::Inspiron B130 Review::

UPDATE:

Inspiron B130.

First off I decided not to do a COMPLETE review due to time, but I will give a decent review.

I was on a strict budget that could not be flexable at all. So I went on the internet in search of a laptop for my college. I quickly found coupons for the Inspiron B130 and after configuring the notebook to what I wanted, I ordered it.

My notebook's spec.

Intel Pentium M 740 1.73 Ghz (533mhz FBS/2MB L2)
512MB DDR2 Ram (2x256MB for dual channel)
Toshiba 40GB Ultra-ATA HDD with 16MB cache.
15.4 WXGA screen.
DVD-ROM and CD Burner.
Express card slot
Mini PCI Broadcom b/g wireless.

First off, the notebook has a strong durable feel to it, and it a weird texture to it that I find myself sometimes rubbing my fingers on just to feel it, its kinda like a sanded down wood feel. The hinges are very solid to me as well as the LCD screen.

The 15.4" WXGA produces Very good quality picture, the images and texts are very clear. This was one of my main concerns about this laptop. However, that concern quickly vanished. The LCD screen has no stuck/dead pixels which delighted me.

Setup was a breeze during first time bootup. First screen that appears is Dells user agreement, and than enters into Windows setup.

Once Windows loaded up, Dell's bloatware was quick to get to work. I uninstalled everything I didn't need and didn't have much problem too it. I did get annoyed by the fact that McAffe you couldn't cancel the setup and had to do the traditional crtl + alt + del and end it.

Running WMV-HD on AC and battery works perfectly fine, and the images produce is great, however if this model had a TrueBrite option the quality would be perfect. I am planning on sending this in to a company so they can do the high gloss application to it.

The notebook features 3 USB ports. 1 NIC and 1 56K Modem port. AC port as well.

This laptop also features the brand new Express card slot technology on it, currently at the time of this little review I'm doing there are no Express cards out. However, since Express card is built on PCI-Express technology, one could stop to think about the possibility of a Express Video Card??

Keyboard clicks are just like any other notebook out there on how loud it clicks, however I find that it doesnt have as loud as a click like some other brands out there have. The response to whatever I type in has no lag, in matter of fact I am typing this review on this notebook right now.

The touchpad is responsive as well, and is good enough for me. However, the touchpad seems to be somewhat smaller than other laptops out there measuring roughly 2-2.5 inches across both ways. The buttons are a bit small as well, but I don't have very big fingers so it doesn't matter that much to me. This however might annoy people who have larger hands.

The wireless once turned on, picked up 3 wireless AP's, 2 of them I didn't even know I had around here. I quickly realized the card is much better than my older linksys b adapter.

Ok, I have also opened up my notebook to get in to take a look at the memory controller to see what motherboard I have, and I have found to have the 910GML chipset. This aggravates me very much, and Dell can be expecting a call from me soon, according to Intel's website the 740 Pentium M processor is not supported on this chipset. I expected to get the 915G chipset, so my processors features can be fully taken avantage of, the B130 manual states that this notebook has either the 910GML or 915G chipset, now 910GML is perfect for the Celeron M version of this notebook, and the 915G for Pentium M, it would only make sense that it be done this way. So Pentium M is not running at its fullest but just 400Mhz FBS, when it could be running 533Mhz on the 915G chipset.

Battery life with wireless on and the screen turned down gives me 2:30+ of uptime. This is using the 4 cell Li-ion battery. The 6 Cell should probably give near 3-4 hours of uptime.

The laptop on the bottom gives access to the Harddrive, Memory, Mini PCI wifi card, and the processor. None of these are souldered down.

Pictures will be posted shortly.

Last words...

I don't think anyone out there will get the 915G chipset on this notebook regardless even if the manual states it does.

If there is anything anyone wants to ask specifically about this laptop for me to check out for them go ahead and ask.

However make sure you do it before I decide what I'm gonna do with this laptop, I still have to consider if I'm going to keep this.

 

Yes - I would also reformat the drive, Dell pre-loads a lot of bloatware. Nothing better than starting off with a freshly-formatted machine.

I'm glad to hear that the display is not sub-par, as it was on the old Inspiron 2100/2200.

Congrats! Looking forward to your full review.

 

Before I do reformat can someone tell me if my FN button will still work after I install an operating system on it? Is that something the Dell drivers take care of?

 

There's been a long, long discussion over on Slickdeals.net, xbandaidx, about this. That thread was intended to help people get the backup software on CDs that Dell doesn't supply. Naturally, the thread got off-topic and there were comments from those who had done a reformat, many had forgotten to save the Dell drivers beforehand.

For those trying the reformat, it was recommended to download all the Dell drivers for this model computer and burn them to CD, as you will need some of the Dell drivers. A reformat will take away the ability to access that hidden FAT partition Dell has put on the hard drive that holds all that info and is supposed to be used to restore Windows XP and drivers.

I've not tried reformatting and reinstalling, though I intend to. I'm using the factory partitions and program installations as a test for the next few days, figuring if I screw that up, I can then do the reformat. I have eliminated almost all the extra programs and trialware Dell loaded, but am surprised at the amount of junk left behind, especially the AOL installation they put on the drive. I uninstalled AOL, but I see references to it still in the Windows directories, and am sure the registry is full of the stuff. I am sure after a reformat and clean instal of the operating system, the notebook should really run well. it's not doing too bad with all the "stuff" it came with.

The only thing I left on was the Trend PC-Cillin, planing on putting in Norton instead later. I'm more acquainted with Norton's programs over the years.

So, you will need Dell drivers, which probably cover the use of the FN and other keys specific to this Dell model. I've yet to go through the Dell programs thoroughly to see if there's some of that which I can remove.

You're right that the notebook has a nice, solid feel, and it's got some nice speed for regular use, and you should get even better performance with the full Pentium you've got, even running at a lower FSB.

I had hoped to have some kind of review up by now on my first impressions, some benchmarks, etc. but have been having chest pains and with those no energy to get it all done. I hope I don't croak before I get to use this thing!!!

Good luck with it. I'm glad your first impressions were favorable, especially after your discontent over the mystery motherboard issue.

 

some of the function keys work without dell's quickset running...

the wifi toggle, brightness, crt/lcd work, but to get the cd eject to work, you need to run quickset

 

I have updated my lil review on this laptop in the first post of this thread.

 

Battlefield 1942? Any chance of it running?

C.

 

That is odd that it comes with the 910 chipset.

I must say that your battery life of 2:30+ is very impressive for a 4-cell. I know that the low-end Acer's have those, and barely get over 1-1.5.

 

thanks for the review xbandaidx, i have this notebook right now as a review sample and am somewhat disappointed by it. the viewing angles on the screen are really poor, especially vertical -- the worst I've seen in sometime. Horizontal viewing angle is definitely sub par, but not horrible. Everything else is just as average as you'd expect with a budget notebook, keyboard is okay, build is below average and very plastic feeling (it's textured plastic). But I will say I prefer the silver/black look to the ugly silver/white all the other Inspiron's have, ironic that from a distance this laptop looks nicer than all the other Inspiron machines.

I'll be posting a review in the forthcoming days on this laptop!

 

some hi-res pictures would be great. i can't seem to find any.

 

nevermind, just saw your posts in the other thread - durr

 

Yeah, they are on page 8 and 13 of the "B130 is on Dell...." thread.

 

I don't have BattleField 1942 sorry.

I have decided to send the laptop back to Dell, it wasn't all that I expected, I will say that I do feel the build quality is a bit better than what others say, however build quality is an opinion and no one has the same idea of it.

Yes, I opened the case up but stopped before I took the keyboard plate underneath the keyboard as I saw it had what I thought to be a warranty sticker thing, you know one of those things if you tear it, it voids the warranty. With this model there is no reason to be opening the way I was gonna open it so they mustvt placed that there.

The processor seems removeable and not fixed down like Dell states. I managed to um "flex" the keyboard plate which was covering the memory controller, and saw the last few tiny numbers said 910GML when I saw that it instantly ticked me off and decided right than it was going to be returned.

Sorry for being gone for a bit, I had to listen to 3 different long classical peices on Dell's phone lines right now, but finally got UPS coming to pick it up tomorrow.

If you're looking for a budget laptop, it really isn't that bad of one. It's decent, but I would recommend going to another company other than Dell that apparantly likes to screw over their customers. The manual states this model has 915G chipset and 910GML, one would think if your using the Pentium M processor it would naturally come with a 915G, however so far anyone I saw with the Pentium M version hasn't gotten the 915G.

I will post my pictures, yes I took em very shortly. sorry for the wait.

 

gud review

 

Ok here are pics.







Arrow points to memory controller which is underneath


All user accessable


Any bluish hues are just from my camara.

 

Nice looking Orange. Or is that a tangerine? It could even be a clementine.

 

Thanks for the pictures, looks like a decent system.

I am impressed with the display from your pictures; normally, in a budget notebook, the screen is where many manufacturers cheap out, such as Acer. The B130's display is a welcome improvement from the Inspiron 2200's display.

Cheers,

 

Trust me Chazman, the pictures do it no justice. It has to be one of the better ones I've ever seen on a laptop screen period. I was impressed when I saw everything was nice and clear on it.

It's a Tangerine. I think the (black) range rover 2006 went awesome with the laptop itself because it was black.

The laptop is pretty impressive, however if they just had better specs. It really does put other budget notebooks to shame in my eyes. (pentium m version, I rather be caught dead with a Celeron M)

 

Oh yeah I should probably mention that some DVDs dont work on this laptop.

For some odd reason my Spiderman DVD I purchased here in the US doesnt work, aparantly according to my laptop it's region code was modified or something.

 

wtf? thats wierd.... Anyways, nice pics! I love them!i cant wait! 4 more days!!!!!