still being continued with the machine. This hardware does not support 800 MHz FSB speeds. The graphics card is an Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator x3100. The 4500MHD is definitely the latest in graphics cards and this is available in the Dell Studio 15. Apart from this the configuration is pretty much the same in both laptops. The RAM is 4 Gb and hence will support Dual Channel too, providing the best speeds.

Battery Life

The Dell Studio comes with a 6 cell Lithium-Ion battery. With this battery it lasted for two hours and twenty minutes in our battery life test. The LCD was but at 40% brightness, with wireless off and a power saver profile applied to the rest of the functions. We watched a HD movie on the laptop during this time.

Overall
The Dell Studio is perfect for any college student who loves gaming, travels a lot and needs a stylish laptop to go with him. If the Inspiron looks good, the Studio is fast and has a much better body too. The basic difference between the Inspiron and the Studio models of Dell is that Studio is considered to be the one better suited to more graphics, movies and gaming as compared to the Inspiron model.

The laptop has been released quite recently in India and a few South East Asian countries. It is available in India at a lumpsum price of Rs. 43,800 INR. You can also read this article on How to buy a Dell laptop in India.

How to buy a Dell Laptop in India

2009-05-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

Dell is a wonderful company to interact with. The people that it has on board are some of the most well trained professionals in India. You will be able to make the best well informed choice of a laptop by just talking to the Dell sales representatives. But lets still try and understand how to make a perfect buy of a Dell laptop in India.

If you are a home user or if you intend to buy any of the Dell Inspiron, Dell Studio or the Dell XPS model, than what you need to do is to log on to the Dell website and configure the laptop that you like the best. Check out the price, which does not include VAT, Taxes and Delivery charges.

Next, if you want to see your choice of laptop, go to the nearest Croma store (that is the chosen reseller though other too stock Dell) and check out the model. If you are uncomfortable surfing the internet and making the decision, feel free to talk to the Dell sales representatives there. They will not only help you make the right choice, but if you are ready to shell out the money, they will help you buy too.

Next, according to my method of best buying from Dell, get on the phone and talk to the sales representative about the Dell laptop that you want. The sales guys will send you a quotation. The best price that you will get for a Dell laptop will be the price that you see on the internet + delivery charges which means no taxes. This means that since the Dell Inspiron 1545 with a T6400 processor will sell for Rs 33,900 (sale price on internet) + Rs 900 (Delivery Charges) = Rs. 34,800 (Final price).

Once this is done, you can still ask for freebies like a mouse, wireless mouse, earphones, sound system etc. If you ask at the right time, usually the last day of the week or a month, you will be able to make a very good buy then. Sometimes, depending on the schemes and promotions you might not get all this too, but you definitely will be able to make a very good buy if you order on the phone.

Dell will accept all sorts of money transfers. They will take money by credit cards, internet transfers and also cash if you get it from a reseller.

Dell Inspiron Series of Laptops

2009-05-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

The Dell Inspiron series of laptops are basically laptops that are configured for "Home Users". The functions that these laptops are optimized for are much different as compared to what other laptops are configured and used for.

While Dell does provide the best customization options available amongst all other laptop manufacturers, beyond a point, a laptop is not that easily customizable. The body of the Dell Inspiron laptop is built for home users.

The Dell Inspiron laptops have a better processor so that the user doesn't need to upgrade too often and a laptop lasts for atleast 3-4 years. The insufficient battery life that is usually attributed to the 4 cells that it comes with, the attractive looks, the webcam, the large hard disk, the glossy screen, the softwares that are packaged with it are all aimed at the home user.

Remember that a Dell Inspiron laptop is not meant for regular use of 10-12 hours a day, like any other desktop or business laptop. But it is wonderful to watch a movie and surf the internet everyday for a few hours. It is not really supposed to be taken to the office everyday. Doing so may damage the case in the long term. But you can log it for a long distance journey once in a while in your backpack.

If used properly like this, the Dell Inspiron laptop is a wonderful piece of hardware more than sufficient for all your needs.

Do read the How to buy a Dell Laptop in India guide, before you go and buy a Dell Inspiron laptop.

Dual Channel RAM

2009-05-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

Without getting into the technical specifications of what a dual channel RAM is, let me explain what you need to know about Dual Channel RAM while buying a laptop.

The RAM of a system is the only bottleneck in a system with a reasonably fast processor and I/O devices. A dual channel RAM utilises both the slots in the RAM to the optimum and hence provides the best speed possible.

Theoretically, a dual channel RAM increases the speed of the memory by 100%. This doesn't necessarily translate into a higher system speed.

In order to work with a dual channel RAM, a laptop needs to have identical RAM in both the slots. For example, both the slots need to have 1 Gb RAM each making the total system RAM to be 2 Gb. If there is 1 Gb RAM in one slot and 2 Gb RAM in the other, then the system will again move to a single channel mode.

So, the important thing to remember while choosing a laptop is that it has dual channel RAM enabled, which will help you get better speeds out of the laptop.

On the Dell website, try configuring a laptop for 3 Gb RAM vs 2 Gb or 4 Gb. You will see that the RAM speed decreases from the 800 MHz FSB to 667 MHz FSB in the case of the 3 Gb RAM. This is because it doesn't implement dual channel.

So, when you go out to buy a laptop, stick to either the standard 2 Gb of RAM or go for 4 Gb to get the best performance from your laptop.

Dell Inspiron 1545 Review

2009-05-30T02:51:00.000-07:00

I have used previous models of the Dell Inspiron series. They were decent machines and I liked them all, but I was never a big fan of the Inspiron series laptops. What I disliked the most was the silver color. Even the cheapest Compaqs in the market looked better than these Inspiron machines. Dell solved that problem for me this time around.

Welcome the new Dell Inspiron 1545 - in a glossy black color. Gone is the scrubby silver. And with options to team the black with different colors from the default Black, to different shades of blue, white and even beautiful flamingo pink, Dell has made the new Inspiron 1545 look far more attractive than any other home laptop in India. For this Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop review, we will be sticking to the Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6400 which has a clock speed of 2 GHz, 800 FSB and 2 Mb cache memory. The processor is one of the latest offerings from Intel, if not the fastest and is more than enough for most home users' processing needs.

I looked around some Croma stores and Dell resellers in Pune and Ahmedabad. I haven't yet set my eyes on the red colored Dell Inspiron 1545.

Looks
It sports looks that kill for sure. The Dell Inspiron 1545 is one of the best looking budget laptops available for home use in India today. The build quality is very good with minimal flex. The glossy finish does mean that you will have to keep cleaning the laptop with a soft cloth from time to time.

Screen
The Dell Inspiron 1545 sports a new wide angle 15.6 inch screen, perfect for watching movies on. The 16:9 movie friendly aspect ratio hides the black lines that you see both at the top and the bottom of a screen while watching a movie. Dell's native screen resolution is 1,366 x 768 while most laptops these days sport the 1,280 x 800 screen resolution. The screen quality is average. The viewing angle is limited as it is for most Inspiron series laptops. Once you are set though, you can watch a movie quite comfortably on this splendid laptop.

Processor
The Inspiron 1545 is built on the Montevina platform. The T6400 processor that offers a decent clock speed of 2.0 GhHz is not too great for gaming but is more than enough for all your usual needs. The Cantiga GM 45 chipset also will last you a while. 2 Gb RAM that is offered with the laptop and this is upgradeable. So you can increase it to 4 Gb to use the dual channel capability of the RAM, probably when the next version of Windows is launched. The graphics card that is provided is also adequate for home users.

Battery Life
The laptop gave a battery life of nearly 89 minutes while reading and 74 minutes of DVD playback with a balanced profile, 40% brightness and wireless off. The battery life performance is pretty dismal compared to most laptops that we have tested. But considering the fact that this laptop in particular was built for home use, we might just acquit the Dell Inspiron 1545 here.

Laptop Shades
The laptop comes in six different shades. The default one is black and it won't cost you an extra dime. But if you want to go for the Red Paint LCD Cover or the Pacific Blue High Gloss finish you will have to pay Rs. 819.38 extra over the original price. The Alpine White, Ice Blue and Flamingo Pink shaded laptops are priced a wee bit higher at Rs. 820. 46.

Tell you what, these guys at Dell do beat Bata in setting their price tags.

Weighing 2.58 Kgs,it is not a very light thing to carry, but it is not meant to be carried around a whole lot too.

On the whole, the laptop is a good buy if you are strictly a home user or a student looking for a cheap bargain to last a while. Remember that the Inspiron series of laptops is not meant for heavy use, and this laptop just reiterates the point. It is an excellent laptop for home use nevertheless and still the main bread and butter model for Dell.

And the price, at 33,900 (ex delivery and taxes) is dirt cheap as compared to any other laptop with a similar configuration in India.

Before you go buying a Dell laptop, do remember to read this How to Buy and Order a Dell Laptop in India post so that you do not miss out on the best bargains and tricks to get them.