Dell Smartstep 200n

Hey everyone,

Well when Dell was clearing out of their rebuilt models back in January 2003, I took advantage of the Dell Smartstep 200n series for $1,199. Overall it was a nice model I suppose for the price, P4 2ghz, 256DDR Ram, 30 gig harddrive (4200 RPM), 15.1 inch TFT XGA screen, 32mb ATI Radeon 7500, and a few other goodies. I got the machine very quickly too after ordering online, I'm guessing within the week, can't remember exactly.

This coming January 20th will be my second year of having the machine, and though softwarewise it runs pretty good (except the ocasional blue screen I get from the video card on 30% of the games I've tried on it, and the three times I had to reformat within two months of having it), but the physical build I'm not happy with. I admit I do use this machine alot, but I've taken good care of it and yet it's got a few cracks in the build, including a crack forming around the hinge area. The hinges are a bit loose, giving me a wobbly screen sometimes if I move around. And the latest thing has been the little adhesive (sp?) rubber pads which are falling off, which keep the system from moving around on smooth surfaces. Not to mention I had a harddrive failure about a month ago, so until I can get a replacement, I'm stuck with a lower and older 20 gig harddrive. I even tried hot glueing the pads back on, but they came off easily, I'm gonna try cement glue when I'm out. I used the stuff when building model planes and sticks very well, so I'm gonna give that a shot. But my mom has had a Toshiba (I forget what model though) for five years, with like a 500mhz processor, 64 megs of ram, and a 6 gig harddrive, and that thing (after alot of usage) still has a sturdy screen, and the adhesive pads aren't falling off! Not to mention the build itself is intact, though the only cracks it has is near the hinge areas, and that's it. I don't know whether it is Dell to blame, or perhaps I just got a crappy low-end model.

Also I haven't been happy with the tech support, and lately I've been disopointed in Dell because I find machines with twice the better specs for the price of what they sell their machines. Anyway, overall I don't recommend the Dell Smartstep series unless you don't care too much of the physical quality of the machine. Besides you can find better specs for the price nowadays.