Vostro 1710 Mini Review

Hi,

received my Vostro 1710 last friday (6 days after phone order, although Dell said it would take 4-5 werks )

This is a machine which I'll use as a desktop replacement for a Windows-only software development project, my primary machine will remain my MacBook Pro (that's why I ordered the Vostro without Bluetooth, Webcam, etc.). Just a quick mini review with some Pros and Cons.

The specs: Basic Core 2 Duo CPU (T5xxx with 2GHz or so), NVidia Graphics (256MB), 250GB HDD, 3GB Ram, WUXGA Screen (1920x1200)

What I like?

- The price paid 629 Euros (without VAT), that's very good imho
- The screen: looks very nice, although I would have preferred a matte option, the glossy variant is ok, colors look great, resolution is very cool, no dead pixels
- The keyboard (with some minor exceptions, see below). It's nice to have a good full-size keyboard on a desktop replacement. Although it's by no means a Thinkpad keyboard it's pretty good for the price of the overall machine.
- Overall speed is pretty good for this basic configuration

What I don't like:

- keyboard flex in the upper left area, very noticable
- touchpad: a lot too small, touchpad buttons need to be pressed pretty hard and deep
- fan: runs the whole time, not really loud, but definitely noticable
- Keyboard layout (e.g. function key between CTRL and Windows keyboard), is that normal?
- Windows Vista: Imho that OS is a joke, I need to click at least twice as much as with XP, look&feel sucks, new explorer sucks... don't like it, I'll install XP on that machine, you can get XP drivers for the Vostro series
- build quality (I can only compare to Thinkpads and Apple MBP): again, this is no thinkpad, it _is_ cheaply made, but _absolutely ok_ (perhaps even superb) for the price I paid
- No keyboard backlight option (like with the Studio series)
- Display backcover (glossy), you'll see every single finger print there... it looks like a mess after two days without cleaning

Conclusion:

It is a good machine for the price, no sensation, but overall good. Expect a standard laptop with a good size for a 17" screen, nice weight also.

I would probably rather buy a Studio 17 now if I had to order again, but Dell simply wouldn't sell me one (SME customer, see other thread). But the Studio 17 would have been more expensive too (but I really miss a keyboard backlight...)

 

Thanks for sharing your view.

I agree with your analogy of vostros being good value but nothing spectacular in any area....I like mine very much....basically because it was cheap,I normally buy dell precision notebooks and there is no comparison in quality....but then there shouldn't be either with a 3 X price difference either.

Also couldn't agree more about the bloatmeister,and think we will be pretty safe with XP until 2010/2011 given that business usage of vista is estimated to be only 20 something percent by then......so I guess MS sort of have no choice but to support it.

 

Nice review! I still prefer the 1700 chassis over the 1710 as it seems to look cheaper, whereas the metalic flake black has a nice adult classyness to it. But then again that may be due to the pics Ive seen. Im not experiencing any of your issues other then the screen finger print issu, but then again this thing sits on my desk running a 24in LCD and rarely the internal one.

 

So, after my first full workday with the new toy (~10 hours) I still need to get used to the keyboard, I think the position of the "function" key sucks big time. Currently I'm hauling around three different laptops.

a.) MacBook Pro (company machine)
b.) Thinkpad T61p (machine for dev project a, no admin rights, configured by the customer)
c.) Dell Vostro 1700 (dev project b, using it instead of my MBP because customer b wouldn't certify my Mac (even with dual boot...), so I could not enter their network...)

Thank god no need to fly with this ton of equipment

Overall the Thinkpad has (by far) the best keyboard, the Mac (by far) the brightest display and the Vostro is (by far) the best machine for the buck. I really start to enjoy all that desktop space (1920x1200 on the 17").

Most of the negative aspects I mentioned above, did not disturb me today:

- Touchpad (it's a desktop replacement, use an external mouse...)
- Keyboard (requires getting used to, but is okay)
- Keyboard-Flex (irrelevant when typing, not nice though...)
- Glossy screen is pretty good indoors

Regarding the price: what's really interesting is that the configuration I have here costs $1254 in the US dell store (excl. VAT). $1254 would be EURO 796 (1.575 USD per EUR as of today). Traditionally laptops in europe have been a lot more expensive than in the US, this one was EUR 629 without VAT, so more than 25% cheaper then in the US (regular list price in both cases...)

 

What do you mean by dev project? I actually love my 1700's keyboard its a nice setup but then again thats preference (the 1700 and 1710 both use the same keyboard). As for lugging the machines around I recently went out of town and was easily able to get through security and travel with 2 laptops (12 and 17in) but I wouldnt even think to use the 17in on a plane as it would be impossible let alone if someone reclined.

 

These are different software development projects (= dev projects).

 

Ahh, yeah Im about to take some programming refresher classes to make a change in my IT career. The dell with 1920x1200 res is great for programing.

 

bazzz, thanks for this review. Have you had a chance to weigh this Vostro 1710? I am considering buying one with similar components (except that I prefer integrated graphics), and it would be helpful to know how much it weighs. The weights reported by Dell are almost never reliable.