Dell Vostro 1700 Vs. HP DV9700T - Informal Review + Lots of Pics

The reason that the Dell powercord is like that is so that tension is created between the power brick and the wall so that if someone trips over your wire, instead of the power brick pulling on the computer through the power plug, it pulls on the wall instead. So you may just get a pulled plug rather than a computer crashing to the floor if someone trips over your wire. It's smart designing by Dell if you ask me...

 

Sounds great and I'm glad to hear there's a reason, although my son did trip over it yesterday, the Vostro slid sideways on the lap desk I use (caught it before it slid off) and the power cord didn't pull from the wall. Maybe he didn't trip hard enough because he's a little fella.

I do wish Dell had made the power cord longer to compensate for the loss, though. It's really not that much of a loss but my brick is turned upside down right now and is reaching for the outlet desperately.

 

Very good article. Always good to read of the experiences of others.

 

I should note that the power cord on the HP comes apart too easily...the two sections separate with little pressure, while the Dell cord would never comp apart accidentally. The HP cord comes apart just from moving the cord around a little.

 

Yeah, thats' true. I have seen quite a few screen shots where all you see is the flash shining off the screen. Thanks.

 

+1 rep
Excellent, this is just what I wanted to see. I am certainly now going for the Dell 1700. That WUXGA and the 8600mGT are the dealmaker. I'll have to go for the 2.1ghz to keep the price under $1500 but I don't mind. You said the screen looks good - I'm trusting you!
I know you said you couldn't get a good photo of the screen. If you have manual settings, you could try putting the camera on a table or tripod, then using a longer exposure instead of the flash...

 

The WUXGA screen on the Vostro 1700 is the key advantage for me. It's just brighter and sharper. The HP screen looks persistently dim and uneven to me.

 

Great, great review!

 

Hey rtrdogs - how long does the 6 cell last you on your vostro?

 

I get about 2 1/2 hours on Power Saver with the screen on as bright as it will go while running PaintShop, about 4 browser windows opened, FTP, Wordpad and my media player to listen to songs all at once.

I can't get 2 hours out of the DV9700T at all running the exact same settings, which I don't understand since the DV9700T has an 8 cell battery and both laptops are working off clean installs.