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17 out of 17 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"A very solid business machine with a few annoyances"
Pros: Well built, fast, nice looking, good screen, decent battery life.
Cons: A few minor areas that business people should be simply aware of.
Summary: The objective of my M1210 purchase was to replace a Sony S series notebook that had served me well on business travel around the world (multiple times) for the past two years.
I am not using the Dell M1210 as a gaming or entertainment machine but only as a business machine. I reviewed the Sony SZ models prior to my decision. However, found them both expensive and technically limted compared to other brands in the market, although the SZ models are quite nice looking and very sleek. For example, they have slower hard drives, bus speeds, etc. After reviewing the other brands such as HP, Lenovo (Thinkpad), etc for both price and performance, Dell notebooks were clearly at the top of the value curve. I did a weighted criteria analysis and Dell kept coming out on top based on my important considerations for a notebook PC. My decision then came to the M1210 or the Lattitude 620. It was a 51/49 split decision between the M1210 and the 620 and for more subjective reasons, I went for the M1210.
First, I would purchase it again.
I have no issue with buyer's remorse. The M1210 is very well built. Solid, well constructed, nice professional look, good screen (as good as the Sony, which is saying a quite a bit). Good keyboard for it's size. I don't beat on the keys, so the issue some people are finding with the lower right hand side of the keyboard being flexible isn't an issue with me. It is also fast. I am sure others will be more exact with specific speed metrics. However, for a PPT guy, it is certainly quite adequate. It is also nice and light.
The experience with Dell was, as usual, excellent. Delivered well before the estimate date, well qualified XPS sales CSR who knew what they were doing and helped me get the appropriate discounts, etc. (You can get $250 if you use some AMEX points and obtain a gift card prior to purchase) The packaging and other materials besides the PC itself were also fine. The 3G Verizon Mobile Broadband even worked well with a short call to the telcom company.
A few complaints. First, the Notebook Docking Station...isn't a docking station. It is a simple port replicator that requires that you plug in the PC power cord, the external monitor and a USB cord between the replicator and the PC. I was used to my Sony docking station that required only that you set the PC on top of the docking station. No cords to mess with, which was nice. I would not buy the port replicator again; for $80, one can find a much cheaper PC stand. Second, even in this high priced XPS model, Dell has not incorporated the Lattitude's capability to quickly charge a dead battery. It takes 4 hours to charge a 4 hour battery on the M1210. Third, the screen is small which was known before the purchase. However, when you look at the case, they could have made the screen larger without sacrificing any size of the PC's case. Not sure why they didn't do that and increase a bit of the screen real estate. Fourth, it runs hot. Not surprising as there are significant electronics in this box. However, the PC is relatively quite. My Sony sounded like a turbo-prop taking off due to its very loud and quite annoying cooling fan. Finally, Dell loads a LOT of crap onto these machines from software companies hoping you'll purchse their product for the long term. It took me hours to uninstall the test-ware packages prior to the reinstallation of what I really need to do the job. I'd pay Dell an extra $50 to NOT load these packages; that would be a nice option on their order entry web site!
Would I buy this model again? Yes. It is solid and will serve me well for the next few years inspite of its mild issues.
As Oprah notes about life: "You can have it all, just not at the same time", the same applies to the PC notebook market, I guess. My complaints are minor and I would recommend this machine to my co-workers.Updated
I noted in my opinion that the screen was as nice as my old Sony Vaio. Perhaps, not quite. If 1 = your run-of-the-mill $600 notebook and 10 = the Sony X-brite, I'd place the M1210 screen somewhere in the 7 to 8 range. Still very nice.Updated
I have been using the system for about 6 weeks or so. Overall, still a nice system, but a few things that buyers should be aware of...
1) Dell can't seem to get my DVD to burn DVD+R disks. It does DVD+RWs, but not DVD+R.
2) Like every Dell that I have ever had, the power management features simply don't work. It will wake itself up from 'Standby' (just did it this morning in my briefcase) and 'Hibernate' just doesn't work at all.
3) Even the largest battery last only a little over three hours, even with the wireless features off.
4) Masking Tape holds wires together under the battery...effective but tacky for a machine of this cost. (They could have at least used duct tape)
5) The 100 GB Hard drive is only 94 GB's. A bit of Marketing 'enhancement'.
- 1 reply to this review
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Dell partitions the HDD and puts the restore software on the other hidden partition.
