Dell Inspiron 1420 Review

This review will be to outline my experiences with the Dell Inspiron 1420 and try to test all the problems people have had with some of this models components. Also I hope this review lets people get a better idea of the laptop in general for those interested in buying a 1420 or just wanting to see how there's compares to mine. Please keep in mind that when I am talking about problems I have heard about online that I am not trying to prove anyone wrong or anything, I am just showing how my experiences were with those aspect of the laptop. Also if anyone sees something missing from this review or something you disagree with or just to comment on it please post it here.

Specifications:

The specifications on the unit I purchased and am reviewing are as follows:

WLAN Installation:

I replaced the wireless card with a Gigabyte GN-WI01GT. The installation was simple, I just popped off the little cover that has the power and media buttons like the instructions said. Then 2 screws holding the keyboard. Then unscrewed the Mini-PCIe card, unplugged the antennas and put the new one in its place. Then put everything back together and it detected without a problem. Here is some pictures I took of it as I took it apart.

Button cover removed:


Keyboard pushed out of the way:


WLAN and WWAN slots with card installed:


Paint Job:

The first thing I have seen a few people talk about online is the paint job on the 1420's grabbing finger prints or being painted poorly. When I touch mine it has a waxy or soft plastic touch to it. I have the blue cover and it does not appear to have any painting issues such as scratches or discoloring or anything. It does not appear to grab finger prints but I think that problem is more prevalent in the black lids. Here is a picture I took of the lid so you can judge for yourself how it looks.

Midnight Blue lid:


Laptop Noise:

Another issue I have heard a lot of people having is CPU Whine, HDD Clicking and Headphone Feedback such as a hissing sound. I haven't experienced any of these myself and with my ear an inch from the laptop I can only hear the slight hum of the CPU fan. Now I realize I might be a bit more deaf than I think I am so I captured audio at 3 different points around the laptop using Audacity with a microphone plugged into the jack of the laptop. Keep in mind this might make the CPU fan sound loud because I will have it so close but just trust me its quiet. There is a slight clicking feedback that is only a flaw in the microphone so ignore that.

Microphone 1 inch away from CPU exhaust: CPUExhaust1Inch.mp3
Microphone 1 inch away from headphone jacks: HeadphoneJack1Inch.mp3
Microphone 1 inch away from VGA plug: VGAPlug1Inch.mp3

Performance:

I didn't hear many complaints about performance or anything and with the stuff I had put into it I am pretty happy with it so I figured I would do the usual benchmarks. It got 1472 in 3DMark06 and 4829 PCMark05. It plays WoW just fine at 1440x900 and is pretty smooth unless I bump everything to the highest graphical settings. Performance and such has been covered rather well in the other reviews out there so I won't talk about it for to much longer. It felt very fast once I reinstalled Vista myself with my own Vista disc and got all that preloaded stuff off of there.

Audio

Another issue I have heard of people having is audio being skippy when playing MP3's. I played about 30 songs on WinAMP as a test with the songs being on a file share that I was connected to wireless and I didn't have a single skipping issue. I also tested this with Media Player 11 and it was smooth as well. Most of the times I hear about this problem it turns out to be OS related so I'm assuming my fresh installed helped me to not have this issue.

The speakers sound very good and don't appear to have any weird issues like echoing or clicks and pops. I can listen to a movie or just let the laptop play music from 10-15 feet away and still hear it almost as clear as if it was coming through my PC speakers.

Battery Life:

When I bought this laptop I wasn't worried about battery life as I have it plugged in almost always and I have it set to change nothing when it is not plugged in but windows still estimates I should get about 2 hours of normal use out of it. Most reviews I have read all said about 2 and a half hours and that seems about right for a 6 cell like this.

Weight:

Another thing I hear about in almost every review is its weight for a 14'1" laptop. Now I weighed it on a scale and it weighs 5.83lbs with a battery and 5.11lbs without a battery. Basically what the reviews said. But after lifting it myself it did actually feel heavier than I expected even after reading all the reviews. Its still just fine and lighter than most 15.4" laptops but I was just a bit surprised for some reason.

Display (LCD):

Now to get to the big issue that everyone mentions having had with this laptop, the LCD. I have a SEC4457 which from what I have read is one of the ones that has less or none of the graininess issues. I haven't noticed any issues of graininess myself and I have looked very hard for them. It has no dead pixels but does have a bit of light leakage at the bottom which I can notice when its pure black over-top of it but in most situations I don't notice it.

I have talked to some who have had vertical banding with this model of LCD and on a test pattern I found on a forum I was able to see slight lines in the RGB color pattern. These lines were very subtle though and I can't find them anywhere except this test pattern so I don't know how much of an issue you could call it.

Viewing angles on this LCD are good enough for 3-4 people to watch a movie on it without any problem. I didn't have to play around with my LCD to get it were I could see the whole screen without fade so it was good enough for me. I never expect amazing viewing angles out of a device that is made for 1 user at a time normally. Another thing I had heard was people having issues with large diagonal bands when the monitor is showing black. This only happens at angles and unless I am looking at pure black on the screen I don't notice it. I have read a lot of posts online about people swapping LCD's for the reasons listed above but for me unless I am looking at a test pattern this seems like a perfect LCD. I have taken pictures of my LCD doing various things so you can make your own judgments on them. Now this isn't a perfect camera and I noticed the pictures sometimes didn't convey the beauty of this screen but here they are anyway.

Vista icons close up:


iGoogle close up:


World of Warcraft:


Vista desktop:


Heat:

I don't know if anyone has any issues with heat or has heard of any issues but I know a lot of laptops have issues with heat so I ran Prime95 for 30 minutes to see if it heated up and it still felt nothing more than slightly warm. After playing an hour of WoW it was the same temperature. I would feel comfortable playing video games while this is on my lap without worrying about it getting to hot.

Design and Build Quality:

In the past I have heard a lot of Dell bashing about there design and build quality which had me a bit worried before I bought this even though the reviews were kind to it. After feeling it myself I can say that it appears very sturdy with good LCD hinges. There is no flexing or bending in the plastic and I like the look of it much better than Dell's previous Inspiron models.

Warranty:

I bought the 3 year warranty to cover me dropping it or spilling on it and even though I am very careful with things I buy, I still think its a good idea to get it. After working as a service tech for 5 years I have seen some really bad things done to laptops and if Dell can replace it for me no questions asked than its worth the $300 to not have to spend another $1200.

Conclusion:

I have never reviewed anything before and I wanted this review to be more about addressing issues people have had and trying to make people hopeful of purchasing a Inspiron 1420. I understand I may have gotten lucky with having little or no issues with this laptop so I figured I would post about the things that worried me before I made my purchase and show the way things can be when there are no problems. As I stated at the beginning if anyone sees something missing from this review or something you disagree with or just to comment on it please post it here.

My Inspiron 1420:

 

Hey, good job. Very thorough given all the complaints posted. It's nice to have someone address the issues with honesty. People should take what's said on these forums with a grain of salt. Warning: This is a technical forum, many of the issues discussed are about technical problems. Not often does someone step in and explain the reality of the situation. Especially on a forum based on addressing technical issues.

I do agree, the SEC4457 is a beautiful monitor. In that ever so rare instance that the lights are low, the background is dark and Im viewing from a 36.3454664 degree angle I can see those bands. Joking. Honestly, big whoop. Im just a perfectionist and me voicing this very minor issue dissuades people from trying out the product themselves. Same thing with the headphone whine, it's so minor that you can't hear it unless you have a nearly supersonic ears.

Dell has a 21/30 day satisfaction guarantee. Home/Small Business respectively. So if you have any doubts, I say buy it and try it.

 

Nice, thanks for the review. Let me see if I can give more rep's, lol.

After reinstalling your Vista OS, does your Media Direct still work?

 

nice review men. almost same specs as mine. and also same experience. no problem at all. ow, actually there is, but i already solved it. Corrupted OS, hehe. I just trasferred the files by removing the HDD and putting it in an enclosure. Then put it back. Partition. Reformat. Done. Fresh as New.

 

I have a 1420 but i got one with a very hearable CPU whine and headphone jack noise. It arrived about a month ago, and i already asked for a new exchange system, so when it arrives i will be reporting in what has happened...

glad to hear you haven't really had issues. thanks for the review by the way, very nice.

 

mrtrix. i forgot to ask. how did u do that? the pic of your desktop. your gadgets are different from mine, i think mine is the default one. do you upgrade it or download it?

Here's mine:

 

My Media Direct does not work anymore but that was never a big concern for me and if I wanted it to work I could set it up pretty easily. And I am using Yahoo Widgets instead of Vista Sidebar.

 

ic, thanks men!