Friday, August 10, 2012

So I have owned a Dell Inspiron 14z for about a month, and here's a quick rundown on the likes and dislikes of this particular laptop.

The configuration I purchased: 
- Intel Core i3 - 2350M / 4GB / 500GB Seagate (Upgraded to 160GB Intel SSD)

Overall rating: 7/10

What I like about the laptop:

- Decently long battery life
- Loads of ports
- Being able to use adjust volume, brightness, and whatnot without having the press the function key. (Dell has this feature on quite a few of their laptops)
- It's pretty freaking fast if you replace the crappy hard drive with a faster one, especially an SSD.
- Size is good for a 14" laptop. It's definitely a much better size than the Dell Inspiron 14R I used to own.
- Ease of access for upgrading memory or HDD. There is only one screw holding the access cover  on the laptop.
- The webcam has much better video quality than other laptops, and  looks good when using Skype, or Google Talk. 
- What is also nice about this laptop is the CPU can be replaced unlike many of the newer laptops.

What I didn't care for about this laptop:

- The keys feel rather flimsy compared to the Dell 11z I have been using for a while. Although there doesn't seem to be much keyboard flex, the keys don't feel stable enough while typing.
- My laptop came with a 500GB Seagate HDD, and it was VERY slow. It actually booted slower than my Dell 11z with a low voltage Core i3, and it was definitely due to the HDD. 
- The battery sticks out the bottom. In today's day and age, I feel like it's unacceptable to have a battery stick out the back or the bottom of the laptop especially when a 6 cell battery is the norm these days.
- The port covers I think are retarded and should be taken out. It has no functionality whatsoever and gets in the way. 
- The speakers are not as good or as loud as my Dell 11z or 14R. 

At around $500 with tax, this is one of the better laptops in this price range to consider. 

If you are not as worried about size and battery life, I would however recommend the Dell Inspiron 14R instead.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to ask any questions !


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