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26 Jul 2001
Dell Inspiron 4000 Review
by theVooner
[This review was actually done back in early June. The reason it took so long
to come out was two-fold, one I didn’t have enough time to finish it and
send it out before my trip, and then when I got back, I didn’t have a camera
to take any pictures of it. Oh well, enough said, here it is.]
Having recently gotten rid of my iMac, I decided it was time for another new
computer. Of course I leaned towards getting the new Powerbook G4. That titanium
shell is just awesome. But I couldn’t do it. Mac’s, for all their
superiority and just plain cool looks, are not very practical. First, tracking
down drivers and programs for your window devices are a pain. Then, regardless
of what they say, there is still a compatibility issue. A basic Word or Excel
document gets totally screwed once you work on a Mac, save it, and bring it
back to your Office PC. I just didn’t want to deal with it. So I searched
around for another PC laptop.
 Having
disposed of my other Vaio, a SuperSlim Pro R505 (I still had the Sony C1VMT
Picturebook at the time I was deciding), I thought it was time for another Sony.
But there wasn’t a new model that excited me (aside: Sony does now have
a new R505). That and also the fact that Sony was still way overpriced compared
to other models. Being the geek that I am, I was cruising the web for laptops
when I stumbled onto the Dell Hong Kong site. Having seen their ads all over
Hong Kong, I decided to give it a glance. With PC sales slowing down in the
US, and inventory building up, I was amazed to see just how cheap the Dell laptops
were. Of course the problem with buying Dell is that you don’t actually
have any idea what the product looks/feels like. You sort of have to take a
leap of faith. Is it a cheap plastic cover? Is the keyboard any good? Is it
too heavy? These are questions you don’t really get to answer until AFTER
you buy the laptop. I decided to give it a try.
As a result of my own questions above, I also thought it might make sense to
do a review. This isn’t a laptop you can just go into a store and take
a look at. Unless you know someone that owns one, you only have the pictures
on the website to make a decision on what they look and feel like.
There were two models that I considered -- the Inspiron 4000 and the 8000.
The primary difference in my opinion is that the 8000 has a larger 15”
screen option, is more powerful, and is slightly bigger/heavier. Having read
various reviews on the web and in magazines, it seemed clear that most people
liked both Inspirons. Thus, the question came down to what I wanted. At that
time (I’ve now had the Inspiron for nearly 2 months now, sorry, I just
didn’t get around to finishing this) the 8000 was about 20-30% more (it’s
about the same now). Of course it is a much faster, powerful machine, etc.,
but that came at a price - size and weight. The 8000 just sounded like a big
clunky machine. Ok, the 4000 isn’t exactly a Slim Vaio, but it seemed better.
So I chose the 4000.
 Ordering
online was a breeze though the Dell site is a bit slow here in Hong Kong. I
finally saved my profile, but actually gave up trying to complete the transaction
online because it was just too slow. So I picked up the phone and dialed a toll
free number. I was connected to their service center in Malaysia and I told
them the specs, gave them my information and ordered the Inspiron 4000. The
whole process was relatively easy. The only complaint I had was that they said
it would take nearly 2 weeks. I ordered it on a Thursday so they said they will
“try” to do it by next Friday. I told them if it didn’t come
by next Friday, I didn’t want it. I had to haggle with them forever to
get my point across. They ended up delivering it the next Wednesday.
Form
 The
Dell Inspiron isn’t going to win any design awards. It’s pretty much
a standard laptop. To add a little spice to the machine, I bought the optional
“color” palm rests. This does turn the laptop into something a little
better looking. The keyboard turned out to be HUGE both in terms of absolute
size and in terms of spacing. I guess when you’re used to the little Picturebook
or the compact SuperSlim Pro, these bigger laptops are a welcome change. Typing
is as comfortable as a regular desktop keyboard.
I was puzzled though why Dell decided to incorporate both a touchpad and a
pointing stick. I don’t know which I’m a fan of; I have a mouse hooked
up most of the time anyways. It’s irritating though because I sometimes
accidentally hit the touchpad, which makes it do silly things like close a dialogue
box when you were just about to move the cursor away.
I also didn’t like the fact that there is only 1 USB port on such a big
laptop. Yes, you can just use a hub, but some devices just won’t work with
a hub.
Function
 There’s
no need in comparing the specs, you can read numerous other reviews elsewhere.
I really like the way the way Dell allows you to choose your own specs. It’s
nice to have so much control. I chose the 800Mhz model, which is more than adequate
for running my spreadsheets. Other than that, there are no complaints. It runs
as fast as I expected. I added another 64MB of memory, bringing the total to
128MB, which these days is the minimum. I was disappointed though, as others
have pointed out, how much more Dell charges for additional memory. I read somewhere
that it’s much cheaper to buy 3rd party memory add-ons and install it yourself.
I just couldn’t be bothered.
Other than the basics, there was one big choice that I had: what kind of drive
to get (CD, CD-RW, or DVD). The Inspiron 8000 also comes with a combo drive
(DVD + CD-RW) option, but the Inspiron 4000 only comes with these three options.
I opted for the DVD drive though I now wished I had got the CD-RW. At that time,
I didn’t because the CD-RW was nearly US$125 more. Since I have a ZipCD250
sitting at home, I thought I could use that to burn CDs. Now, I wish I had the
CD-RW instead of the DVD drive because I don’t think I’ll be using
my laptop to watch DVDs. The DVD drive though works fine. It plays DVD movies
and DVD-Rom discs. Unfortunately, I have way too many DVD players and who really
wants to watch a DVD movie on a laptop? I guess it would make sense if I traveled
with the Inspiron, except that I already have the Sony
FX1.
 One
of my biggest complaints about the Sony Vaios is their really disappointing
battery life. The nice thing about the Inspiron is that its battery life lasts
a surprisingly long time (worked for 3 hours before I decided to charge it,
with some reviews claiming it can go up to 4 hours before it runs out). My old
Sony SuperSlim Pro could barely last 1 hour 45 minutes. Dell also sells an extra
battery for about US$110 compared to the US$450 for the big Sony battery. (Not
to mention that you have to buy different spare batteries for different Vaio’s
because they all use different sizes.) If I needed to travel with a laptop,
the Dell’s battery strength and reasonably priced extra battery make it
a good choice.
A quick pro and con list:
Pros
Cheap
Good battery life
Good screen
Strong Shell
Cons
Heavy
Not exactly the best looking
Big to travel with
Factor
 As
with any PC/laptop purchase, the price I paid 2 months ago could today get me
a better model. In truth, I’ve been staring at the Dell site again. I wondered
if I shouldn’t have just gotten the Inspiron 8000. After all, I doubt I
will ever actually travel with the Inspiron 4000. For a desktop replacement
I think the 8000 would make a much better choice, especially with its 15”
screen. I don’t want to buy a desktop because I like laptops. For these
reasons, I think the Inspiron 4000 is a WASTE OF
TIME. It sort of sits as an in-between product - it’s too big to
be a traveling laptop (though some would argue otherwise), and it lacks the
power and the screen of the 8000 as a desktop replacement. In hindsight, I should
have bought the 8000 - this is truer today as the “deals” that are
being offered by Dell for the Inspiron 8000 are extremely attractive. For a
travelling laptop, I’ve got my eye on the new Vaio
R505 SuperSlim Pro even though it costs a fortune. I was going to wait for
Windows XP to come out and then I can see what’s available but given my
recent loss, I will probably need to get another laptop sometime soon.
theVooner can be contacted at theVooner@yahoo.com
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