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"Great video card but no DVI and battery sticks out" on by sharoz123
Pros: Geforce 8600m GT, 802.11n, number pad, webcam, great screen, turbocash
Cons: only vga out, size is larger than advertized, feels cheap
Summary: The internals of this laptop are great. It has a top end video card, which can run all the latest 3D applications and decode high-end video. The CPU is dual core, so multiple applications run smoothly without interrupting each other. The memory (up to four GB) also comes with a flash buffer (also called turbo cache) that eases the communication between RAM and the hard drive. It also comes with the newest wireless standard, 802.11n, for fast wifi now and faster wifi in the future.
Unfortunately, Dell made some unusual design decisions that reduce the quality of this laptop. At nearly two inches thick, it is not very dense, so it has a cheap feel. In spite of this laptop's large size the included battery sticks out by inch in the back. Note that the pictures on the website do not show this problem. Dell also made a very poor decision to leave out a DVI video port. With only VGA and S-Video outputs, connect to a high-end monitor or HDTV is not possible. While this feature may not be necessary on a lower-cost laptop, the Inspiron 1720’s high-end video card and the Blu-Ray option should mandate a high quality video output.
The front face of the laptop also includes some media buttons to control volume and media playback. This would be a good feature, but the paint on these buttons comes off easily. -
"A total nightmare experience" on by ThrghbrdJmpr
Pros: semi-decent computer
Cons: terrible service, does not live up to expectations
Summary: I spent $1,980 on this laptop. I ordered it with the AMD 64 x 2 with 2.2GHz processor and the full 4GB of ram. I expected this system to fairly fly with this configuration. It also had a webcam and a few other minor upgrades. About a month after ordering I got a shipping notice and went to check it out, it was only the wireless mouse I had ordered. At this time I noticed some oddities with my system. Apparently when I placed the order and I called in due to the websites inability to process my order the customer service rep took it upon himself to change my whole computer so that he could get me the 3yr service contract. Problem being the only thing he mentioned to me was the addition of the contract for a mere $40 more. Special pricing I could get over the phone... ugh. When I call in to get this fixed I am notified they have to cancel my order and put a new one in to fix it. So basically thanks to their screw up I have to wait another whole month. oh.. and they're running out of several components I ordered so it will be back ordered unless I change what I want. So I lose my webcam, settle for a different color and the Core 2 2GHz processor and they take $400 of the price to match it to my original price (gee thanks..) They also promise to expidite my order (gains me a whole 3 days.. whoop-t-do) and free next day shipping. I was also supposed to get PC-Cillin on this as I abhor McAfee and Norton. A fact I confirmed with the customer service manage that "fixed" my order. So another month goes by and computer finally ships. Guess what.. no free next day as I was guaranteed. I am truly irate at this point so I call to complain some more. They offer up a free printer (nope have 2 already) a free digital cam (what kind of crap were they offering for $100?) or $100 credit back to my Dell account. Needless to say I took the credit. Computer arrives and all looks well. I start to set it up and it has McAfee on it.. so I call in.. they no longer contract with PC-Cillin. The "manager" should have told me that so I have to live with it. They give me $100 gift certificate to Dell.. cause you know at this point I'm just DYING to shop with them again.
I've had the computer a few months now and it is nice. Vista is.. well.. disturbing. It eats nearly 500mb of my 4GB of RAM and this laptop runs at half the speed of my 2GHz 1GB RAM desktop that runs on XP. While I'm okay with it's performance it is certainly NOT the desktop replacement I was ordering. It's freaks out at a moments notice and I got the "blue screen of death" within 4 hours of owning it.
All in all.. it's not worth the hassle and the price.. I've always had good luck with Dell, but in the future I think I will look elsewhere. They gave something for each complaint, but they did not actually "fix" anything once. -
"Very happy so far" on by new22003
Pros: Color choice, speed, configuration
Cons: Bulky with a capital B
Summary: About Us: We bought this computer mainly for my wife. She wanted to configure it in her color (pink) and only a couple manufacturers offer the option. Dell was the only one that had the color options along with the configuration options she wanted. (Looking at your poor configuration options Sony)
Our Configuration: We configured it with a 2.0 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, 2 gig ram, 250 gig hard drive, and geforce 8600 running on Vista. We also chose the larger 9 cell battery. The reviews I had read about this machine all mentioned the high price but our configuration only came in at $1200 thanks to an online coupon code. We think this was very reasonable since we upgraded most of the options from the “base” configuration.
First Impressions: The computer shipped quickly and, other than poor DHL tracking, arrived without problems. The paint job on the laptop is of very high quality and has a rubberized texture to it. Documentation was very good and the laptop powered on without problems. After the basic setup we were up and running.
Performance: Speed is fantastic for a laptop and rivals my mid ranged dell xps 410 desktop. Boot and shut down times are quite low. I have loaded Half Life 2 and HL2 Episode 1 onto it and they run flawlessly at max detail with hdr and AA at 1280 resolution. I know it’s not an ultra high stress game anymore but it is a common benchmark.
Misc Features: Sound is good but not great but it has easy access volume controls on the front of the laptop. Battery life so far has been really impressive even with power saving turned off (I have it off all the time). On a 2+ hour flight from Miami to Memphis I watched DVD’s non stop and still had 30% battery left upon arrival. DVD drive works fine but placement and opening it seems awkward to me. I love the full sized keyboard with number pad.
The Bad: It’s a big machine. Most reviews mention this but it really is a large laptop. Don’t buy this to haul to class every day. But it does have a 1440 x 900 17” display and the full sized keyboard I mentioned above. I didn’t find it that heavy though, just awkward. For instance it doesn’t fit well in a coach class airline seat but fits fine in business class. The display is quite dim with power saving measures turned on. The screen is also very reflective. It’s untra crisp when you are out of the sun but in the sun and with power saving on it is almost unreadable. If battery life is important to you and you are outdoors a lot, go with the non glare screen they offer as an option. -
"A 10 all the way around" on by caldwelljw
Pros: sleek, powerful and well laid out
Cons: can't think of any
Summary: I am not one to easily praise companies for there service as I find the generally wanting. Dell has always bent over backwards for me, to help or correct a problem. In one case I had bought and outlet laptop that had a loose cd tray and they sent me a brand new laptop with similar features as a replacement!
As far as the laptop is concerned, it seems the popularity of the laptop is slowing down orders, especially for those that order the colored versions. That is certainly a concern for Dell unable to keep up with demand.
I am a thrift shopper and am most happy to by through Dell's outlet. I just purchased a loaded 1720 complete with camera/2gig/2.0mhz/4mbcache or the 7300 procesor/UXGA screen and the Nvideo card/9cell battery (by the way, those that complain that the battery sticks out, get the 6 cell and you won't have that problem! Anyway pulled off all that for $869...now tell me that's not a great laptop for the price.
It purrs like a 68 mustang fastback GT...now there can be no better compliment than that! -
"What Happened to Dell's Customer Service?" on by cpiguy75
Pros: Only product that has all of the features I desired for under $2500
Cons: Customer Service and Dell-ay Time
Summary: I ordered my first Dell back in the late 90s and another in 2002. I remember after ordering it from the website, I was assigned a personal customer service rep who would send me little e-mail messages keeping me abreast of the progress of my computer. I always had faith in my product being delivered and thought the service was a bit of an overkill. My experience then was like a shoe salesman that slipped your shoe on for you and laced it up. But after my experience this summer, I now feel like I'm shopping at a self-service store finding nothing but mismatched shoes in unmarked boxes.
I first ordered my Dell Inspiron 1720 on July 20th and was given a preliminary shipping date of August 7th. I would seldomly check in to the website to view the order status but only saw that the unit was "In Production". August 7th rolls around and I get an e-mail stating that my order would be delayed until August 28th (a full three more weeks). I was given the option to cancel via e-mail or a phone number. I opted to first make the phone call which kept me on hold for over two hours. I finally get through to talk with an agent who said that the reason for the delay was the color (midnight blue) of the unit I had chosen. She said that if I had chosen black, the unit would probably have been delivered on time. This is something that my personal agent would have kept me abreast of back in the "good ole days" long before the estimated shipping date had come and gone.
I saw that I could configure a black model with similar features that would have been delivered a week prior to August 28th, so I decided to cancel my order by e-mail because I didn't want to wait on hold for another two hours. I wanted to be sure the order was canceled before I ordered another one because I didn't want to be charged for two units. Two days had passed and my order still said it was active. By this time, the black model I had built online now had an estimated ship time for the middle of September. I was fuming so I decided to call the phone number back and waited on hold for another hour. I talked to a rep and told them of my situation. I requested to rescind my e-mail cancellation request and proceed with my original order if possible. I was told that the order was still active and that she would provide documention to proceed with the order.
Later that day I received an e-mail stating that my order had been canceled "per my request". I wrote back to the e-mail stating that I had verbally rescinded the cancellation, but I received an e-mail back stating that I would have to reorder the product and was given a different phone number.
I talked to a gentleman there who was able to get the same deal I had originally ordered (because Dell had since placed a $50 premium on ordering blue). Unfortunately, the August 28th shipping date that I was trying to avoid in the first place was not even in the picture. The new date that I've been given is September 19th. By this time the price of the Blu-Ray drive will probably have fallen to a reasonable level. It started as a $600 upgrade on my original order, but as of time of this post is only a $510 upgrade.
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