Some Questions Regarding the Dell D430

Hi,

I've been on the lookout for a small laptop with a good battery life at a decent prize.
Since the launch of the E6400 (I think?) the prize have dropped abit and I'm pretty sure it will continue to do so if I stay patient for a month or two.

Anyways, I've been reading around and I've seen that some people have commented on the fan noise, even if there's no applications running. Is this true? Think the author stated that it was quiet for about 15 mins and then it started to buzz non stop.

I also read that the rubber pins underneath the computer are a wee bit too small, and therfore dont supply enough cool air to the fan. Another author said this made the computer warm underneath, but not -hot-. Anyone have this problem and to what extent?

All I will be doing with the computer is mainly Wordprocessing, Excel Spreadsheets, surf the web, chat and Office in general. So the Core 2 Duo processor is more then enough for me.
I have, however, a question about the SSD disc vs the normal HDD. I've read that some people have had problems with the SSD disc, is this fixed?
Also, is it a huge drawback to have a 1,8" HDD at 4200 rpm?
Cant remember if the 5200 rpm is at an higer " , please fill me in if. Anyways, what I was wondering was that if its smart to go with the 5200 rpm vs the 4200 disc? Would this reduce the battery life at all, seeing as I am looking for a very long battery life due to taking it with me alot.

Also, does Vista run fine on the computer even though it's only has 2GB of ram and if I would get the Intel Core 2 Duo U7700 (1.33GHz) processor? Or is it adviced to use XP? (does this affect battery time at all?)

Also, if someone else has any other suggestions for laptop in the same size, same prizetag and same (or better) battery life, feel free to give me any tips!

I know it's alot of questions, but I'm not to good on hardware and I appriciate your help!
Thanks
Nick

 

Now this would be a complete waste of money. Remember D430 has PATA controller which is obsolete. You only choice of hard drive is 4200rpm 1.8 drive -slow. Yes Samsung released 5200rpm 1.8" drives but they are SATA only.

You best option for SSD drive would be latest Samsung PATA drives which are rated at something like 70/38 - much slower then the latest SATA II SSD drives. I fully expect that delevopment of PATA drives will stop soon.

So you are stuck with a dead end non-upgradeable laptop.

By the way D430 is not that light.

I would be looking at Latitude E4200/4300, Thinkpad X200 or Vayo TZ/Z

 

Isnt all those computers alot more expensive then the D430?

I'm a full time student with extra commitements to school and obviously on a really tight budget.
I basically want something in that size (def. not larger then 14", if even that "big"), should have a very good battery time (preferebly 3-4 hours when used and unplugged) and should be rather light so it wont be such a hassel to carry with me.

Ill def. look into your suggestions mate, thanks alot!

 

They, they will be more expensive. And no, at 3.3lbs the D430 is about as light as you will get short of the Dell E4200 and Thinkpad X200 (maybe). And most ultraportable machines are not very upgradeable anyway, so that argument is kind of...dead.

Most 1.8" drives (actually all) are slow. 20-25MB/s, but that is more than enough for office tasks that the computer is designed for. The SanDisk SSDs the D430 use (Dell has a contract to use them) are indeed a problem, but not because of the D430. SanDisk screwed up on that one.

Samsung, or any other SSD vendor that uses the ZIF PATA interface in a 1.8" drive, probably would not show any issues.

If you read my review of the D430 with the U7700, the fan is rarely noticed at idle...unless you have it sitting on some kind of surface that does not let the D430 dissipate heat (like a blanket) or blocks part of the vent.

As for the rubber pins...do you mean the rubber feet? Those things are huge!

For what you plan on doing with the laptop, I'd say that the D430 (and anything else for that matter) would be more than sufficient.

I am not sure if the 5400RPM drive would decrease battery life on the D430. It probably would, but not by much at all. But I am also unsure of what kind of performance improvement you'd see.

I've tried Vista on a single core D430 and it was a hair sluggish, so I'd imagine that a dual core D430 would manage okay. As far as battery life is concerned, XP would either tie or beat Vista though. At least that I am certain...and for office use, you don't have to have Vista. XP or Vista would work.

With the 6-cell battery that I have (you can also read my review for it), you can stretch the battery out to 3-4 hours easily.

 

wow Greg, really nice review and very informative indeed!

I have been contemplating on not being able to upgrade etc and it really isnt a dealbreaker for me. I got 3 years of UNI left and the D430 is, as you said, more then sufficent for my work tasks.

What I really am looking for really, seeing as any computer could probably run Office applications and surf the web, is mobility and battery life, and the D430 seems to fit that nicely with the addition of a "not to bad" price tag!

Again, great review Greg, really helpfull!
+rep

 

The review was written well before I thought about selling my D430, so that is about as unbias as you'll be able to get. To be fair, take my initial two reviews over anything I say now.

Andrew and forum member David also published a D420 review, which is about the same as a D430. See here:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3101

The D420 wasn't as powerful since it had older processors...but good reference for build quality and the like since the design is identical between the two notebooks.