Dell FRR0G Battery |
Posted: July 3, 2014 |
There’s not much to write home about the speakers, they get loud enough with minimal distortion, but the sound is slightly tinny as is the case with nearly all laptop speakers. Just imagine listening to music from small speakers mounted inside a tin can and you’ll have an idea about the built-in sound quality. On the brighter side, both audio out ports delivered crystal clear audio to my earbuds during the test period. Performance and Benchmarks One thing to notice is that the dedicated graphics card option available on the Inspiron 1520 is missing from the Inspiron 1525. The reasoning behind this is that Dell is pushing the XPS M1530 as the 15.4" notebook for those demanding higher-end graphics performance. The Inspiron 1525 is meant for a more mainstream buyer looking for good multimedia and productivity features from a notebook, and not cutting edge 3D performance. The Dell Latitude 2100 uses a nice and bright 10.1-inch LED-backlit display panel with a 1024 x 576 native resolution. This is a little less that the standard 1024 x 600 resolution seen on most 10-inch netbooks, but the difference isn’t particularly noticeable. Our review unit includes the optional touchscreen which has a semi-gloss surface similar to the screens used on most dedicated GPS devices. Vertical viewing angles are average, with obvious color inversion when viewing from below and some over-exposed colors when viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are okay but colors start to shift at wide viewing angles (possibly a result of the touchscreen layer). The screen might not look special compared to every other 10-inch netbook on the market, but the optional touchscreen is a first for an education netbook and makes the Latitude 2100 something new for enhanced student interaction and easier special education teaching. The resistive touchscreen provides good accuracy, but the limited resolution of the 10-inch screen makes it a bit difficult for large fingers to move the cursor to small icons or specific lines of text on the screen. Unlike the ASUS Eee PC T91 netbook tablet that we recently reviewed, the Dell Latitude 2100 doesn’t come pre-loaded with software that takes advantage of the touchscreen interface. In other words, you can touch the screen rather than use the touchpad or a mouse, but Dell doesn’t include any useful applications to make the touchscreen interface more useful. I also can’t help but question the usefulness of a touchscreen that cannot rotate into a tablet orientation for writing on the screen or for simplified touchscreen use.
Dell was kind enough to include dedicated volume up, volume down, and mute buttons so students (and teachers) can easily adjust the volume for webcasts or video presentations. The power button also serves as a quick Windows shutdown key, but that might prove problematic from time to time since there’s no way to stop the PC from shutting down if you accidentally press the power button. The Dell touchpad used on the 2100 is a little small, but that’s pretty common for 10-inch netbooks. Still, I feel like the touchpad could have been larger if Dell moved the volume and power buttons up and shifted the position of the keyboard up just a little. Despite the small size the matte touchpad texture feels fine and offers good sensitivity and smooth movement. The touchpad buttons have relatively deep feedback with cushioned clicks. Input and Output Ports The cooling fan inside the Dell Latitude 2100 was surprisingly loud. It’s not the kind of noise that would be disruptive to a class, but it is louder than most current generation netbooks. I suspect the cooling fan has to work harder because the protective rubberized exterior acts like something of a thermal blanket keeping heat inside the netbook chassis. Battery Speaking of charging the batteries, in addition to the included 65W power adapter, the Latitude 2100 is available with a “Mobile Computing Station” — a cart to securely store, recharge, manage and network up to 24 Latitude 2100 netbooks with one Ethernet and power cord. However, while the Mobile Computing Station is cool it is prohibitively expensive at a cost of $3,899 each. It’s also worth pointing out that the 3-cell and 6-cell batteries have a personalized window on the back of the battery pack where the school logo or name can be displayed, allowing schools to personalize or easily identify the owner of the netbook. Although Dell clearly had schools in mind when they designed the Latitude 2100, this netbook might honestly offer a little something for everybody. Individual consumers or businesses looking for a durable business-class netbook will likely be attracted to the Latitude 2100 for everything from outdoor activities to on-location training and customer service.Dell’s new Vostro line of computers developed to meet the needs of small businesses has become very popular among working professionals and consumers alike. The Vostro 1500 is the "twin sister" to the Dell Inspiron 1520, and while this business notebook with a 15.4" display doesn’t come in a variety of colors, the Vostro is packed with enough performance and optional extras to keep anyone happy. But is this "black beauty" a thoroughbred, or is it destined for the pastures? The Dell Vostro 1500 is available with a range of Intel processors (from the 1.86GHz Celeron M M540 up to the T7500 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo). There are two 15.4" screen offerings, a 1280×800 WXGA and 1440×900 WXGA+ display. The notebook can take up to 4GB of RAM but Dell only offers 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista or XP … so don’t expect to be able to use all 4GB. Built-in wireless is standard and the system is priced starting at $549 with integrated Intel X3100 graphics at the time of this writing.The 1500 caries forward what can only be described as "traditional dell design" with simplified lines. In short, the new Vostro notebooks look identical to the current generation of Dell Inspiron notebooks … but Dell engineers have stripped the available selection of paint jobs. 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. Business professionals and students certainly shouldn’t be ashamed of how the 1500 looks when they carry this notebook to work or class. From the matte black plastics to the silver media buttons the Vostro 1500 is a design that lacks the flash but isn’t short on style. The Vostro 1500 lid still uses a latch to hold it closed, but the hinge mechanism also works well and firmly holds the lid in place. There is almost no flex to the screen. After opening the lid and seeing the black plastic interior and rounded surface of the 1500 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.
The Dell i13z is elegant in its simplicity. The notebook never attempts to do too much, instead opting to provide an all-around serviceable level of performance. The clean and presentable chassis won’t turn heads, and its third generation Intel Core i5 dual-core processor isn’t exactly cutting edge. However, the Dell i13z’s beauty lies in its entirety. Combine those elements with its 13-inch HD display with generous viewing angles, and a comfortable keyboard and touchpad and the Dell i13z is a pragmatists’ dream. The 13.3-inch Dell i13z offers a mix of plastic and aluminum in its chassis that provides a classic and simplistic aesthetic. The faceplate and keyboard frame both adorn a linear texture that slightly reflects light, producing an enjoyable glare. While both plates are constructed of plastic they are resistant to fingerprint marks, only leaving noticeable impressions when considerable contact is made. The Dell Inspiron 13z’s lackluster port design is easily the notebooks worst feature. While the notebook does provide all of the essential ports, the awkward port covers and cramped design greatly diminishes the user’s ability to access multiple ports simultaneously. The left side provides a power jack, two USB 3.0 ports, and an HDMI port. While the right side offers an Ethernet port, a SD card slot, a USB 3.0 port, and a headphone/mic jack.The major issue with the ports are the covers. I assume that the covers serve to help protect the ports, but their utility is easily diminished by how intrusive they become. Not only are the covers a difficult to remove — often sticking and feeling as if they will snap off — but they also can obstruct user’s access to the port. Admittedly this can be resolved by holding the device over the edge of the surface the notebook is resting on, but having to do that every time you want to use a port gets old fast. Honestly, if I owned this device I would simply remove the covers all together. The Dell i13z provides a standard 13.3-inch HD LED backlight display, with a 1366 x 768 display. While the resolution is nothing special the display still manages to offer a clear crisp image and solid color contrast, which results in an enjoyable viewing experience. Keeping inline with the rest of the Dell Inspiron 13z, the display’s best feature is its general functionality, as it provides generous viewing angles for being a low-cost TN panel. Both vertically and horizontally the display’s image integrity holds up, though image quality does take a hit when viewed form extreme angles. The only time that users will notice a disturbance in the displays quality is when the display is titled forward or back. The wide viewing angles make the display perfect for multiple viewers despite its petite screen size.In addition to providing acceptable viewing angles, the Inspiron 13z does a commendable job of reducing glare and feedback. The display hardly shows any feedback in normal lighting settings and even manages to fare well in heavily lit areas, only producing a bit of feedback. While the display may not be capable of combating direct sunlight, it provides an easy read to screen that can perform in almost any other condition.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|