Dell Inspiron 1420 Review

<!-- Generated by XStandard version 1.7.1.0 on 2007-08-10T07:17:32 -->

by Jerry Jackson

The Dell Inspiron 1420 is the latest 14.1&quot; consumer notebook designed to offer performance, durability and a touch of style for an affordable price. With Intel Core 2 Duo (Santa Rosa) processors, available Blu-ray disc drive, available nVidia dedicated graphics, a reasonably tough build, and eight available colors, is the affordable 1420 the best 14.1&quot; notebook available? Let's take a closer look.

The Dell Inspiron 1420 is available with a full range of Core 2 Duo processors (from the Intel T5250 1.5GHz Core 2 Duo up to the T7500 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo). There are two 14.1&quot; screen offerings, a 1280x800 WXGA and 1440x900 WXGA+ display. The notebook can take up to 4GB of RAM but Dell only offers 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista ... so don't expect to be able to use all 4GB. Built-in wireless is standard and the system is priced starting at $769 with integrated Intel X3100 graphics.

Our review unit of the 1420 has the following specifications:

• Screen: 14.1-inch WXGA+ (1440 x 900) UltraSharp TFT Display with TrueLife (glossy finish)
• Processor: 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 (4MB L2 Cache,800MHz FSB)
• Hard Drive: 160 GB hard drive (5400RPM)
• Memory: 2GB RAM (PC5300, 667 MHz, DDR2 SDRAM) -- 4GB max memory
• Optical Drive: DVD+-R Double layer / DVD+-RW Drive (Blu-ray drive optional)
• Ports and Slots: Four USB 2.0, one FireWire 400 port, one ExpressCard slot, one S-Video, one VGA, one 8-in-1 card reader, headphone / line-out, microphone-in, modem, 10/100 Ethernet
• Wireless: WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.0
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
• Camera: 2.0 megapixel webcam
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
• 6-cell 56WHr Li-Ion battery, 9-cell 85WHr Li-Ion battery
• Dimensions: 13.13&quot; x 9.61&quot; x 1.26&quot;-1.53&quot; (Width x Depth x Height)
• Weight: 5.39 pounds

(view large image)

Build and Design

The 1420 caries forward what can only be described as &quot;traditional dell design&quot; with simplified lines. In short, the new Inspiron notebooks look very similar to the previous generation of Dell notebooks ... but Dell engineers have stripped the white bumpers and added a nice coat of paint. While the design isn't as innovative as what we saw in the new Dell XPS M1330, the simple lines and solid construction look quite nice for a budget notebook. Students certainly shouldn't be ashamed of how the 1420 looks when they carry this notebook to class. From the matte black and silver-metalic plastics to the painted lid the Inspiron 1420 is a design that lacks the flash but isn't short on style.

The Inspiron 1420 lid does not have a latch to hold it closed, but the hinge mechanism works well and firmly holds the lid in place. There is almost no flex to the screen. The lid of the 1420, like all the new Inspiron notebooks comes in your choice of eight colors for an extra level of customization. Our review unit came with an &quot;Espresso Brown&quot; paint job. The paint looks quite nice and durable at first glance. However, upon closer examination we discovered one small scratch/chip in the paint that revealed an ugly white undercoat. Our review unit was brand new from the Dell assembly line and this damage occured before we even opened the box. Bottom line, we don't have overwhelming faith in the durability of this finish.

(view large image)
After opening the lid and seeing the silver plastic interior and rounded surface of the 1420 you'll notice how solid the notebook feels ... at the expense of some added thickness. The entire case is sturdy with relatively thick plastic and magnesium alloy reinforcement in just the right places. There are no creaks or signs of case flex anywhere to be found.

Performance and Benchmarks

The Core 2 Duo processors that come with the Inspiron 1420 provide more than enough performance, even at the 1.5GHz low-end of the T5250. The 2.2GHz T7500 processor in our review unit packs an impressive punch and the included optional nVidia 8400M GS dedicated graphics card provides enough power for HD video and serious gaming. While the 3DMark benchmarks below look reasonably impressive, it is important to keep in mind that the standard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (Intel 965 chipset) will perform much worse. The available nVidia GeForce 8400M GS dedicated graphics card is a &quot;must have&quot; option if you want to play current games at higher resolutions on this notebook.

Super Pi comparison results:

Notebook	Time
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500)	0m 54s
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300)	0m 59s
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300)	0m 58s
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300)	1m 01s
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300)	0m 59s
HP dv2500t (1.80GHz Intel 7100)	1m 09s
Lenovo ThinkPad T61 (2.00GHz Core 2 Duo Intel T7300)	0m 59s
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.00GHz Core 2 Duo T7200)	1m 03s
Toshiba Satellite P205-S6287 (1.73 GHz Core 2 Duo Intel T5300)	1m 24s
Toshiba Satellite A205 (1.66GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 34s
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52)	2m 05s
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T2400)	0m 59s
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo)	1m 02s

PCMark05 comparison results:

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,925 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,377 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

3DMark05 comparison results:

Notebook	3D Mark 05 Results
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	2,840 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	910 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	3,116 3DMarks
HP Compaq 6510b (2.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, Intel X3100)	916 3DMarks
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52, ATI x1270)	871 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	2,013 3D Marks
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	1,791 3D Marks
Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 256MB)	4,236 3DMarks
Alienware Aurora M-7700(AMD Dual Core FX-60, ATI X1600 256MB)	7,078 3D Marks
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,092 3D Marks
Asus V6Va (2.13 GHz Pentium M, ATI x700 128 MB)	2,530 3D Marks
Fujitsu n6410 (1.66 GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,273 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1210 (2.16 GHz Core Duo, nVidia Go 7400 256MB)	2,090 3D Marks

3DMark06 comparison results:

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,329 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	532 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66 Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB)	1,831 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks
Sony Vaio SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	794 3DMarks
Samsung R20 (1.73GHz T2250 and ATI 1250M chipset / GPU)	476 3DMarks

Screen

The 14.1&quot; glossy screen in our review unit is a gorgeous WXGA+ 1440 x 900 display with excellent contrast and rich colors. Several Inspiron 1420 owners in our discussion forums claim that the standard WXGA 1280 x 800 display suffers from &quot;graininess&quot; but our higher resolution screen suffered from no such problems. The display features fairly bright and even backlighting but the screen appeared a little dim under the strong lights in our office. Horizontal and vertical viewing angles were good enough for two or three people to watch a DVD on the screen.

(view large image)

Keyboard, Touchpad and Other Input Buttons

The full-sized keyboard on the 1420 is solid with almost no flex. The keys have minimal travel with excellent cushion and response, and there are dedicated keys for home, end, page up, and page down.

(view large image)

The touchpad is nice and large with a very usable and responsive surface. Both the vertical and horizontal scroll sections are accurate and responsive. The touchpad buttons have deep feedback and produce quiet clicks.

(view large image)

The 1420 also features dedicated media buttons above the keyboard and beneath the speakers. The media buttons make watching DVDs or listening to music files as easy as using a DVD or CD player. Like most media buttons on notebooks from other manufacturers these media buttons have blue LED backlights. However, unlike most other media buttons we've seen the blue LED lights automatically turn off a few seconds after you press them. While this might sound like a useless feature it's nice not to have bright blue LEDs lit up all the time.

The media buttons with blue LED backlights. (view large image)

Input and Output Ports

Let's take a quick tour around the port offerings of the Inspiron 1420:

Front side: LED status lights, media card reader, wireless on/off switch, headphone and microphone ports. (view large image)

Back side: Modem port, battery, and Ethernet port. (view large image)

Bottom view: Here you'll find access to memory slots, some well-placed vents, and the battery release/lock switches. (view large image)

Left side: Kingston lock slot, DC power jack, heat vent, Firewire port, two USB ports, and an ExpressCard slot. (view large image)

Right side: Optical drive, S-video out, two USB ports, and VGA out. (view large image)

Since it's not uncommon for 15.4&quot; notebooks from other manufacturers to only have three USB ports we were glad to see that Dell included four USB ports on the 1420. Since a Blu-ray optical drive is an available upgrade we would have liked to see an HDMI port rather than just an S-video port for connecting the notebook to an HDTV.

Audio

The 1420 has stereo sound via speakers located above the keyboard. With the speakers located on the top of the interior in this way they tend to direct the sound at you and make for a reasonably enjoyable listening experience. While the built-in speakers aren’t the worst that I’ve heard in a notebook of this size, the sound they produce has a &quot;tin can&quot; quality with only average clarity and loudness and almost no bass. The headphone jack is located on the front side ... a less than ideal location for people who like to plug in external speakers but is a great location for using earbuds.

Heat and Noise

The 1420 runs extremely quiet even with the 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor. The fan remained whisper quiet yet kept heat under control. The areas near both the memory and hard drive (left palm rest) did feel warm during benchmarking, but temperatures remained comfortable enough to keep the 1420 on the lap. Temperatures are likely kept within acceptable limits thanks to a rather large heatsink visible through the vent on the left side of the 1420.

Battery

Battery life on the 1420 with the standard 6-cell battery was only average at best. Even with the screen brightness set to less than half, wireless on, and Vista power settings set to maximize battery life, the 1420 powered down in just above 2 hours (2 hours and 3 minutes). Using the same settings the 9-cell battery provided 3 hours and 51 minutes of battery life. Unless size and travel weight are your primary concerns I highly recommend purchasing the 9-cell battery for the 1420.

 

Conclusion

The Dell Inspiron 1420 is a solid notebook with an impressive set of features at a value price. As students are getting ready to return to class this notebook will certainly be a strong candidate for a school notebook. The choice of eight available colors is a nice addition, though we aren't quite sure how Dell's paint job will hold up to abuse. While the entry-level version of the 1420 with integrated Intel graphics lacks the power for serious gaming, the dedicated nVidia graphics card makes for a capable value gaming machine and mobile multimedia center. Of course, once you add all of the available options to make the 1420 a real powerhouse the cost begins to eat away at the &quot;value&quot; benefit of this notebook.

Bottom line, although it's certainly not perfect the 1420 is a strong, capable notebook that will make a great back-to-school system.

Pros

• Fast Core 2 Duo processors, and up to 4GB of RAM provide plenty of system performance
• Dedicated graphics option performs well
• Solid build quality and sturdiness
• Good keyboard and touchpad
• Great screen if you select the higher resolution option.

Cons

• Not-so-impressive design
• Questional paint durability
• Average battery life
• A bit bulky and heavy for a 14.1&quot; notebook

 

Thanks! Good writeup

 

Nice review Jerry. My only major beef with the Inspiron 1420 would be the rather large size and weight for something that's a 14.1" screen notebook. It's about the heaviest 14.1" out there. What you do get with that weight is a solid build though.

 

I agree with the size and weight issue. Other 14.1" notebooks are lighter and thinner ... and look nicer.

Our official review of HP's dv2500t is coming next week so I'm looking forward to seeing how the Dell 1420 stacks up against the HP dv2500t.

 

Thanks for the review; I can't wait to get my 1420. Great pics - I'm surprised at how dark the brown is; I thought it was the jet black color in a couple of the pictures. Could just be my monitor... but I went with red anyhow.

 

How does going from a 6-cell to a 9-cell nearly double the battery life...? Was the 3 hours on the 9-cell a typo?

 

No, it's not a typo. It could be that Dell used a different type of cell in the 9-cell ... or it could have been that th 6-cell was a bad battery and the 9-cell was a particularly good battery.

If you search the forums you'll find comments from various people who have claimed that their brand new battery has a horrible lifetime while other people with the same battery report more reasonable numbers. I think it's yet another symptom of various quality control issues with suppliers ... but it isn't a problem limited to Dell.

In any case, yes, we got much better battery life from the 9-cell.

 

I'm also quite suprised how dark the "Expresso Brown" is in this picture. I actually thought it was black at first. I personally prefer Midnight Blue but I think Expresso Brown would be second in choice.

Great review. I do like the 1420 but I'm not a fan of the weight and bulkiness which is making me consider buying the Lenovo 3000 V200 (which is also bulky but about 2 pounds lighter than the 1420).

 

Nice review. I guess the 1420 is quite heavy considering it weighs the same as a 15.4" Santa Rosa MBP.

I guess based on those 3DMark numbers the 8400M GS is clocked lower than the M1330. Probably not a huge difference but interesting considering the 1420 has more thermal room. That's slightly disappointing since I thought the option of dedicate GPU was a great improvement over the previous 640m/E1405.

A friend of mine had a E1405 and the touchpad buttons depressed deeply but seemed to have a pillowy feel. I wonder if it's still the same? I didn't like it but I guess it's kind of a personal thing.

 

I'm sure it's possible to get "slightly" better 3DMark scores with the 1420 ... if you spend a lot of time tweaking settings, install various drivers, setup a cooling system, etc..

All we did was shut down all non-essential applications and processes in task manager, set the power management to "high performance" and ran the benchmarks.

Oh, and as far as the touchpad buttons go, they are pretty cushioned (you might call them a little "pillowy") but I don't like noisy "clicks" when I press touchpad buttons.

 

That bit about the finish wearing off is depressing. If this is across the board for all Microsatin finishes, I think Dell's going to have a lot of unhappy customers.

 

I'm going to have to call foul on a few items in this review.

First off, this is the first I've heard about questionable lid paint quality. As a 1420 owner myself and after partaking in the various discussions about this notebook on the forums, the concensus definitely seems to point to a very high quality paint job. While I cannot comment on a manufacturing defect, I can assure people that the "soft touch" paint on the lid is highly durable. Unlike the black and white colors, the rest do NOT pick up fingerprints, and are not easily scratched. Just try running your fingernail over it. Nothing shows up. I for one am thoroughly impressed with the material, and I'm certain many others are as well.

Also, the discussion concerning the grainyness of the LCD appears endemic to the glossy variety, both in the WXGA and WXGA+ offerings. In fact, I'd say more people who have complained about this problem have the 1440x900 (WXGA+) screen.

Although the Vostros are touted for their build quality/materials, I would say that's more of a marketing scheme than anything else. There has been no official confirmation of the magnesium alloy chassis design on the Vostros, but I do believe the same materials were used on the Inspirons. As I've read before, determining the difference between hard plastics and magnesium alloy can be difficult, but after much careful examination, I'm going to put forward my speculation that the bottom portion of the 1420 is indeed made with magnesium alloy.

While this is a purely subjective stance, I find the design of the 1420 in particular to be quite appealing and "clean". With ports strategically placed, along with the keyboards and accompanying multimedia buttons. I stopped into Best Buy the other day and scoffed at how silly and cramped the designs of all the other laptops on display were. I think Dell did a very good job with these new systems.

Lastly, while it is true that the speakers on this system are lacking in bass, I must disagree on the overall quality. I am no audiophile, but I am fairly impressed with the clarity and fullness of the sound produced by these speakers, even when I am situated below the ideal level of the laptop. Yes, these are laptop speakers afterall, but they do a good job of directing clear sound in all directions.

Other than that, another great review again. Thanks!

 

You are welcome to call foul and express your opinions in these forums. To be fair, we call them like we see them.

When we discovered the battery on the Sony CR would FALL OUT if it wasn't locked perfectly we mentioned it in our review.

When we discovered the Toshiba R500 had a pretty horrible screen we mentioned it in our review.

When we discovered the AV Mode button on the Sony FZ didn't work properly we mentioned it in our review.

When we discovered the Fujitsu LifeBook A6030 has a horrible touchpad we mentioned it in our review.

If you received a brand new notebook from any manufacturer and found damage or a defect you would not be happy about it. I'm reasonably certain that if you are honest with yourself then you would have to admit a brand new notebook should arrive free of damage/defects from the manufacturer.

Few (if any) notebooks are 100 percent "perfect" but are you saying we should only mention the good things about the notebooks we review? There are many other review sites on the web that produce that kind of "fluff" ... we believe our readers expect honest commentary from our editorial staff.

My conclusion, as stated in the review, is still that the 1420 is a great notebook ... but I couldn't honestly say that the paint was durable if there was a scratch/chip in the paint when I opened the box.

'nuff said.

 

That's fair, and I wasn't implying that your review unit did not have cosmetic defects. What I was concerned about while reading it was that it seemed to take fault overall with the durability/quality of the paint job, whereas (at least what you indicated) it was likely as simple, albeit unfortunate, as a manufacturing issue. That still sucks of course, but my purpose in posting was to allay others' fears concerning the durability of the paint. It's true that I have not had this laptop long-term, but all things point to a high degree of quality and resiliency.

So again, of course anyone would be peeved about a less-than-perfect unit out of the box (especially the people who frequent these forums), but it may have been nice to include an aside regarding the material as it stands now, in your hands - in addition to the scratches you mentioned. Perhaps as a caveat. That's all.

 

It's an interesting computer. I was about to say, the trouble with it is you're stuck with Vista, but in fact this is also the model that Dell ships with Ubuntu pre-installed. Very very interesting. see dell.com/open.

 

Can you please run EVEREST on the laptop and post the Part nuber of your screen... I think the screen looks really nice.

 

So what is the problem here?

I have been using 1420 with WXGA+ screen/nVidia GPU and love every f'ing mins of it for the last 3+ weeks.

 

The SVIDEO port on the Vostro 1400 can be used to output component video and coaxial digital 5.1 audio. I assume the Inspiron 1420 is the same way. I used the component video/coax audio dongle from a Precision M90 I had and it works beautifully. I have not used the component video output, but I have used the digital 5.1 output - watched movies in Vista MediaCenter in both DD and DTS 5.1 audio.

It is no mystery what material it's made of. The top and bottom (essentially the entire outside) are magnesium alloy. Just open up the hard drive cover and you can clearly see the metal. My first Vostro 1400 came with a gouge on the LCD lid and shows me the metal under the paint. Shockingly, I complained to Dell on Monday about the scratch and the loose battery, they built me a new one and I received it this morning - 4 business days from build to delivery

Yes the battery (9 cell) is still loose on the new one, no surprise there. BUT to my surprise it is "less loose" than the original one. No problem, I put 2 layers of tape instead of 3 BTW, I can get over 4 hours of surfing on my original Vostro - Vista Ultimate, balanced power setting, 3/7 screen brightness (WXGA+), GF8400M, wifi and bluetooth on.

 

Did you have any shipping problems?
XD

 

The box from Dell was undamaged and the notebook was resting inside the protective packaging from the factory. I don't believe the damage to the paint occurred during shipping if that is what you're asking.

 

nice review! I swear, I thought it was black for a minute there! either way they're both nice colors...but in the dell flyer the difference is not as subtle.

 

I just got the 1420. Headphone jack produce a lot of static, even when the audio is on mute. Very annoying. The inbuilt microphone records more static than actual sound.

The sound on this laptop is really disappointing!

 

Nice review! JerryJ, could you post a picture of the lid damage? I'm curious as I ordered one 1420 in white and one in green. Did you find any static as others have found on with the earphone jack. One last question, how did the webcam perfom and do you ahve any pictures to post? Thanks again for the review!

 

Im pretty glad I this notebook wasn't around when I bought my Acer, because I would have had so many issues with it, even though the price is beyond belief (UK version) for the specs. And I am a person that notices and gets annoyed by the little details.

The lid damage was probably on a sharp edge where the paint was applied loosely on the lid. You cannot reasonbly expect paint exposed on metal to be wearing. Unless covered with plastic, and even then, the edges may be still visible.

Great review though. I would have thought a MAJOR con would be the 9 cell battery sticking up behind the laptop, it looks really bulky and that alone could make it impossible to put in certain laptop bags. Yet it wasn't explicitly mentioned.

 

If you look close you can actually see it in two of the images in the review, It's the white speck on the edge of the brown lid on the right side. In the right side image it's directly above the VGA port.

Again, it's a small chip in the paint, but it's still a chip in the paint and the was no damage to the box or packaging so it had to have happened before it was packaged at Dell.

It doesn't mean that the paint is horrible, but I didn' feek right calling it durable in the review when that white speck of undercoat was right there.

 

Read the full content of this Article: http://www.dev.notebookreview.com/news/windows-8-60-million-units-shipped-so-far/

 

Actually, I would just be happy with my notebook fitting in my bag, thus I would probably take the 6 cell, not because its small and light, but because the dimensions are right.

I don't want to be carrying a 14.1 inch notebook with 9 cell battery in a 15.4 inch bag.

 

I so want this notebook now. Personally, the 14 inch is I feel the best size if you plan on carrying it at least twice a week. It's a world's difference compared to the 15". And when the graphics card gets too slow to play games decently, you still have a decent portable notebook for internet and Word processing. An old 15" becomes, well, an old 15". You would actually debate whether you would want to take it with you or not.

1420 baby

 

Thanks JerryJ. I would be PO'd about the scratch on the lid as well. they should have some QC before they are shipped. The scratch on your test laptop is very easy to see, especially with the color difference. Have you called them to replace it?

Did you test out the earphone jack and webcam? Just curious.

Thanks again.

 

Great Review! Awesome pictures!

 

Hi JerryJ, I had a question I hope you could answer for me - if you take pics using the built in webcam, do they exhibit extremely high levels of contrast, especially with outdoor pics? I have seen in the reviews around here of the 1520 (and the 1720? i forget) the pics that are taken of outdoor scenes and it looks like the sun's about to slam into the Earth! The contrast is soooooo out of whack. The indoor pics look also very strange. Is this true for yours? Is there any way to make the pics look more *realistic* ?

I dont plan on buying a laptop for a while, but it is something I have been noticing and just wanted to confirm. I know most people probably dont really care about the webcam, but I would figure this would be an important thing to look into for the few that actually do use the webcam for a purpose OTHER than taking silly pics of themselves (like I have /guilty)

 

Hey Jerry. Nice review. I actually have had my 1420 for a few weeks now. I'll have to say, functionally its an excellent buy! I have, however, had problems with Dell. I didn't notice it at first, but the battery has an extremely loose fit, so bad that it is very obvious that it will cause functionality issues down the road. After tooling around on the internet I have come across others who have had this issue. Unfortunately, I was past my 21 day window to return the laptop and had settle with their "fix". Apparently, the issue is in the bottom panel of the computer, which doesn't supply a snug fit to the battery. They have a standard fix for it, so it must be somewhat of an issue with this model. To remedy the situation they are sending an entire bottom panel to replace the one I have now...they're sending a tech guy too, so they are trying to fix the problem. I was also surprised by the very banged up shape of some parts of my laptop. I have had problems with Dell before and I was very leary about going with them again, but I thought, "ah...I just had bad luck before". This is the 3rd time (out of 3 purchases) that I've had issues with Dell. I love the way the computer works so far, but I'm kind of wishing I'd gone with the HP. A company only gets so many tries.

 

I see everyone grumbling about the size and weight. However, I asssume that the size and weight stated are for the notebook that is reviewed (ie with the 9 cell battery). In this case the 5.39lb (2.45kg) and 9.61" (244mm) front-to-back are very similar to my Zepto 6024W with only a 6 cell battery which doesn't stick out at the back.

Or are the dimensions and weights given for a different configuration?

I went to Dell to check the specs for this model and I can't even see it listed.

John

 

I just watched a DVD movie today on my 1420 with 70 percent brightness on and using my Motorola S9 blue tooth stereo headphones. From full charge to zero in 1:45 minutes using the 6 cell. The 6 cell is pretty lame on the 1420. I am getting a replacement system tomorrow (because of crack in lid seam). I am hoping the new systems 6 cell will do better. I also have the 9 cell and have not even tried it yet. But I will make sure tomorrow that the 9 cell is not too loose etc.. I think the new inspirons are pretty nice but seem to be plagued with quality control issues. The good news is Dell seems to be replacing/fixing systems but they really need to get a handle on their manufacturing processes. I think my 1420 was made in Malaysia. I think the EU gets theirs from the Ireland plant. I am wondering if the build quality is better from there? It seems that the stuff coming from Malaysia has pathetic build quality.

 

Hi, all. I'm one of the Inspiron 1420 owners. Just got my lappy last week & done a small review on it. Sorry it's not pro review but an experience of mine on purchase this notebook & comment on it.

Vist this link if you interested.

Dell Inspiron 1420 Testimonial

Thank you.

 

Well, the tech came out to fix my "loose" battery situation. Now I get a continual "cooling system" error on my laptop when it boots up. The tech double checked to make sure he didn't accidentally unplug the fan, but he didn't...its fine. Ya know...I've had issues before with dell, but I gave them a chance...not again. I'm done with them. Plus, they're jerking me around on the return of the laptop...I'm sure I'll be stuck in "we'll send a technician hell" for a few months before the simply replace it...if they ever do replace it. They lost my business, my family's business, and my company's business over this. I may be over the top with this but the spotty workmanship combined with quite possibly the worst customer service on the planet will never allow me to by a dell again. I'm sure if everything is perfect the 4120 is super, too bad my 3 week old laptop is acting like a 3 year old model!!

 

A fair review. I have had my laptop for about 2 weeks now and overall I am happy with the performance and build quality. There are a few hard issues with this laptop however which include audio skipping or cracking and loose a battery. It would seem a large percentage of users are having these issues.

The audio issue blame is being placed on Vista at this moment and a fix should be released soon. My battery is a little loose, and really I don't notice it all that much. I am a picky person and it hasn't bothered my enough to call Dell. So that should give most people an idea of the seriousness of "loose battery" issue.

Jerry mentioned bulkiness. I would have to agree that it feels a little heavy for a 14 inch laptop.

The bottom line is the price. I have looked and looked and I cannot beat the price I got for my laptop against any other manufacture. My specs are listed in my signature and I got them for under $1000 with a 300 off 1200 coupon. If you can beat that price with those specs let me know, else the weight is worth putting up with (about a pound or less difference from most competition with a 9 cell battery) and the hard issues with this laptop are worth waiting for fixes for the price alone.

 

i just got my black insprion 1420 yesterday, and i am pleased with it indeed.

its hard to compare it to all of the macbook pro's i have been around in orlando (all of the full sail kids have them). but i think its better to compare apples to apples.

it is a bit on the heavy side, true, and the actually size of the computer might make you think its a 15 in screen. i have noticed that the panel on the bottom beneath the power input moves a bit along the outward edge, i can push it in a bit. i see this is because there aren't screws in that specific area. but i know it wont come off or anything. the battery (6 cell) does move slightly in its socket, and the dvd burner can be pushed in a bit. again, if i gave two hoots about this sort of stuff, id have spent 700 more on a mac lol.

the keyboard is great. very easy to type on. my screen, the matte anti-glare 1280x800, is pretty nice. it doesnt have a great viewing angle, horizontally or vertically, but it is fine for average use. its perfectly clear and bright for internet and word processing. even if i had gotten the dedicated nvidia, i wouldnt recommend this notebook for gaming.

the t7100 and 2 gigs of ram perform excellently. id say for anyone debating not to spend the extra bit and get the t7300. for the average person the performance boost would be completely unnoticeable.

i havent run the battery down, but i think it will be average. 2.5 to 3 hours with a 1/2 bright screen. it will definitely get 3 solid hours when i manage to get linux on here. ubuntu is being a pain right now.

very pleased with it all, from performance, to finish, to usability. feel free to ask specific questions if you have any.

 

Why is dell insistant on making ugly toy looking computers??? Looks cheap.

 

Just want to put in another plug for the 1420's keyboard. Wow! I would almost say that it's equal to or better than my T60's keyboard, but I should probably wait to see how well it wears...

Anyway, right now it's rock-solid, tight and quiet. Beautiful. Now if only the DVD drive felt as well-made, and the hinge latched.

Chris

 

Jerry, thanks for the review. Can you tell me what LCD panel (hardware id, eg. SEC, AUO, CMC...) does your 1420 test machine has?

 

Great review! But i would like to purchase the anti-glare display and i would like to hear some opinions about this display since I have seen several people complaining. Is the display at least compareable to the one on the D630? And i would also like to know how much will the battery last if I were to purchase the Intel X3100 instead of the 8400GT. Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

The issues have been associated with the glossy, not anti-glare displays.....

-LQ

 

i have been reading the reviews and discussions of both, the inspiron 1420 and vostro 1400 and am confused as to which to buy....but the price diff between them (amost $200+) for similar features is making me favour vostro 1400....does the 1420 justify paying that extra amount ??

 

Can any one post their Windows Performance index?
Mine is an abysmal 3.6
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7100 @ 1.80GHz 4.8
Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB 4.8
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS 3.6
Gaming graphics 4.5
Primary hard disk 22GB Free (52GB Total) 5.2

Even with the GeForce 8400M card, the Windows performance with Aero is very low? Any reasons why?
Gaming graphics is pretty decent though..

 

I think that's pretty normal. The 8400 really isn't a great card to begin with.

 

hi may i knowif this model has infra-red port by default?

 

yes

-LQ

 

okay.. thanks

 

Hi,

I am planning to buy a Dell 1520 within next 10 days. I am going for T7250 which is 170 USD costlier than T5250. Please tell me if there is any noticeable difference between the speeds of two of them ?? What applications will require higher processing power than T5250 ?? I mean is it a wise decision to spend 170 dollars more for that speed difference ??

Also,I have decided 160 GB SATA HDD , should I go for 7200 RPM ,which is 56 dollars costlier than normal SATA HDD. Again , is it worth the extra money
and will it make any noticeable difference ???

I have decided following config:
Intel C2D T7250 2.0 GHz
Vista Home premium
3 Year Complete Cover
15.4" widescreen WXGA 1280*800 display with truelife
2 GB RAM
Integrated sound blaster audigy advanced HD audio software
Nvidia 8600 GT 256 MB
160 GB SATA HDD
8x DVD writer
Midnight Blue color
9 cell battery